Royal Mail is set to increase stamp prices again next month

Royal Mail is set to increase stamp prices again next month, despite ongoing failures to meet delivery targets and mounting concerns over its service quality.

From April 7, the cost of a first-class stamp will jump by 10p to £1.80, while second-class stamps will rise by 4p to 91p.

This latest hike means first-class stamp prices have now more than doubled, increasing by 137 per cent over the past six years through eight separate rises. Second-class stamps have seen six increases in the same period.

The announcement follows Royal Mail’s admission last month that it had once again missed its delivery targets for the most recent quarter, exacerbating public dissatisfaction.

Anne Pardoe, head of policy at Citizens Advice, said: “More than half-a-decade has gone by since the company met its delivery targets and people still face a gamble, with many uncertain if their important documents or letters like medical appointments will arrive on time.

“Things only risk getting worse when cuts to delivery days and reduced performance targets come into full effect.

“Against this backdrop, Ofcom simply cannot wave through these increases any longer.

“Higher prices must come with higher standards – increases should be tied to Royal Mail’s performance on the doorstep.”

Royal Mail has been called in to face a committee of MPs who have raised concerns about “chaos” in the postal service since Christmas and suggestions that some letters are being delivered in “batches”.

Royal Mail said the stamp rises reflected the continued increase in the cost of delivery as letter volumes fell and the number of addresses increased.

Richard Travers, managing director of letters at Royal Mail, said: “We always consider price changes very carefully, balancing affordability with the rising cost of delivering mail.

“On average, UK adults now spend just £6.50 each year on stamps and there are 70% fewer letters sent than 20 years ago.

“In the meantime, the number of addresses we deliver to has increased by four million to 32 million addresses across the UK.”

The last time Royal Mail met its annual target for delivering first-class post on time was in 2019-20.

The firm – whose owner International Distribution Services (IDS) was bought last June for £3.6 billion by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group – repeated its call to “urgently move forward” with reforms to the service.

Ofcom last year cleared Royal Mail to scrap second-class letter deliveries on Saturdays and change the service to every other weekday.

Royal Mail has since introduced the changes as a pilot across 35 delivery offices.

But it has been in intensive talks with the Communications Workers Union (CWU) after failing to agree on how to roll out the universal service changes across its 1,200-strong network.

Month-long talks ended on March 2 without agreement and have been extended for two weeks to allow the sides to reach agreement.

Mr Travers said: “To protect the service for the future we need to urgently move forward with implementing universal service reform to support a more modern, more reliable and more sustainable service for our customers.”

Royal Mail argued that despite the price rises, UK stamps still cost less than the European average of £1.56 for a second-class stamp and £1.93 for first class.