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Royal Mail’s second class supply service to be scrapped on Saturdays in effort to hit targets

Royal Mail is set to be allowed to ditch Saturday deliveries for second class letters under plans put forward by Ofcom that will also see postal delivery targets cut.

The postal and communications regulator is proposing a second class letter service operating on alternate weekdays, while keeping first class deliveries six days a week.

The watchdog insisted that second class letters would still be delivered within three working days of collection – and the plan, which follows a consultation, was to ‘ensure the universal service remains sustainable and delivers what people need’.

Ofcom estimates that the change will enable Royal Mail to achieve annual net cost savings of between £250million and £425million, which ‘could enable it to improve reliability and redeploy existing resources to growth areas such as parcels’.

The regulator also outlined plans to cut Royal Mail’s delivery targets. These will see first class mail reduced from 93 per cent to 90 per cent delivered the next day, and for second class mail from 98.5 per cent to 95 per cent delivered within three days.

This will bring UK targets more in line with other international and European markets, Ofcom added – giving the examples of Germany‘s three-day target being 95 per cent, Spain‘s 93 per cent, and Norway’s and Poland‘s at 85 per cent.

The first red postbox bearing King Charles III's cypher in Great Cambourne, Cambridgeshire

The first red postbox bearing King Charles III’s cypher in Great Cambourne, Cambridgeshire

Workers at the Royal Mail's South Midlands Mail Centre in the outskirts of Northampton

Workers at the Royal Mail’s South Midlands Mail Centre in the outskirts of Northampton

There would also be new ‘backstop targets’ if the first target is missed.

For First Class mail, 99.5 per cent would have to be delivered within three days of posting. For Second Class mail, 99.5 per cent would have to be delivered within five days of posting.

Ofcom added that it would continue to cap the price of a Second Class stamp; ensure one price goes anywhere throughout the UK; and retain a six days a week First Class next-day service.

But the regulator also called on Royal Mail to ‘invest in its network, become more efficient and improve its service levels in both parcels and letters’.

Natalie Black, Ofcom’s group director for networks and communications, said: ‘The world has changed – we’re sending a third of the letters we were 20 years ago.

Royal Mail delivery vans are pictured parked at Mount Pleasant Mail Centre in Central London

Royal Mail delivery vans are pictured parked at Mount Pleasant Mail Centre in Central London

‘We need to reform the postal service to protect its future and ensure it delivers for the whole of the UK.

‘But we’re safeguarding what matters most to people – first class mail six days a week at the same price throughout the UK, and a price cap on second class stamps.’

And Royal Mail chief executive Emma Gilthorpe said: ‘Ofcom has recognised the urgent need for change so that the future of the universal service can be protected for all.

‘Our proposal was developed after speaking to thousands of people across the country and is designed to preserve what matters most for our customers – maintaining a one-price-goes-anywhere service to 32million UK addresses and first class deliveries six days a week.

‘As Ofcom’s analysis shows, it is no longer financially sustainable to maintain a network built for 20billion letters when we are now only delivering 6.7billion. Reform is crucial to support a modern, sustainable, and reliable postal service for our customers, our company and our people.’