'These persistent failures are unacceptable': Royal Mail fined £21m by watchdog for missing mail delivery targets
Royal Mail has been fined £21m for missing its annual first and second class mail delivery targets, leading to millions of letters arriving late across the UK, regulator Ofcom has said.
It represents the third-largest fine ever imposed by the communications watchdog.
Royal Mail delivered 77 per cent of first class mail and 92.5 per cent of second class mail on time during the 2024-25 financial year, Ofcom found.
This was short of its respective 93 per cent and 98.5 per cent targets.
It is the third year in a row that the British delivery giant has been fined for not meeting its service requirements.
Ian Strawhorne, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said: “Millions of important letters are arriving late, and people aren’t getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp.
“These persistent failures are unacceptable, and customers expect and deserve better.
“Royal Mail must rebuild consumers’ confidence as a matter of urgency. And that means making actual significant improvements, not more empty promises.”
“We’ve told the company to publicly set out how it’s going to deliver this change, and we expect to start seeing meaningful progress soon,” Mr Strawhorne added.
“If this doesn’t happen, fines are likely to continue.”
Ofcom said it considered the effects of exceptional weather events in its investigation, such as storms and floods, but found that Royal Mail still fell short of its delivery targets between April 2024 and March 2025.
The £21m penalty was reduced from £30m as a result of Royal Mail admitting liability and agreeing to settle the case.
The fine took into account the harm suffered by customers as a result of the disappointing service, and the fact that targets have been missed for three years.
It also considered Royal Mail’s financial position, with it having recently returned to an annual profit.
A spokesperson for Royal Mail said: “We acknowledge the decision made by Ofcom today and we will continue to work hard to deliver further sustained improvements to our quality of service.
“A key area of focus and investment has been the detailed work ahead of full implementation of our new delivery model, enabled by Ofcom’s changes to the universal service.
“This is critical to enable us to drive a step change in quality of service.
“We have also implemented important changes across our network including recruiting, retaining and training our people, and providing additional support to delivery offices.”
The company added that trials of the universal service changes were “working, with improvements in deliveries” in parts of the UK.
Ofcom gave the green light to Royal Mail to scrap second class letter deliveries on Saturdays and change the service to every other weekday, with the changes being rolled out in the coming months.
But under its universal service obligation, Royal Mail must keep Monday to Saturday deliveries for first-class post and maintain the target for second-class letters to arrive within three working days.
Ofcom said it did not find Royal Mail in breach of its regulatory obligations in 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the company’s operations, which was beyond its control.
The ‘Christmas period’ is excluded from the targets, which is defined as the period beginning on the first Monday in December and ending on the New Year public holiday in the following January.