Royal Mail to hike stamp prices again in April

The Royal Mail will raise the price of stamps again next month as the company struggles with a decline in the number of letters being posted.

The price of a first class and second class stamp will increase by 10p to £1.35 and 85p respectively from 2 April.

It comes after Royal Mail raised the cost of stamps twice in 2023.

A year ago, a first class stamp cost 95p before being hiked to £1.10 in April. The price was increased again to £1.25 six months later.

Chief commercial officer Nick Landon said: “We always consider price changes very carefully but we face a situation where letter volumes have reduced dramatically over recent years while costs have increased.

“It is no longer sustainable to maintain a network built for 20 billion letters when we are now only delivering seven billion.”

He added: “As a result of letter volume decline, our posties now have to walk more than three times as far to deliver the same number of letters as before, increasing the delivery costs per letter.”

Read more from Sky News:
Thomas Kingston died of ‘traumatic head wound’
Man jailed for ‘sacrificing’ girlfriend and her three relatives
‘Last photo’ of Hairy Bikers together weeks before star’s death

It comes after regulator Ofcom launched a consultation into a proposed shake-up of the Royal Mail’s Universal Service Obligation, and suggested the firm could be allowed to cut its letter deliveries to three or five days a week.

The Communication Workers Union warned that the outcome of the review was “predetermined” and that cuts to Royal Mail’s letter delivery service could lead to tens of thousands of job losses.

Ofcom’s consultation is due to end in April.

The Royal Mail, which is owned by International Distributions Services, recorded a £419m loss in its previous financial year.

It was also fined £5.6m in 2023 for missing delivery targets.