Overview
- MPs on the Business and Trade Committee published a report in May 2026 that gives Ofcom six months to prove it can effectively regulate the modern postal market or face possible changes to the regulator’s statutory powers.
- Between April 2025 and January 2026 Royal Mail’s next-day first-class delivery rate dropped to 74.9%, about 18.1 percentage points below the target and equivalent to an estimated 126 million late letters.
- The committee said those delays had real harms for the public, with roughly 16 million people affected over Christmas 2025 and documented cases of missed hospital appointments, delayed benefit decisions, and penalty notices arriving too late to challenge.
- Ofcom says it has fined Royal Mail more than £37 million and has demanded a credible improvement plan, while Royal Mail has agreed a union-backed reform deal tied to a reported £500 million investment that must now be implemented.
- MPs criticised Royal Mail’s use of commercial confidentiality to withhold delivery data from Parliament and warned that if Ofcom cannot secure faster performance and better data access within six months the Secretary of State should consult on statutory reform.