Ministers have asked Acas, the conciliation service, to report to them on the Royal Mail strike amid signs that the dispute could last for months.

Rita Donaghy, the chair of Acas, has been asked to give an interpretation of the dispute so far and the reasons for the entrenched positions.

Leaders of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are scheduled to see John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, after informal talks last week. Acas has been present at recent meetings between Royal Mail and the union, although it has not been operating as facilitator because neither side has agreed to conciliation.

Royal Mail has suffered two national walkouts in the clash over pay and modernisation, and more strike dates are likely to be set tomorrow. The CWU could escalate the action beyond the one-day walkouts that it has called so far, or it may stage a series of regional strikes. The postal group has offered a 2.5 per cent pay increase but this was rejected by 77 per cent of members of the CWU who voted in a strike ballot.

Union sources say independent polling shows that support for strike action has risen to 84 per cent. Royal Mail claimed last week that Friday’s walkout was patchy.

— Allan Leighton, the Royal Mail chairman, recently held abortive talks with Sir Philip Green about buying BHS. He assembled banks to buy the stores group but negotiations failed.

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