The costs have been rising for years and will now be well over double their 2020 level
Stamp prices are set to rise again next month despite repeated failures by Royal Mail to meet its delivery targets and amid growing concerns over the performance of the service. Royal Mail said the price of a second-class stamp would go up by 4p to 91p and first-class stamps would increase by 10p to £1.80 from April 7.
It means the cost of a first-class stamp has now more than doubled – up 137% – in the past six years after eight rises, while the cost of a second-class stamp has been hiked six times. The latest rises come after Royal Mail said last month it had missed delivery targets once again in the most recent quarter.
In previous advice, Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis said: “For years, every time stamps go up in price I’ve suggested people stock up and bulk-buy in advance, as provided the stamp doesn’t have a price on it and instead just says the postage class, it’s still valid after the hike. So you may as well stock up now, even if it’s just for Christmas cards for the next few Christmases.”
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.
