The price of a first-class stamp will rise by 5p to £1.70 on 7 April, Royal Mail has introduced.
It would additionally elevate the worth of a second-class stamp by 2p to 87p on the identical day.
The corporate mentioned the choice fastidiously thought of “balancing affordability with the growing price of delivering mail”.
Residents Recommendation described the change as “one more blow to shoppers”, and mentioned the change to the second class worth was “unjust”.
The variety of letters Royal Mail delivers has fallen from a peak of 20 billion in 2004-05 to six.6 billion final 12 months.
Nevertheless, the worth of stamps has continued to rise. Since 2022, Royal Mail has already hiked the price of a first-class stamp 5 instances from 85p to £1.65.
The subsequent enhance, in April, was the end result – it mentioned – of delivering fewer letters to extra addresses.
“We at all times think about worth adjustments very fastidiously however the price of delivering mail continues to extend,” mentioned Nick Landon, chief industrial officer at Royal Mail.
“A posh and in depth community of vehicles, planes and 85,000 posties is required to make sure we will ship throughout the nation for simply 87p.”
However shopper advocate Residents Recommendation mentioned hundreds of thousands of individuals could be compelled to pay extra whereas additionally affected by postal delays.
“It is unjust for Royal Mail to boost the worth of a second-class stamp, whereas the regulator Ofcom seems at lowering second-class deliveries to alternate weekdays,” mentioned Tom MacInnes, the charity’s director of coverage.
“As first-class stamps have gotten unaffordable, individuals might be compelled by worth pressures into selecting a slower service.”
In January, regulator Ofcom proposed that Royal Mail ought to solely ship second-class letters each different weekday and never on Saturdays to guard the way forward for the UK’s postal business.
The one-price-goes-anywhere Common Service Obligation (USO) means Royal Mail has to ship submit six days every week, from Monday to Saturday, and parcels on 5 from Monday to Friday.
Ofcom has launched a session on the brand new proposals, which is open to the general public till 10 April. A call is predicted in the summertime.
Royal Mail’s mother or father firm is being offered to a enterprise managed by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in a deal value £3.6bn, after the Labour authorities accredited the deal final 12 months.
The federal government will keep a “golden share” which implies Mr Kretinsky’s enterprise must get approval for any adjustments to Royal Mail’s possession, the placement of its headquarters and its tax residency.
Royal Mail should additionally adhere to the USO, which Mr Kretinsky has pledged he’ll do for “so long as I’m alive”.
