After all the woo hah caused by Royal Mail slightly jumping the gun to notify business users about potential changes to 2nd Class mail, which everyone knows is realistically likely to happen, Royal Mail have written again to business users to clarify the position.
What happened is that Royal Mail, (probably… we’re guessing) wanted to give advance notification of a change from 6 day a week deliveries for 2nd Class to every other week day. Contracts mean that notice would have to be given and they likely wanted to make the change as early as possible so emailed their customers on the 30th of May.
Ofcom then got involved due to the amount of queries they were receiving, and having not made their final decision gave Royal Mail a public dressing down in a letter they published on the 3rd of June.
Now Royal Mail have written to their customers a second time, apologising for the confusion but emphasising that if Ofcom’s proposal is turned into regulation that the potential changes to 2nd Class mail will be implemented.
I wrote to you on 30 May, as part of our regular quarterly Terms and Conditions update.
We recognise that part of this communication has led to some confusion where we stated that “Second Class, Economy letters and Large Letters will be delivered 5 days per week on alternate weekdays (Monday – Friday). This change will go live from 7 July 2025, or the date Ofcom agrees changes to the Universal Service Obligation (USO), whichever is later”.
We would like to apologise for any confusion and are writing now to clarify the position. Ofcom has been consulting on the future of the Universal Service and has said that it expects to publish its decision in the summer. Until that point the existing regulations remain in place.
Ofcom has confirmed that it has not yet taken any decisions on its proposals. If its final decision substantively reflects what was set out in its consultation, we would look to change our retail account letter services on the date of any changes to the relevant regulations.
In particular, if Ofcom decides to make changes to the regulations relating to Second Class delivery days, we would then propose to change our provision of Second Class and Economy mail services to Monday to Friday. Service speed for these deliveries would remain unchanged. This proposed change reflects the Ofcom proposal to redefine the Universal Service to help make it financially sustainable.
The proposed changes would impact Retail Business Mail, Subscription Mail, Publishing Mail, Advertising Mail including Catalogue Option & Partially Addressed, and Response Services. First Class letters service would remain unchanged.
We will contact you again in due course.
Yours sincerely
– Adrian Baker, UK Product Director, Royal Mail & Parcelforce Worldwide
