Royal Mail could face fine after missing delivery targets

Royal Mail could be fined by regulators after failing to meet delivery targets.

Ofcom has launched an investigation after almost a quarter of first-class post arrived late in the past year. The 98.5% target for second-class post was also missed, with just 92.2% delivered within the required three days.

The company has already faced a combined £16m fine for falling short of its service obligations over the previous two years.

Royal Mail said it was “actively modernising” and beginning to see results, but added that there was “still more to do”.

Under Ofcom rules, 93% of first-class mail must be delivered within one working day of collection, excluding Christmas.

Royal Mail said just 76.3% arrived within this window in the year to March 2025, a slim improvement on last year, when it was 74.5%.

In a statement, Ofcom said: “If we determine that Royal Mail has failed to comply with its obligations, we will consider whether to impose a financial penalty.”

A first-class stamp now costs £1.70, having gone up in price for the sixth time in three years.

Royal Mail chief operating officer Alistair Cochrane said: “Our quality of service is not yet where we want it to be and we will continue to work hard to deliver the standards our customers expect.

He also reiterated Royal Mail’s long-held stance that its one-price-goes-anywhere universal service obligation (USO) needs reform.

Under the USO, the company is required by law to deliver letters six days a week and parcels five days a week to every address in the UK.

In January, Ofcom proposed that Royal Mail only deliver second-class letters every other weekday – and not on Saturdays – to protect the future of the UK’s postal industry.

Responding to the delivery target figures, Citizens Advice said: “Royal Mail’s quality of service targets should be there to protect customers, but the company is still getting away with hiking stamp prices while failing to deliver post on time.”

Tom MacInnes, director of policy, added: “With Ofcom considering relaxing the current delivery targets set for Royal Mail as part of the universal service obligation review, reliability remains a huge concern.

“The regulator must get off the sidelines and make the company do what it should’ve been doing all along – giving paying customers the service they deserve.”

In April, shareholders cleared the sale of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services, to a Czech billionaire.

The approval of the £3.6bn deal, first proposed a year ago, will see the 500-year institution taken over by Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group.