1st class up 10p, 2nd class up 4p in half-yearly rates changes on 7 April 2026, new stamps 26 March.

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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Surprise new service and prices from 1 January 2026

Unexpectedly - and not announced to business users via the usual email or letter - Royal Mail have issued another 'Our Prices' leaflet from 5 January 2026. (Download it here.)

Strictly speaking there are no tariff changes, ie no prices have changed, but some services have changed including the elimination of 'International Signed".  Only International Tracked and Signed and International Tracked remain.

Summary

International Tracked and Signed is now for Documents only, and only up to 750g (ie no parcel rates).

International Tracked is for Goods, including gifts, and Documents may be sent but a Customs Declaration must be completed.  There is no (basic) letter rate; the cheapest option is for 100g Large Letters.

Printed Papers have been moved to a new section and include rates for International Tracked, International Standard (basic airmail) for which there is also no basic latter rate (minimum price for 250g is £8.95 to Europe), and ( listed in that order) International Tracked and Signed (again, no letter rates so minimum price £14.25) but including weight options for 1kg to 5kg.

I'm working from a pdf rather than hard copy, which makes comparison difficult, but I could almost believe there are copy & paste errors in this.  Why no Small Parcel rates for ITS unless they are printed papers?  Why no Large Letter rates for printed papers under 250g?

I'll leave this for readers to pursue safe in the knowledge that only the dealers and collector-sellers will be affected!

 

 

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Parcel and tracked prices to increase again from October 2025.

Parent company International Distribution Services (IDS) announcing a return to profit for Royal Mail for the year ending 31 March 2025,  and maybe as a result of this there are no changes to basic letter prices for the second half of this year.

Royal Mail significantly improved its financial and operational performance, returning to an adjusted operating profit (excluding voluntary redundancy costs) of £12 million for the first time in three years, following significant losses in 2022-23 and 2023-24. This is in line with guidance and was achieved despite an increasingly competitive and challenging trading environment.

Not included in the announcement, nor anywhere else in the IDS Media Centre pages, but included on the Royal Mail website is a new 'Our Prices' leaflet (pdf) effective from 6 October 2025.  

No change to inland letter prices

The headline news for most of us is that basic Letter and Large Letter prices remain unchanged for both 2nd and 1st class.  Prices for Small Parcels show very modest increases of 10p and 9p for 1st and 2nd class, whilst Medium Parcels rise by 4% or under.  (New prices in bold, unchanged in italics.)

	1st		2nd
Letter	1.70	1.70	0.87	0.87
Large Letter – 100g	3.15	3.15	1.55	1.55
- 250g	3.60	3.60	2.00	2.00
- 500g	3.60	3.60	2.40	2.40
- 750g	3.60	3.60	2.70	2.70
Small Parcel 2kg	5.09	4.99	3.99*	3.90
Medium Parcel 2kg	7.45	6.99	6.49	6.29
- 10kg	9.35	8.99	8.19	7.89
- 20kg	14.25	13.69	12.25	11.89

Signed For prices for Letters and Large Letters remain similarly unchanged whilst parcels show small rises.  (* Thanks to everybody who pointed out the error; the fact that it wasn't in italics showed that there was a change, I just didn't finish editing it.)

Tracked 24/48 prices show small rises across the board with a basic Large Letter (up to 750g) prices increased by 15p, to £3.80 (24) and £2.95 (48), with the same increases for the Signature option.  Parcels show small rises.

Special Delivery up to 100g rise 5.7% from £8.75 to £9.25, up to 500g from 4% from £9.85 to £10.25.  Those who choose the 9 a.m. option see 28% increase from £38.95 to £49.95 for the basic 100g weight! 

International rates.  The basic worldwide letter and postcard rate rises from £3.20 to £3.40 (6.25%) airmail and from £3.10 to £3.30 for Economy (surface). Prices for airmail Large Letters and Parcels for all Zones remain unchanged, while Economy rates over 250g increase.    Economy Small Parcels rise by from 17% to over 30%.

