Second class Saturday letter deliveries could be scrapped under Ofcom review
Royal Mail could be allowed to scrap Saturday deliveries for second-class letters as part of a review of the postal service being considered by the industry watchdog.
Regulator Ofcom, which has been consulting on the future of the universal postal service since January, said it will now focus its efforts on changes to the second-class service while keeping first-class deliveries six days a week.
Under the proposed plans, second-class mail would no longer be delivered on Saturdays and would only be delivered every other weekday, but delivery times would still take up to three working days.
Ofcom said a decision has not been made and continues to review changes, with aims to publish a consultation in early 2025 and make a decision in the summer of next year.
Royal Mail has called on the government and Ofcom to review its delivery requirements, claiming they are no longer practical or cost-effective given the decline in letters posted.
In its submission to Ofcom in April, it proposed ditching Saturday deliveries for second-class posts and cutting the service to every other weekday.
Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s group director for networks and communications, said: “If we decide to propose changes to the universal service next year, we want to make sure we achieve the best outcome for consumers.
“So we’re now looking at whether we can get the universal service back on an even keel in a way that meets people’s needs.
“But this won’t be a free pass for Royal Mail – under any scenario, it must invest in its network, become more efficient and improve its service levels.”
Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services (IDS), which agreed to a £3.57 billion takeover by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in May, said “change cannot come soon enough” to the UK’s postal service.
The Royal Mail’s universal service obligation (USO) stipulates that it must deliver letters six days a week to all 32 million addresses in the UK for the price of a stamp, no matter where the letters are sent.
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There was an outcry among ministers when Ofcom first said it was considering cutting postal delivery days.
They dismissed any suggestion that the government would sanction the scrapping of Saturday deliveries.
Royal Mail said its proposals earlier this year to reduce all non-first-class letter deliveries – including second-class and bulk business mail – would save it up to £300 million a year.
The group also said its plans would lead to “fewer than 1,000” voluntary redundancies with daily delivery routes cut by between 7,000-9,000 within two years.
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