Royal Mail set to ditch second class Saturday deliveries

30 January 2025, 09:19 | Updated: 30 January 2025, 09:24

Royal Mail is to be allowed to ditch second class deliveries
Royal Mail is to be allowed to ditch second class deliveries. Picture: Alamy

By StephenRigley

Royal Mail is set to be allowed to ditch Saturday deliveries for second class letters under plans being put forward by Ofcom.

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The regulator said that after a consultation, it had provisionally concluded that reducing the second class letter service to alternate weekdays, while keeping first class deliveries six days a week, would continue to meet postal users' needs.

The watchdog also outlined plans to cut Royal Mail's delivery targets, for first class mail from 93% to 90% delivered the next day, and for second class mail from 98.5% to 95% delivered within three days.

Ofcom announces postal service reforms

Read More: Royal Mail sees parcel boost over Christmas as £3.6bn takeover nears completion

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This will bring them more in line with other international and European markets, it added.

Natalie Black, Ofcom's group director for networks and communications, said: "The world has changed - we're sending a third of the letters we were 20 years ago.

"We need to reform the postal service to protect its future and ensure it delivers for the whole of the UK.

"But we're safeguarding what matters most to people - first class mail six days a week at the same price throughout the UK, and a price cap on second class stamps."

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