Households counting the cost of postal delays

More than one in five UK adults were hit by letter delays over Christmas, according to Citizens Advice.

But this didn’t just mean that Christmas cards didn’t arrive on time.

Figures show that the late arrival of post had serious consequences for more than 3m people, such as missing:

• benefit decisions
• bills
• letters from the bank
• fines
• legal documents
• vital health appointments

Where are the worst places for letter delays?

The south-east saw the largest number of letter delays over Christmas, as 27% of people didn’t get their post on time.

This was followed by:

• south-west England - 26%
• north-west England - 25%
• East Midlands - 24%
• east of England - 22%

Tom MacInnes, director of policy at Citizens Advice, said: “For far too long, letter delays and poor service have become business as usual at Royal Mail.”

Ofcom ‘must protect people from delays and rising prices’

This week, industry regulator Ofcom suggested that Royal Mail should only deliver second-class letters every other weekday and not on Saturdays.

Citizens Advice believes this could “pave the way for Royal Mail to charge much more”, so it has urged Ofcom to protect people from continued delays and price hikes.

“Improving reliability and affordability will be essential,” Mr MacInnes said.

“But cutting deliveries won’t automatically lead to the more reliable service people need - nor should they be expected to pay more for a reduced service.”

Citizens Advice added that a first-class stamp now costs more than twice as much as it did five years ago.