Royal Mail has again failed to meet its delivery targets, with only 85 percent of first-class mail arriving the next day and 91.4 percent of second-class mail delivered within three working days during the first quarter of the year. These figures fall below the benchmarks set by the UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, which requires 90 percent of first-class mail to be delivered the next day and 95 percent of second-class mail within three days.
These targets were previously lowered by Ofcom on April 1 as part of universal service reforms, with the first-class benchmark reduced from 93 percent and the second-class target from 98.5 percent. Despite the missed targets, Royal Mail stated that performance has shown a marked improvement compared to the same period a year earlier, when only 76 percent of first-class and 89.3 percent of second-class post were delivered on time. The reforms include the scrapping of second-class post on Saturdays.
Royal Mail, owned by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky's International Distribution Services, has pledged to meet the current Ofcom delivery targets by May 2027. This commitment is part of a five-year plan to invest £500 million in the service. The postal service is in the process of rolling out a new delivery model across its 1,200 delivery offices, a process that was delayed until an agreement was reached with trade unions. The new model allows for second-class letters to be delivered on alternate weekdays only, reflecting a steep decline in the number of letters being sent.
Ofcom launched an investigation in June into Royal Mail's failure to meet delivery targets for the second consecutive year. The company was previously fined a record £21 million by Ofcom in October two years ago for missing targets in the 2024-25 financial year.
Citizens Advice has called on Ofcom to implement stamp price caps, arguing that Royal Mail should not be allowed to increase prices while consistently missing its delivery obligations. Tom MacInnes, director of policy at Citizens Advice, stated that even with lowered targets, Royal Mail's claim that it needs until next spring to meet them is unacceptable. He added that fines for poor service have had little impact and that price caps are necessary to ensure accountability.