Citizens Advice responds to Ofcom’s Interim Review on the Universal Service Obligation
Tom MacInnes, Director of Policy at Citizens Advice, said:
“With Royal Mail hiking stamp prices at inflation-busting rates seven times in the last five years while also continuously missing delivery targets, it’s high time Ofcom pumped the brakes.
“Yet, by choosing to maintain the status quo on price control, Ofcom has once again let Royal Mail off the hook. The regulator could’ve seized this opportunity to extend price caps to 1st class stamps, and make any future price rises explicitly conditional on the company hitting its now-reduced delivery targets, but didn’t.
“Ofcom is kicking the can down the road, leaving consumers again waiting for a reliable and affordable postal service.”
Notes to editors:
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.