Royal Mail has
announces new tariffs effective from 7 April 2026, new stamps on 26 March 2026.
"From 7 April 2026
the price of Second Class stamps will increase by 4p to 91p and the
price of First Class stamps will be £1.80, an increase of 10p.
"The new price of a
Second Class stamp remains 65p below the European average price of
£1.56 and a First Class stamp is 13p below the European average of
£1.93. Under the Universal Service in France, Germany and Spain
customers only have the option of paying for a three-day service.
France charges £1.92 for a Second Class stamp, 12p more than a First
Class, next day, service in the UK.
"The stamp price rises reflect the continued rise
in cost of delivery for every letter as letter volumes decline and
the number of addresses increases. The average household now receives
only four letters per week, down from 14 at their peak over 20 years
ago, while the number of addresses has risen by four million.
"Richard Travers, Managing Director of
Letters at Royal Mail said: “We always consider price
changes very carefully, balancing affordability with the rising cost
of delivering mail. On average, UK adults now spend just £6.50 each
year on stamps and there are 70% fewer letters sent than 20 years
ago. In the meantime, the number of addresses we deliver to has
increased by four million to 32 million addresses across the UK.”
(Press
release)
New tariff analysis
(New prices in bold, reduced
in red, unchanged in italics.)
|
|
1st
|
2nd
|
|
Letter
|
1.80
|
1.70
|
0.91
|
0.87
|
|
Large Letter – 100g
|
3.30
|
3.15
|
1.55
|
1.55
|
|
- 250g
|
3.60
|
3.60
|
1.90
|
2.00
|
|
- 500g
|
3.60
|
3.60
|
2.40
|
2.40
|
|
- 750g
|
3.60
|
3.60
|
2.70
|
2.70
|
|
Small Parcel 2kg
|
5.45
|
5.09
|
4.25
|
3.99
|
|
Medium Parcel 2kg
|
8.05
|
7.45
|
6.95
|
6.49
|
|
- 10kg
|
10.05
|
9.35
|
8.75
|
8.19
|
|
- 20kg
|
15.45
|
14.25
|
13.15
|
12.25
|
Signed For
prices for 1st class Letters rise by 20p, and Large Letters by
10-25p; 2nd class letter is up by 14p, Large Letters by 10p. Parcels
show rises across the board.
Tracked 24/48 prices
show small rises with basic Large Letter (up to 1lg) prices increased
by 10p to £3.95 (24) and by 35p to £3.30 (48).
Parcels show 5-7% rises.
Special Delivery up
to 100g rise 7.5% from £9.25 to £9.95, up to 500g from 6.8%
from £10.25 to £10.85. The 9 a.m. option increases are
lower this year from £49.95 to £53.95 for the basic 100g
weight!
International rates.
The basic worldwide letter and postcard rate rises by 20p
again from £3.40 to £3.60 (5.8%) airmail and from £3.30 to
£3.50 for Economy (surface).
The price for airmail Large Letters up to 100g
increases by 30p to all zones (so from £3.50 to £3.80 for
Europe, £4.30 to £4.60 worldwide); other weight bands rise
by around 6%.
International premium services
The price for
100g International Tracked
to Europe increases from £9.75 to £9.95.
Outside Europe the rises vary from 10% in Zones 1 & 2 to only 5%
for Zone 3 (USA – possibly compensating for both reduced volume,
and the administration fee for processing US Tariffs).
I haven't had
time to do a comprehensive comparison, especially of rates which are
less used like Tracked
Small Parcels, but one
that stands out is the World Zone 1. Whilst Zone 2 rates stay the
same at all weights, Zone 3 (USA) increases by about 6% (with a note
that this is subject to change!), Zone 1 (which is the whole world
except the USA, Europe and Oceania) shows some increases by a massive
25% (which means for 250g from £16.00 to £19.90), and for 2kg 16%
from £31.70 to £36.90.
There are
smaller rises for the now 'Documents only' International Tracked and
Signed where the compensation has been reduced from £50 to £20 to
match the standard airmail.
New Stamps from 26 March 2026 (updated in blue)
There will be
three new stamps, for the 100g letter rates, costing a nice round £12
for the set (DS2400).
DS2400A £3.60 Purple Heather for letter rates - Printed 13/01/26
DS2400B £3.80 Aqua Green for Large letter to Europe - Printed 14/01/26
DS2400C £4.60 Sapphire Blue for Large letter to the rest of the world - Printed 15/01/26
 |
| Pre-issue publicity images of airmail stamps to be issued 27 March 2026. |
The stamps are printed in press sheets of 8 panes; I have Col 1 Row 4 of the £3.60, Col 2 Row 2 of the £3.80 and of the £4.60. The coding is, as it should be, MAIL M26L.
Royal Mail
customers with a regular order for definitive stamp sets will receive
this set as part of their ongoing subscription. There will also
be an official first day cover and single-stamp presentation pack.
Other charges
The cost of a
PO Box will be increased by 12% to £416.40. Twelve months'
redirection, which was 100x the 2nd class rate at £87 is increased
to £95.
Context for older stamps
I've been looking at some older Post and Go sets. A Collector's set of Poppies bought in only 2018 cost £8.18. The postage value at the new rates will be almost two-and-a-half times that at £19.50!
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