The good news is that prices for all premium services (International Signed, International Tracked, and International Tracked and Signed) remain unchanged. 

New stamp

This means that there will be a new £3.40 stamp.  More details when we have them from Royal Mail - readers say that the stamp will be issued on 30 September, from their standing order advice notes.

UPDATE 8 September:

A new £3.40 definitive stamp, representing the new international postage rate for letters up to
100g, will be introduced by Royal Mail on 30 September 2025. The £3.40 stamp is printed in Dark
Green. The King’s effigy appears alongside a 2D barcode printed in matching colour alongside the
main body of the stamp, separated by a simulated perforation line.

King Charles III £3.40 definitive in dark green, to be issued 30 September 2025.

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.

RM Product code DS2200 Dark Green: up to 100g all Europe & World Zones 

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Get ready for Christmas post delays

Ahead of the Christmas rush period for Royal Mail I thought I would post some of the predictions of postal workers - you know, the people at the coalface who actually know what is going on, rather than the suits in the boardroom and facing parliamentary committees who deny there is anything untoward.

I'm compiling this from the start of October and will publish when I think there is enough to make it interesting for readers. Most will be taken from Twitter (now known as X).

Friday 4 October

We are told we never prioritise tracked over LETTERS............ BUT due to space constraints we have to clear all packets and parcels because rolling them over causes a MAJOR health n safety issue, and H&S trumps everything else! So take all the tracked and leave the letters  [@CoahcPyrah]

Specific & explicit instruction to ensure tracked are done above all else.
"Premium product" is the phrase to watch out for now we're heading into Xmas pressure period.
It's not "ignoring letters" it's "focusing on premium products".
Newspeak. 2yrs on from strikes & worse now.    [@Angry_Postman]

But management deny telling us to prioritise tracked ‘premium products’ above all else  I suspect this Christmas will be without doubt the biggest s**t show any of us have ever seen  [@andy_cooper9]

 

 

Tues 8 October

30mins now entire office has been sat waiting for the last lorry. Who'd have thunk moving traffic* to rush hour would cause issues & network delays...

(* A couple of months back the last despatches from the mail centres to delivery offices have been put back an hour or so. This was presumably so that the Mail Centres could clear late arrivals but it no means that the lorry is caught in rush-hour traffic, delaying departure of your postie from the delivery office.)

14 November

I have a major access road closed till Xmas Eve on my round [@postmann26] - East Kent.

80 tracked, can't even fit it all in van. Ludicrous  [@Angry_Postman]

Explain why I'm to abandon letters (including several NHS ones & cards) - In order to deliver Amazon Prime packets? 

Important items such as a massive box of tissues. Sorry you don't get your hosp appointment/results but you don't matter as much as paper tissues [@Angry_Postman]

Some rounds at ours {office} haven't posted {delivered} a letter all week  [@Phil19703] - Northern Ireland

Update 27 November  - Things are building up now, what with Black Friday etc. And there are the houses covered in lights, etc.  Very festive but... (and it's only November).

And have today found my first Xmas Wreath across the door blocking letterbox. The annual tradition of marking your home as inaccessible and no post for you.  [@Angry_Postman]

Can't finish a delivery because a [HQ manager] doesn't understand rush hour...  I reversed at 1mph down a lane almost 1/2 mile long as gate was shut. [Picture of on-screen Road Safety Message about reversing.] No way I'm going against instruction. [@Angry_Postman]

And now I have, with break, 4hrs 13mins. Which isn't possible. Today fails because lorry was 35mins late, as is always the case on a Tuesday. Utter clownshow.  [@Angry_Postman]

Our final lorry now doesn’t turn up until 8:15 which is no good on days like today where we were all worked up & ready by just before 8am!  [SpiderMan72]

We can't move for parcels! Letters again pushed to 1 side. We have 10 extra parcel duties and we still can't cope! [Nick Pyrah]

Update 28 November 

Genuine question - why am I told to return letters if needs be in order to deliver Amazon Prime packages? Who do I work for again?  [@Angry_Postman]

very year at this time is the same we bail out every one else with no thank you!! & the public get mislead yet again... & do we see anything from this do we b*****s [SmallArsenalCoknee]

I remember it used to be an actual Offence to delay the Mail..Posties got on Buses free when they'd the " Bag " on them.  [Auntygoya]

 

 

 

 

(If anybody has any other verified stories from the postal system, please send them.)

