Mail customers - residential
If you are having a problem with your mail, please refer to our page explaining how to complain, which includes full customer contact information for all licensed postal operators, and details for Postwatch (external website), the watchdog for postal services.
On 1 January 2006, the UK mail market became fully open to competition. Businesses are likely to be the first to be offered services by the new licensed operators, but, in time, new companies may also offer new choices and an alternative to Royal Mail for residential customers sending mail.
You are probably already receiving mail that has been handled on at least part of its journey by one of the new operators. Sky, Tesco Clubcard and Vodafone are among the big businesses using alternatives to Royal Mail for some of their postal services.
Postcomm is the independent regulator for postal services, and one of our key responsibilities is to make sure that postal operators meet the needs of their customers, including by protecting the universal postal service.
The universal service means that anyone in the UK can post letters and parcels to any other part of the country at the same affordable rates. The universal service is provided by Royal Mail and guarantees one delivery of mail per day for for every UK household and business, six days a week and collections every day except Sunday.
The universal service will not be affected by market opening. In fact, it seems that the introduction of even limited competition in the business mail sector (in 2003) has led to an improvement in quality of service in all parts of Royal Mail’s business. (Postcomm is responsible for regulating Royal Mail’s prices and quality of service).
- More information on postal market opening is in the competition section of the site.
- You may also be interested in our new series of factsheets, short guides to key issues in the postal services market.
