DPD drivers face substantial loss of earnings if firm forces rate cut

Thousands of couriers face losing substantial portions of their earnings in the new year after managers at the delivery firm DPD vowed to force through rate cuts after the busy Christmas period.

- Kevin Rawlinson

About 1,500 drivers are thought to have stopped work yesterday after the company, which reported pretax profits of nearly £200m, announced a 65p cut in the rate for most of its deliveries in late September.

After meeting drivers' representatives yesterday, managers decided to defer the reduction until after Christmas, saying they would begin on 5 January 2026.

The pay decreases represented "pretty much my childcare costs for the year", said one driver as he sought to put the scale of the losses into context. He added that they would hit colleagues who were already struggling to make ends meet.