Almost 11 million people hit by post delays over Christmas – Citizens Advice
Almost 11 million people hit by post delays over Christmas – Citizens Advice
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Almost 11 million people were hit with letter post delays over Christmas, Citizens Advice has found. As well as Christmas cards not arriving on time, some 3.4 million UK adults faced a serious consequence as a result, including missing vital health appointments, bills, legal documents, letters from the bank, fines and benefit decisions.
The worst-hit region for letter delays in the past month was the South East, with 27% of people not receiving post on time. Under the Universal Service Obligation (USO), Royal Mail is required by law to deliver letters six days a week, but is exempt from delivery targets around the Christmas period.
However, apart from this, Royal Mail has failed to meet its annual first- and second-class delivery targets for the rest of the year since 2019. The last time Royal Mail hit a first-class delivery target was in the second quarter of 2019, and a second-class delivery target was last hit in the fourth quarter of that year.
Regulator Ofcom is set to announce proposed changes to the USO in the next couple of weeks, which could reduce second-class letter deliveries to alternate weekdays only and could pave the way for Royal Mail to charge much more. Citizens Advice, the statutory watchdog for postal consumers, is calling on Ofcom to reform the USO in a way that protects consumers from steep price increases and continued delays.
