Royal Mail has hailed results showing more than nine out of 10 items sent by first class post in the IP postcode area are delivered the next day.

A new report shows 93.4% of first class mail was delivered within 24 hours in the first three quarters of 2014/15 – its target is 93%.

Operations director of Royal Mail, Tony Fox, said: “Royal Mail’s target for next-day delivery of first class (post) is challenging and our postmen and women work exceptionally hard in the IP postcode area to deliver to these demanding targets, which are some of the highest in Europe.

“We remain the only delivery company to publish our quality of service and we are proud to do so.”

Nationally, Royal Mail’s latest Quality of Service report also reveals it delivered 92.9% of first class mail the next working day against a target of 93%.

However, the company says when adjusted for “exceptional events outside Royal Mail’s control”, it achieved its target.

When broken down to just the last quarter, the figures were worse.Second class mail beat its target with 98.7% arriving within three working days, 0.2% ahead of its objectives, but first class deliveries fell to 91.8%.

The report was put together by sending more than 128,000 sample letters and parcels to more than 7,300 addresses. The IP postcode area covers most of Suffolk and parts of south Norfolk. Nationally, out of 118 UK postcodes, 107 met or exceeded their targets over the eight months leading up to November 30, 2014.

Despite the 11 postcode addresses that failed to reach their targets, Royal Mail argues it still has the highest universal service specification of any major European country, compared to Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

Mr Fox was optimistic about future results, adding: “I am committed to ensuring that we meet our targets for the last quarter of the year and we are more focussed than ever on continuously improving and maintaining high standards of service.”