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News snippets for September 2024

Greetings everybody, we're back from Ireland where the weather was much better than it has been, and remains, here in the UK.    A taste of this was the yellow alert issued for the eastern side of Northern Ireland after we sailed to Scotland on Wednesday, and what we had for a considerable time in Co Durham and the north east yesterday which continues today- after a sunny interlude across Lincolnshire yesterday afternoon - in Norfolk.

It's happened before that important announcements are made when we take a break, so this is a quick acknowledgement to the many people who have written in the last three weeks.

The following topics will be covered in blog posts soon:

- September slogan postmarks

- Postage rate increase meaning a new airmail rate stamp (and Royal Mail have confirmed that there will be no more airmail rate country definitives.

- outstanding orders: sorry I forgot to shut the shop so a few orders have been delayed.

- the person who wrote about Universal Mail will get a reply eventually!

- forgeries and how Royal Mail is dealing with them

- amazingly incorrect information being supplied by Post Office branches including Crown Offices. (You don't have to use old stamps before the price increase!)

- I'll also be writing about blog comments which have not been published.  Comments must be relevant to the post they are on.

UPDATE  So circumstances conspired to prevent my dealing with these in a timely manner.

1. Royal Mail is not presently surcharging any mail which apparently has postage paid with a forgery, so no 'yellow-label' mail at present.  This despite the scanner addition to the Royal Mail app, and Stanley Gibbons being engaged to adjudicate on disputes over surcharged non-forgeries.

2. There was a short spate of incorrect information being provided by POs, in comments here, by emails to me in August, and on social media platforms.  Sadly I have lost track of where so this topic will await new instances and reports.

3. This continues, unfortunately, and often from people who are either anonymous or who I don't know from their nickname.  Comments must be relevant to the post they are on.  I am not going to reply, even when the topic is worth it, on a comment which is irrelevant to the subject post.  

Also, if you have a question or a comment on something older or more obscure, it is worth using the search box a the top left, to find out if this has been the subject of an earlier blog post.   We have covered the new Tracked 24 and 48 service and the fact that you can NOT use stamps for it.  And that compensation on Signed For has dropped from £50 to £20.  But if you still have questions about that, then that is the place to ask them, or use email.

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You can use stamps for posting Special Delivery and other premium mail.

You knew that, of course?  We all do - we've been using the postal service for up to 60 years and we know what's what, more or less - until the rules change.

So why raise the point?  Well the problem lies mainly with Business users, but I can see that the misinformation currently being spread by Royal Mail could also start coming from Post Office especially as more and more new people are employed in customer-facing positions.

Just as an aside on this last point, after the stamp alongside was withdrawn from sale in mid-2021, I took some mail to a sub-PO counter in a local Co-op corner shop.  

It weighed more than 100g, so I used one of these stamps and others. The person who served me didn't recognise it, didn't know how much it was worth, so didn't know whether the item was fully paid, and declined to accept it.  I had to take it to the local Crown Office where no such problems exist.

Anyway, I digress.  This (below in red) is what a business user was told by Royal Mail Business Customer Service when he tried to claim on a delayed Special Delivery packet:

that Postage Stamps would not be valid for paying the fee and that the use of barcodes (which we have on rolls of 250/500) could not be used.

That this was being phased out and that customers were advised last January. People using these barcodes and postage stamps as payment would have the item Surcharged.

She said that you have 3 ways to get a Barcode and have it paid for.

1) Online and Pay by credit card

2) Take it to the Post Office and get a computer generated Barcode.

