Royal Mail issues urgent warning to UK households who use first class stamps

Royal Mail has issued a warning to people sending first class post today. Royal Mail has shared its last Christmas posting dates for 2024, and UK households need to act quickly if they want to beat the cut-off point from the postal service.

Royal Mail said: “Latest posting dates are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. It’s always advisable to post as early as possible to ensure that your Christmas letters and parcels reach their destination in good time.”

There is still time for 1st Class and 1st Class Signed For Royal Mail Tracked 48, with today (December 20) being the cut-off date. The last postal date to send parcels via Royal Mail’s Tracked 24 service is December 21, just in time for Christmas.

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For anyone sending via the company’s Special Delivery Guaranteed service, December 23 is the final date for the item to arrive in time. It comes as the Royal Mail takeover by Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský has been approved this week.

Dame Melanie Dawes, the chief executive of the regulator Ofcom, told BBC Breakfast on Monday that the company had “a lot of changes that they need to make” because of the decline in letter volumes and said the watchdog would make proposals for the future of the postal service next year.

Křetínský said: “EP Group is a long-term and committed investor with a mission to make Royal Mail a successful modern postal operator.” The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said talks with EP and Křetínský had been “constructive”. “I look forward to working with them to fix the foundations and ensure Royal Mail continues to deliver for the communities and businesses who rely on it most,” he said.

Dave Ward, the CWU general secretary, said the union wanted public ownership but that it had to be realistic and work with Křetínský. In a sign of the deep discord between workers and Royal Mail management, Ward said the Czech offered a better prospect than the Royal Mail board, which he accused of “giving up”.