Royal Mail standards and prices

Our primary duty is to ensure the provision of the universal service, including the "one price goes anywhere" service, and deliveries and collections for every UK address, each working day.

We must also further customer interests, including by promoting effective competition. And we must pay attention to the needs of customers, particularly those who are disabled, or chronically sick, the elderly, and those on low incomes or living in rural areas.

Royal Mail is the UK's largest mail operator - with a market share of more than 90% - and it provides the universal service. As a result, we must pay particular attention to how we regulate the company, in order to make sure it continues to meet the needs of its customers.

We do this by:

Ensuring Royal Mail meets its "quality of service" standards. 

When these standards are not met, Postcomm can take enforcement action against Royal Mail and may impose financial penalties. Customers may also be entitled to compensation.  (More information on how to make a complaint against Royal Mail.)

Setting a framework for Royal Mail's prices - the "price control" -

to make sure customers, as well as management and staff, see the benefits of the company's endeavours. If Royal Mail suggests any fundamental change to the way it does business – as it did when it proposed a change in its pricing structure to take into account the size of mail ("Pricing in Proportion") - we must make sure this is in the best interests of customers.

Intervening - but only where absolutely necessary -

in cases where other postal operators believe that Royal Mail is not offering 'access' to its network on a fair and reasonable basis. During its 350 year history, Royal Mail has built up a delivery network that it would be very hard for any other operator to replicate. The company is therefore required to make this network available - at a fair price - to other operators.  These arrangements between Royal Mail and other operators are known as "access agreements".

Reviewing Royal Mail's Postcode Address File. 

Nearly every house and business in the UK has been given a postcode and postal address by Royal Mail; these are held on the Postcode Address File (PAF) which is owned by Royal Mail.  Postal users can be sensitive to changes to their postal address, and Royal Mail has a Code of Practice that governs how changes to postcodes and postal addresses are made. Many different organisations also have uses for the PAF information that Royal Mail holds and are reliant on Royal Mail to provide access to this information. Postcomm is undertaking a review to make sure that the information in PAF is up to date and available on fair and reasonable terms.  (More information on the PAF Review). 

All of the requirements on Royal Mail are set out in full in its licence - Royal Mail licence (pdf, 350KB) - and the company's website includes details of its regulatory accounts (external website) and notifications (external website) it makes under Condition 7 ("Provision of information to users of postal services") which cover new, and changes to existing, prices and terms and conditions. 

Postcomm's series of downloadable factsheets on key issues affecting the mail market includes a brief guide to our work on regulating Royal Mail.