Martin Lewis’ final six-week warning to people who own stamps with old Queen’s head

Martin Lewis has warned people who still have stamps with the late Queen Elizabeth are running out of time to change them over and could soon lose out of have to fork out more money.

Only six weeks are left before stamps with Queen Elizabeth’s profile become worthless. However, stamps with the old Queen’s head and also barcodes will continue to work.

The deadline for the old stamps to stop working was actually in January this year, but that has since changed. Royal Mail says it has given customers a six-month deadline but that expires on July 31.

Also read: Inside Prince Louis, George and Charlotte’s unique school that costs

A spokesperson for Royal Mail said: “We introduced a six-month period of grace from the initial 31 January deadline to give customers even longer to use up their old, non-barcoded stamps. This means that customers can use old-style stamps as normal until 31 July when non-barcoded stamps will no longer be valid and liable to a surcharge.

“Non-barcoded stamps can be used as postage up until 31 July 2023. If you are able to use them within this time — that’s great. If you aren’t going to be able to use them up — that’s fine too — you can send them in to us and we’ll swap them out for barcoded stamps. Our ‘Swap Out’ scheme opened on 31 March 2022 and you can pick up a ‘Swap Out’ form from your local Post Office; your Delivery Office’s Customer Service Point; print one off our website; or contact Customer Experience and we’ll post one out to you.”

What happens if I post post with old stamps?

A spokesperson for Royal Mail warned that any mail posted with old stamps after August 1 will incurr additional charges, saying: “Mail posted with non-barcoded Definitive stamps after 31 January 2023, will for the first 6 month be delivered as normal, no surcharge will be raised. After this 6 month grace period, an item with a non-barcoded stamp would be treated as if there is insufficient postage. Any item that has insufficient postage is subject to a surcharge. Surcharge fees can be found on our website.”

How do I stop my stamps becoming worthless?

To save your stamps, you must swap them out. You can pick a swap form from your local post office and send your stamps.

However, Royal Mail warn that your post office won’t swap it for you, saying: “You can pick up a ‘Swap Out’ form from your local Post Office along with a free post envelope – but the Post Office won’t be able to swap your stamps for barcoded ones.”