A NERA team, led by Associate Director Stuart Holder and working
in conjunction with Consult Sirius, was commissioned by Ofcom to
review approaches to measuring the efficiency of postal operators.
In 2012, Ofcom introduced a new seven-year regulatory framework for
the UK postal industry, which gave Royal Mail greater flexibility
and commercial freedom to return the universal service to financial
sustainability. Alongside measures to ensure the affordability of
universal postal services and, where appropriate, to promote
effective competition, Ofcom is also monitoring Royal Mail's
performance, including its rate of efficiency improvement, to
ensure its regulatory objectives are met. While Ofcom is not
intending to set specific efficiency targets, its monitoring of
Royal Mail will need to be informed by a view of what might
represent a reasonable rate of improvement. If the monitoring
regime identifies potential concerns about the rate of efficiency
improvement, or in the
