Royal Mail issues key update on when second-class post changes will come into force

Royal Mail’s proposals to scrap second-class Saturday deliveries nationwide will be postponed until early next year, the postal operator has confirmed.

The company has been trialling changes across 35 delivery offices to transform letter delivery services, including eliminating second-class Saturday deliveries and switching the service to alternate weekdays.

Regulator Ofcom approved the organisation to begin implementing these reforms from late July.

However, parent company International Distribution Services announced in Wednesday’s half-year results that the broader rollout of the new system will be delayed until early 2026.

IDS chief executive Martin Seidenberg had previously characterised the transformation as “a massive task” that would “take time” to execute properly, reports the Express.

Royal Mail was fined £21million by Ofcom last month for missing its annual first and second-class mail delivery targets, leading to millions of letters arriving late across the UK. It marked the third-largest fine ever imposed by the communications watchdog.

Royal Mail delivered 77% of first-class mail and 92.5% of second-class mail on time during the 2024/25 financial year, Ofcom found.

As part of the reforms to the universal postal service, Ofcom has lowered targets for first-class post to be delivered the next day from 93% to 90% and second-class to be delivered within three days from 98.5% to 95%.

However, Ofcom has brought in a new “enforceable” backstop delivery target, demanding that 99% of post be delivered within two days of the scheduled delivery date.

The latest interim figures showed revenues at Royal Mail lifted 1.5% to £3.98 billion in the six months to September 28, as a 3.2% rise for parcels business offset a 0.4% fall for letters.

Total revenues across the wider IDS group increased 1.6% to £6.45 billion, with the GLS international parcel business seeing revenues rise 1.9% to £2.48 billion.

Royal Mail stated the results came against a “backdrop of rising costs and macroeconomic pressures which are expected to continue into 2026”.

The company explained: “These include national insurance contribution increases of around £120 million, increased wage costs in the UK business and complexities in the global trading environment.”

The firm also revealed it had recruited 20,000 temporary staff ahead of the hectic Christmas period, alongside 7,000 additional vans and the launch of four seasonal parcel sorting facilities, which delivered an extra 118,000 square metres of additional space, equivalent to 16.5 football pitches.

Mr Seidenberg commented: “We never underestimate the important role we play at Christmas and we are hiring more people, opening temporary parcel sorting centres and putting more vans on the road to deliver for our customers again this year.”

International Distribution Services (IDS) was purchased by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group last year for £3.6billion.