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Citizens Advice responds to Royal Mail's latest delivery service results

Responding to Royal Mail's latest quality of service results, which show Royal Mail did not meet its delivery targets for First or Second class post between October and December 2025,

Anne Pardoe, Head of Policy at Citizens Advice, said:

“Consumers are fed up with Royal Mail’s woeful performance, and these latest figures show they’re still paying for a postal service that fails to deliver on time. 

“Things risk getting worse when cuts to delivery days come into full effect. With second-class delivery opportunities set to be halved, it’s concerning that people aren’t even getting their post on time now.

“Late deliveries are not a minor inconvenience. They mean missed medical appointments, delayed benefit decisions, unpaid bills and fines. Any future stamp price rises must be contingent on Royal Mail meeting its delivery targets. Higher prices must come with higher standards - not broken promises.”

-ends-

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Notes to editors:

  • Royal Mail’s latest Quality of Service results refer to Q3 (October - December 2025) of the 25-26 financial year. Under the Universal Service Obligation (USO), the regulator Ofcom requires Royal Mail to deliver, in each financial year, 93% of First Class mail within one working day of collection, and 98.5% of Second Class mail within three working days of collection.

  • In July 2025, Ofcom announced changes to the USO. As of July 28th, 2025, Royal Mail only needs to deliver Second Class mail on alternate weekdays, instead of six-days-a-week, Monday to Saturday. These changes have not yet come into full effect across the UK, with Royal Mail planning to roll this out nationwide by early 2026.

  • Ofcom lowered Royal Mail’s headline delivery targets as part of the changes to the USO, which mean that from April 1st, 2026, Royal Mail will be required to deliver 90% of First Class Mail within one working day (instead of 93%), and 95% of Second Class mail within three days (instead of 98.5%).

  • Tail of the mail targets have been introduced and will also come into effect on April 1st, 2026. These are targets for the delivery of items which have not met headline targets. For First Class mail, 99% will have to be delivered within three days, and for Second Class mail, 99% will have to be delivered within five working days.

  • Citizens Advice is made up of the national charity Citizens Advice; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.

  • Our network of charities offers impartial advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. 

  • Citizens Advice helped 2.71 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2024-25. And we had 44 million visits to our website. For full service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.

  • Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 19,500 trained volunteers, working at over 1,900 locations across England and Wales.

  • Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer advocate for energy and postal markets. We provide supplier performance information to consumers and policy analysis to decision makers. 

  • You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers.