In a report today the Commons’ Business and Trade Committee says Ofcom has failed to change Royal Mail’s “unacceptable” performance amid fears it is “not up to the job” of regulating a postal market that is growing in competition and complexity.
Despite incurring Ofcom fines every year since 2022, Royal Mail continues to fail to meet both the public’s expectations and its own regulated targets.
Overall letter volumes have dropped dramatically, and parcel competitors like Amazon are able to “hive off profits” using the universal postal service: delivering parcels to harder to reach addresses without contributing to the cost of the Royal Mail infrastructure that serves them.
From April 2025 to January 2026, just 74.9% of First Class mail was delivered the next day (18.1 percentage points below the target). The Committee estimates that this translates into approximately 126 million First Class letters arriving late over the year.
In 2025, 16 million people (29% of UK adults) experienced letter delays over Christmas, a 50% increase since 2024. 5.7 million people (10% of UK adults) missed vital letters, including those about health appointments, fines and benefit decisions.
Ofcom has failed to provide Parliament with the concrete numbers of letters being delivered late, saying Royal Mail refused them on the grounds of commercial confidentiality. The Committee says if such a prohibition actually exists, it should be changed.
When asked to conduct a proper investigation into whether Royal Mail letter deliveries are being deprioritised in favour of more profitable parcels, Ofcom appears to have satisfied itself with obtaining copies of the relevant policy documents and meeting minutes.
The Committee says Ofcom must deliver better regulation of the postal market, including Access mail and services delivered by Royal Mail’s competitors.
If it fails to do so within six months of this Report, the Secretary of State should consult on statutory changes “to ensure it is fit for the 21st-century postal market”.
Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “Millions of people are paying the price for a postal service that is simply not delivering.
“Hospital appointments missed, benefit decision notices delayed, fines arriving too late to challenge: these are not minor inconveniences, and they are the consequences of a national service failing to meet the standards the public has every right to expect.
“Despite years of fines and missed targets, Royal Mail’s performance remains unacceptable and Ofcom has failed to drive the change that is needed at the pace that is needed. We were deeply concerned by the apparent lack of any serious investigation into whether letters are being deprioritised in favour of more profitable parcels.
“We recognise that the postal market has changed beyond recognition. Major logistics firms are effectively hiving off profits while relying on Royal Mail’s universal service network to reach harder-to-serve parts of the country.
“The universal service remains one of Britain’s great civic guarantees. But confidence in it is ebbing away, and Ofcom now has six months to prove it has the power and drive to regulate the 21st-century postal market.”
