Royal Mail changes explained including if deliveries will go down to three days
A review into the future of Royal Mail has this week suggested the postal service could reduce the number of days it delivers letters to UK households.
Under current rules, Royal Mail is required to deliver letters six days a week, Monday to Saturday, to all 32 million addresses in the UK. But the company argues that the volume of letters being sent has halved from 14 billion in 2011 to roughly seven billion in the 2022/23 financial year.
Royal Mail is also battling substantial losses, having posted a £319million loss for the latest half-year. Industry regulator Ofcom has warned the UK postal service risks becoming “unsustainable” without reform, which is why it has looked at potential changes that could be made.
However, campaigners have argued that reducing the number of days it delivers letters would be detrimental to the elderly and vulnerable people. Almost four-fifths – 79% – of more than 2,000 people questioned by Ofcom said there are “some things they will always need to send by post”.
The number of parcels Royal Mail is delivering - it is required to deliver parcels five days a week - rose to a record 3.6 billion in the 2022/23 financial year. So what changes have been suggested as part of the review, and would they likely become law?
Royal Mail announces fresh strike as pay dispute threatens more deliveries chaos
Letter deliveries 'cut to three days a week'
Ofcom has said Royal Mail could be allowed to drop the number of days it delivers letters to five days, or even three days, a week. The regulator said the company could save between £100million and £200million if letter deliveries were reduced to five days, while the savings would be between £400million and £650million if it went down to three days.
It could also make changes to existing first and second class and business products, so that most letters are delivered through a service taking up to three days or longer, with a next-day service still available for any urgent letters. Ofcom has stressed that these are just proposals at this stage.
The regulator is "inviting views from interested parties" to contact it by April 3 to "understand the potential impact on people and businesses". It continued: "This includes vulnerable people, those in rural and remote areas of the UK’s nations, as well as large organisations who use bulk mail services."
Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: “Postal workers are part of the fabric of our society and are critical to communities up and down the country. But we’re sending half as many letters as we did in 2011, and receiving many more parcels.
“The universal service hasn’t changed since then, it’s getting out of date and will become unsustainable if we don’t take action. So we’ve set out options for reform so there can be a national discussion about the future of universal post. In the meantime, we’re making sure prices will remain affordable by capping the price of second class stamps.”
Could this become law?
Any change would require Government and Parliament approval - and this week, Prime Minister appeared to slam the proposals and said he "will not countenance" ending Saturday postal deliveries. A spokesperson from No10 said: "Obviously Ofcom has a role here and is reviewing the future of Royal Mail.
"But the Prime Minister's strong view is that Saturday deliveries provide flexibility and convenience that are important for businesses and particularly publishers and the Prime Minister would not countenance seeing Saturday deliveries scrapped."
Before the review was released, Ofcom said: "It would ultimately be for the UK Government and Parliament to determine whether any changes are needed to the minimum requirements of the universal service."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
