The price of a first-class stamp will rise by 5p to £1.70 on 7 April, Royal Mail has introduced.
It should additionally increase the worth of a second-class stamp by 2p to 87p on the identical day.
The corporate mentioned the choice fastidiously thought of “balancing affordability with the rising price of delivering mail”.
Residents Recommendation described the change as “yet one more blow to shoppers”, and mentioned the change to the second class worth was “unjust”.
The variety of letters Royal Mail delivers has fallen from a peak of 20 billion in 2004-05 to six.6 billion final yr.
Nonetheless, the worth of stamps has continued to rise. Since 2022, Royal Mail has already hiked the price of a first-class stamp 5 instances from 85p to £1.65.
The subsequent improve, in April, was the end result – it mentioned – of delivering fewer letters to extra addresses.
“We all the time contemplate worth adjustments very fastidiously however the price of delivering mail continues to extend,” mentioned Nick Landon, chief industrial officer at Royal Mail.
“A posh and in depth community of vans, planes and 85,000 posties is required to make sure we will ship throughout the nation for simply 87p.”
However client advocate Residents Recommendation mentioned hundreds of thousands of individuals could be compelled to pay extra whereas additionally affected by postal delays.
“It is unjust for Royal Mail to lift the worth of a second-class stamp, whereas the regulator Ofcom seems to be at decreasing second-class deliveries to alternate weekdays,” mentioned Tom MacInnes, the charity’s director of coverage.
“As first-class stamps have gotten unaffordable, folks might be compelled by worth pressures into selecting a slower service.”
In January, regulator Ofcom proposed that Royal Mail ought to solely ship second-class letters each different weekday and never on Saturdays to guard the way forward for the UK’s postal trade.
The one-price-goes-anywhere Common Service Obligation (USO) means Royal Mail has to ship publish six days every week, from Monday to Saturday, and parcels on 5 from Monday to Friday.
Ofcom has launched a session on the brand new proposals, which is open to the general public till 10 April. A call is anticipated in the summertime.
Royal Mail’s guardian firm is being offered to a enterprise managed by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in a deal value £3.6bn, after the Labour authorities accepted the deal final yr.
The federal government will keep a “golden share” which suggests Mr Kretinsky’s enterprise must get approval for any adjustments to Royal Mail’s possession, the situation of its headquarters and its tax residency.
Royal Mail should additionally adhere to the USO, which Mr Kretinsky has pledged he’ll do for “so long as I’m alive”.
