Second-class post on Saturdays set to be scrapped

Royal Mail should only deliver second-class letters every other weekday and not on Saturdays to protect the future of the UK’s postal industry, the industry regulator has proposed.

Ofcom said the Universal Service Obligation (USO) must be reformed as people send fewer letters every year but stamp prices keep rising.

The one-price-goes-anywhere USO means Royal Mail has to deliver post six days a week, from Monday to Saturday, and parcels on five from Monday to Friday.

Ofcom said Royal Mail should continue to deliver first-class letters six days a week but second class will be limited to alternate weekdays.

There would be no changes to parcel deliveries under the new proposals.

“The world has changed, we’re sending a third of the letters we were 20 years ago,” said Natalie Black, Ofcom’s group director for networks and communications.

“We need to reform the postal service to protect its future and ensure it delivers for the whole of the UK.”

The regulator said Royal Mail’s delivery performance was “not good enough”, noting that it has fined the company more than £16m over the past 18 months.

But, among the reforms it is proposing, Ofcom has suggested reducing Royal Mail’s next-day delivery target for first-class post from 93% to 90%.

It has also proposed dropping the target for second-class mail arriving within three days from 98.5% to 95%.

The number of letters Royal Mail delivers has fallen from a peak of 20 billion in 2004-05 to 6.6 billion last year.

However, the price of stamps have continued to rise. Since 2022, Royal Mail has hiked the cost of a first class stamp five times from 85p to £1.65.

It has also increased the cost of a second class stamp over the same period from 66p to 85p.

Ofcom said making changes to second-class deliveries could save the loss-making Royal Mail between £250m and £425m.

“This could enable it to improve reliability and redeploy existing resources to growth areas such as parcels,” it said.

Emma Gilthorpe, chief executive of Royal Mail, said the proposals recognise the “urgent need for change” to protect the future of the USO.

“Our proposal was developed after speaking to thousands of people and is designed to preserve what matters most—maintaining a one-price-goes-anywhere service and first-class deliveries six days a week.

“Reform is crucial to support a modern, sustainable, and reliable postal service for our customers, our company, and our people.”

But the Post Office has objected to the changes.

“Our postmasters and customers, particularly those who are vulnerable, do not want to see a reduction in the Universal Service Obligation,” said a spokesperson for the Post Office.

“The proposals announced today put more pressure on postmasters who are already facing tough trading conditions.”

Lynda Parker from Manchester said postal services near her are already “a bit of a shambles,” so reducing deliveries “will only make matters worse”.

Ms Parker said she is supposed to receive letters about her hospital appointments but due to slow delivery times she only finds out about them through text reminders.

“When I get to the hospital they ask for a letter but nothing has arrived,” she said. “It’s happened several times. I’ve been lucky because I’ve received the texts but not everyone has that.

“It goes down as a missed appointment—for an appointment you don’t know you have.”

Ofcom has launched a consultation on the new proposals online, which is open to the public until 10 April 2025. A decision is expected in the summer.

Royal Mail will include 37 of its 1,200 delivery offices in a pilot scheme, which will deliver second-class mail three days a week, starting in February.

According to the Greeting Card Association, over “a million households and small businesses” will be impacted by the pilot.

Affected mail centres include those in Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, London, Cardiff, and Southampton.

Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union have published a full list of the local delivery offices that will be part of the pilot.

Royal Mail’s parent company is being sold to a business controlled by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in a deal worth £3.6bn, after the Labour government approved the deal last year.

The government will maintain a “golden share” which means Mr Kretinsky’s business will have to get approval for any changes to Royal Mail’s ownership, the location of its headquarters and its tax residency.

Royal Mail must also adhere to the USO, which Mr Kretinsky has pledged he will do for “as long as I am alive”.

Additional reporting by Mary Litchfield