Royal Mail has come under renewed fire after research found it failed to deliver Christmas letters and cards on time to around 16 million people, the worst festive performance in five years outside periods of strike action.

The findings, published by Citizens Advice, suggest the number of people affected by delays over Christmas 2025 was 50 per cent higher than in 2024, highlighting what campaigners describe as a persistent deterioration in postal services.

Anne Pardoe, head of policy at Citizens Advice, said the scale of disruption was “simply unacceptable”, particularly given that many households have no alternative postal provider.

“We’re afraid there’s no light at the end of the tunnel for consumers struggling with Royal Mail’s persistent delivery failures,” she said. “When people have no other postal provider to choose from, the sheer volume of delays is unacceptable.”

The research, based on a survey of almost 2,100 adults conducted by Yonder, found that 5.7 million of those affected missed out on receiving important correspondence, including health appointments, benefit decisions, fines and legal documents.

Pardoe warned that the problem went far beyond late Christmas cards. “This is a worrying trend, and with cuts to delivery days looming, Ofcom must crack down harder on missed targets before things go from bad to worse,” she said.

Ofcom does not apply its standard delivery targets to Royal Mail during the busy festive period, a long-standing exemption that consumer groups have criticised.

Royal Mail rejected claims that its Christmas performance was poor. A spokesperson said: “Independent data shows that more than 99 per cent of items posted by the last recommended dates arrived in time for Christmas. This was during our busiest time of year, when volumes more than double, and we’re grateful to our teams across the country who worked incredibly hard to deliver for customers.”

The disruption came during the first Christmas since the £3.6bn takeover of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services, by Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský.

In July, Ofcom approved plans allowing Royal Mail to end second-class deliveries on Saturdays and move to an alternating weekday service from Monday to Friday, a change that has fuelled concerns about further declines in reliability.

At the same time, the cost of postage has risen sharply. A first-class stamp now costs £1.70 — more than double its 2020 price — while a second-class stamp costs 87p. Citizens Advice said 36 per cent of those surveyed sent fewer Christmas cards this year because stamps were too expensive.

Royal Mail has not met its Ofcom-mandated delivery targets for first-class post since 2017, or for second-class mail since 2020. In October, the regulator fined the company £21m for missing annual targets.

“Any future stamp price increases should be conditional on Royal Mail meeting these targets,” Pardoe said.

The challenges facing the service reflect a long-term shift in usage. A decade ago, Royal Mail delivered around 20 billion letters a year; that figure has fallen to 6.7 billion and could drop to 4 billion within four years. Over the same period, the number of addresses served has increased by around four million.

Royal Mail also faced criticism ahead of Christmas after downgrading a staff perk, replacing books of first-class stamps with second-class stamps for employees.

Citizens Advice said the latest figures underline the need for tougher regulatory intervention, warning that without meaningful improvement, millions of consumers will continue to face delayed or missed deliveries for essential correspondence.

Amy Ingham

Amy is a newly qualified journalist specialising in business journalism at Business Matters with responsibility for news content for what is now the UK’s largest print and online source of current business news.

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