3) Use a Franking Machine

 

Like I said above, misinformation - in the extreme.  So I also phoned Royal Mail Business Customer Service and had a very interesting discussion. 

Being an ex-civil servant and knowing the way bureaucracies work, I declined to accept what I was told (which was much the same).  I pointed out that until recently Royal Mail actually issued stamps which had a Special Delivery inscription for two weights.

I politely suggested that the Customer Service Assistant went and asked someone who had worked in Royal Mail for a long time, as I had - just the previous week - sent some invalidated stamps to the Swapout scheme, using stamps to pay for Special Delivery, and another by International Tracked to Canada.

(It would be nice if Royal Mail changed their 'hold' music from a short loop.  (When I called my car insurance company this week I was treated to a long play list of Beatles hits!)  It doesn't take long for it to become tedious.)

Eventually the point was conceded, but I was reminded that the items must be posted at a Post Office counter, not in a street box.  I should have held back, but replied that, "yes, that is the way that it has been since registration was introduced in the 19th century".   

I have now got written (email) confirmation of the point - although this really only addresses people posting at Post Office, but not businesses who have their mail collected.  I hope to get clarification on that soon.

UPDATE 31 July:  As this question was originally raised on behalf of business account users who often have their mail collected - who had been told that they would not be able to use stamps - I pushed the question again for business collections, and received this answer.

So provided businesses can get the silver or orange (or international) labels - which they cannot order from Royal Mail - they can carry on as normal.

 

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No Tracked 24/48 at Post Offices Yet

When the new postal tariff was announced one new service was included in the rates leaflet.  This was Tracked 24/48.

But on Thursday 28th, just before the Easter holiday, Post Office branches were told that there had been a breakdown in the negotiations between Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd about income share, and the service is not yet available.

My contact was unable to say when it might happen, and - until more information was received by them - unable to say whether stamps would be accepted as postage.  (A comment on the original post suggested that they would not be.)

If stamps are not accepted - and there is nothing in the rates leaflet to indicate one way or the other - this would be the only service apart from those operated by ParcelForce for which stamps could not be used.

UPDATE 15 July 2024  'Harry' reports that these services have now gone live at all post offices in WHSmith branches.  There is no option to prepay in stamps neither the whole nor part of the cost.  This is a photo of the screen with the 'Pre-paid' button greyed out.

Horizon screen when Tracked 24/48 being purchased - no option to prepay in stamps.

 

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Royal Mail Tracked® - a new service coming to a Post Office near you.

A new service was shown in this year's new Postal Rates leaflet. Referred to in the main heading as UK Tracked, but branded as Royal Mail Tracked® this offers yet another level of protection/tracking for mail within the UK. It also seems to offer a better option for posting packages to customers!

This service did not start on 2 April as suggested by the rates leaflet. See new post for more news.

A recap

Existing services are UK Guaranteed, branded as Special Delivery with 9am and 1pm and Saturday Guarantees, with various optional levels of compensation, and weights starting at 100g.  Minimum price will be £7.95 from 2 April 2024.

The other current service is UK Signed which we all know as Royal Mail Signed For. Many members of the public think that as this has a barcode it can be tracked, but the original branding described it exactly - Recorded Delivery.  Nothing more, nothing less - a signature on delivery (probably).  This mail is handled in just the same way as UK Standard 1st & 2nd class mail and is subject to just the same delays. There is no penalty for not delivering within the regulator's targets and so no pressure on delivery office managers to get delivery done.

Minimum price for 1st class is £3.05 (Large £3.80), 2nd class £2.55 (Large £3.25): from 2 April compensation is reducing from £50 to £20.

New Service

Royal Mail Tracked provides photo-proof of delivery and compensation up to £150.   Currently this service is only available with online postage, although once paid online labels can be printed at Post Offices.   Labels like this are produced

Update 31 July 2024.  The example I showed above is marked (at top right) 'Postage on Account GB'. 

