Royal Mail fined £21,000,000 for failing to deliver first class post on time

Royal Mail has been fined £21million for missing its first and second class mail delivery targets in the financial year.

Ofcom said the postal service only delivered 77% of first-class mail and 92.5% of second-class mail on time.

This was even after the regulator accounted for ‘exceptional weather events’, meaning its failure to deliver mail on time can’t be ‘justified’.

Between April 2024 and March 2025, the company was required to deliver 93% of first-class mail within one working day of collection and 98.5% of second-class mail within three working days.

This is the third year that the regulator has fined the company for breaching its obligation to deliver the post on time.

Royal Mail has been increasingly plagued by service issues and financial pressures, so much so that Ofcom said in 2024 it’s ‘unsustainable in the long-term’.

The courier company drafted an improvement plan for 2024/25 to hit its delivery targets. The plan did not happen, Ofcom said.

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. If this doesn’t happen, fines are likely to continue.’

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