Royal Mail is set to significantly reduce its second-class delivery service, moving to an alternate-day schedule and scrapping Saturday deliveries entirely, under sweeping reforms approved by the UK’s postal regulator, Ofcom.
Starting from July 28, 2025, second-class letters will be delivered just three times a week—either on Monday, Wednesday and Friday or on Tuesday and Thursday—in a rotating two-week cycle.
However, the changes will be implemented gradually, following pilot schemes already launched in 37 of Royal Mail’s 1,200 delivery offices.
First-class mail services will remain unchanged, with deliveries continuing six days a week. Royal Mail also aims to maintain its current goal of delivering second-class items within three working days, despite the reduced delivery frequency.
The reforms come as Ofcom warns that the traditional postal model is no longer sustainable, citing a dramatic decline in letter volumes—from 20 billion letters in 2004-05 to just 6.6 billion in 2023-24. The changes are expected to save Royal Mail between £250 million and £425 million annually.
In tandem with the new schedule, Royal Mail will also see relaxed performance targets. The next-day delivery requirement for first-class mail will be lowered from 93% to 90%, while the target for second-class mail delivered within three days will drop from 98.5% to 95%. A new benchmark—ensuring that 99% of mail does not arrive more than two days late—will also be introduced to tackle long delays.
These adjustments follow a damning investigation that revealed only 74% of first-class post met delivery deadlines last year. Royal Mail has since been fined £16 million for missing its targets over two consecutive years.
Ofcom’s group director for networks and communications, Natalie Black, defended the changes, calling them “in the best interests of consumers and businesses,” but warned that successful implementation now rests on Royal Mail.
“Urgent reform of the postal service is necessary to give it the best chance of survival,” Black said. “But changing Royal Mail’s obligations alone won’t guarantee a better service—the company now has to play its part and implement this effectively.”
The UK government echoed Ofcom’s sentiment, acknowledging the need for modernisation but insisting that the universal service principle—which allows Britons to send a letter anywhere in the country at a single price—must remain intact.
“With the way people use postal services having changed, it’s right the regulator has looked at this,” a government spokesperson said. “We now need Royal Mail to work with unions and posties to deliver a service that people expect.”
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