On 10 July, Ofcom published its decision on the “Future of the universal postal service” following extensive consultation with stakeholders. The full decision document can be viewed here.

Royal Mail has been calling for reform of its Universal Service Obligation for many years now.  We welcome Ofcom's decision statement.  It is good news for customers across the UK as it supports the delivery of a reliable, customer-focussed and financially sustainable Universal Service. It follows extensive consultation with thousands of people and businesses to ensure that the postal service better reflects their needs and the realities of how customers send and receive mail today.

We thank you for your valued input into all the Universal Service reform conversations to date.  Your contributions have helped greatly in shaping how we deploy key Access changes which are driven by Universal Service reform, and we will continue to work with you moving forward.

What is changing?

The core principles of the Universal Service and the one-price-goes anywhere service to all parts of the UK remain unchanged.  However, the reform includes vital changes to deliver a modern and more financially sustainable Universal Service.  Key changes to letters services include:

• All non-next day letter deliveries, including Second Class and Access D+3 Standard, will now be delivered every other day, Monday to Friday. Access D+5 Economy services will also be delivered Monday to Friday (i.e. Saturdays will no longer be a delivery day).
• The delivery speed of Access D+3 Standard mail will be aligned to Second Class, so that mail arrives within three weekdays instead of two.
• Access D+3 Standard services will be regulated under the Access Condition, alongside a new D+2 Priority service and the revised D+5 Economy Access services.
• Universal Service quality of service targets have been rebalanced such that the First Class target is 90% and the Second Class target is 95%.
• New reliability targets have been introduced set at: 99% of First Class mail to arrive within three days; and 99% of Second Class mail to arrive within five days.

The changes to delivery specification shall take effect within the Regulatory Conditions from 28 July 2025.  The new quality of service and reliability targets shall become effective from 1 April 2026.

Impacts on the Access Letters Contract (ALC)

In December 2024, via Access Letters Contract Notice 114, we notified Access customers of the introduction of a new D+3 Standard service into the ALC, as well as changes to the D+2 Priority service specifications.

We also notified of price changes to D+2 Letter and Large Letter prices via Access Letters Contract Notice 115.

As a result of Ofcom’s decision, we confirm that the changes under both of the above change notices will take effect from 28 July 2025.

For the avoidance of doubt, the grace period which we granted, providing dispensation from use of the D+2 Priority “1” class identifier will run until 24 August 2025.

Further changes we are making to the ALC

With the Ofcom decision being published, there are several further ALC changes which we are formally notifying to Access customers today.

Reflecting Ofcom’s decision, Access Letters Contract Change Notice Number 120 gives effect to the removal of Saturday as a delivery day from the Access D+5 Economy service.  It will take time to roll out these new ways of working and we will keep you updated on our plans. Thank you for your patience while we make these crucial changes.

Additionally, Access Letters Contract Change Notice Number 121 gives effect to the following changes to the ALC:

• Changing General Large Letters (GLLs) from an Access D+2 service to an Access D+3 service. As we explained in our letter to Access customers of 4 April 2025, we proposed to notify customers of a contractual change such that GLLs become a D+3 service. Please see that letter for further context as to why we are making this change,
• Removal of Access D+2 product variants. On 6 March 2025, following customer engagement, we communicated our decision as to which Access D+2 variants would be available after the Access Condition changes, with Business Mail Mailmark Letters and Large Letters in trays, and Magazine Subscription Mailmark Large Letters in bags/trays being retained. All other Access D+2 product variants (e.g. Advertising Mail, Partially Addressed Mail and Catalogue Mail) will be ceased.
• Customer Access Indicator designs. With an additional service speed being introduced in Access (i.e. D+3) it is important the appropriate mechanisms are available within the ALC to ensure our operational team can work efficiently, with minimal need for manual intervention. We will be making a change to the Access User Guide to allow Royal Mail to reject a Customer Access Indicator design if we believe such a design may conflict with our new Class Identifier (e.g. the ’1’ on an envelope which allows us to identify an item as a D+2 Priority item) or cause confusion in our operation as to the service speed mailing items are being posted against.

Access quality and compensation change proposals

Thank you to those customers who participated in the recent 121 sessions at which we discussed the proposals for a revised ALC quality and compensation regime.  Now Ofcom has published its decision, we are finalising our Access proposals, taking into consideration the customer feedback during the 121s, with a view to issuing a formal consultation during quarter 2 of 2025/26.

Setting up a new D+2 quality survey

Additionally, as we discussed with you at the 121s, given it is anticipated the majority of Access volume will migrate to the D+3 Standard service, and therefore the existing D+2 Standard quality survey will automatically migrate to become the D+3 Standard quality survey.  A new quality survey will need to be set up for the D+2 Priority Service, and Spectos (the independent research company which manages Access quality of service survey) will need to recruit mailers to participate in the new survey.

We believe it is important that Access contract holders participate in this new survey as early as possible, which will provide the best opportunity for building up a robust sample base and enabling the most statistically valid survey once the Access Condition changes taking effect.

If you are interested in participating, you should let your Account Director know promptly and they will take the action necessary to trigger the onboarding process.

Universal Service reform is a transformational change, and we want to ensure we get it right for our customers and our people. It will take time to roll out these new ways of working and we will keep you updated on our plans.  We would like to thank you again for your contributions to the debate on changes to the Universal Service to date which has been valuable to us in shaping the future of Royal Mail as we move towards a more reliable, sustainable postal service.