Royal Mail plays a vital role in connecting the nation through its one-price-goes-anywhere service. For many years, the Universal Service Obligation has required it to collect and deliver letters to every UK address six days a week.
Following an extensive consultation process involving many stakeholders, Ofcom announced reforms to the Universal Service in July 2025.
What’s changing – and what’s staying the same
Ofcom’s reforms to the Universal Service include changes to how your letters will be delivered.
What’s changing:
- 2nd Class and other non-1st Class letters will be delivered every other weekday (Monday to Friday). We aim to deliver 2nd Class mail within three weekdays.
- Standard bulk business letters (used for items like bills and statements) will move to a three day delivery aim, aligned with 2nd Class.
- New reliability targets for 1st and 2nd Class services will be introduced. You can read more about these in our FAQs below.
Here is when you may expect your 2nd Class mail to be delivered by, based on the day of posting:
| Day of posting | New delivery-due day |
| Monday | Thursday |
| Tuesday | Friday |
| Wednesday | Monday |
| Thursday | Tuesday |
| Friday | Wednesday |
| Saturday | Thursday |
| Sunday | Thursday |
What’s staying the same
- One-price-goes-anywhere service across the UK
- 1st Class letters delivered six days a week (Monday to Saturday)
- Choice of 1st and 2nd Class for letters and parcels
- Parcels delivered up to seven days a week