A new Tracked 48 label arrived today which, I think, may have been produced after payment at the Post Office counter.  This has different details, including the Branch Code, VAT code, and only  a QR-type code, not a normal barcode, and the cost of £2.70.  

Tracked 48 label believed to have been generated at a Post Office branch.

 

If it had been sent by ordinary post it would have cost £1.55, but Signed For would have cost £3.25 (both 2nd class).   So if you have no particular reason to use stamps, and every reason (eg eBay sale) to obtain a tracking number, this would seem to be the sensible option.  I think we may see more of these as time goes on, although for sellers who buy discounted postage (not counterfeit) at 80% or less, then Signed For would be an option for the same sort of price, although this is not tracked during its journey.

Unlike for Special Delivery, Royal Mail's online tracker does not show where Tracked 24/48 was posted (Shepperton PO), only the intermediate points (in this case Jubilee and Norwich Mail Centres); it then shows 'delivery' to the PO Box by Dereham DO.

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The Tracked24 service provides

    •    Tracking to delivery point
    •    Photo on delivery
    •    SMS or email notifications to recipients
    •    Next working day delivery aim
    •    Compensation cover up to £150
    •    Change your delivery options before delivery is attempted

Tracked48 aims to deliver in 2-3 working days, but otherwise the same services.

This is the service which will now be available at Post Offices on demand.  At this stage branches don't know much about it but it seems that whilst normally Horizon labels will be used (and a new code, perhaps?), it will also be possible to prepay in stamps before you leave home!  Wrong - see below; stamps cannot be used.

There is no rate for letters (although letters may be sent at the Large Letter rate) the lowest price is £3.50 for a Large Letter up to 750g for Tracked24 and £2.70 for Tracked48.  The signed option costs more.

So how does this compare with existing services?

The cheapest way to send a letter will still be under a pound at 85p (2nd class) and £1.35 (1st class).  

But for dealers sending out orders, or collectors sending (say) first day covers to the postmarking centres or selling on online platforms, this could be a much better option than Royal Mail Signed For.  EBay, for example, prefer items to be tracked - and Signed For doesn't involve tracking.

If a signature is not obtained every time, or is so illegible as not to indicate who actually signed for the package, then what use is Signed For?

Prices for 750 grammes (I have compared Tracked48 with 2nd class and Tracked 24 with 1st.):

2nd class: standard - £2.70;  signed for - £4.40;  Tracked48 - £2.70;   Tracked48 with signature - £4.40.

1st class:  standard - £3.50;  signed for - £5.20;  Tracked24 - £3.50;   Tracked24 with signature - £5.20.

So rather than send packages by 1st class Signed For (when we don't actually need a signature) we can send them by Tracked48 for 80p less or Tracked24 for the same amount as standard post. 

Yes, you can get your 750g mail Tracked without paying any extra!   

A basic 2nd class Signed For letter at £2.55 is only 15p less than Tracked48 without signature. Similarly a 100g 1st class Signed For Large Letter at £3.80 is 60p less than Tracked 48 with signature but much more than Tracked 48 without.

If tracking is preferable to a signature then 15p is a reasonable price to pay.

Impact on Services

Services will only be impacted if people take advantage of this new option - and if I have understood everything correctly!

Post Office branches will deal with more over the counter work than previously. Even if you take Standard Letters into branch to get a certificate of posting, that has go to be quicker than Tracked processing.

Royal Mail Deliveries are already suffering and workers on the coal face say that tracked parcels are prioritised over ordinary letters (which includes Signed For).  Corporate management deny that this is policy but the fact remains that it is happening.   So if we send Tracked24/48 they will have even more to prioritise.  

I feel sorry for the people who don't get their mail when they should: we have absolutely no trouble locally - if I can send an order to Skye on Friday and have the cheque on Tuesday, then it couldn't be any better.

But UKTracked is certainly going to be worth considering from now on.

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UPDATE 15 July 2024  'Harry' reports that these services have now gone live at all post offices in WHSmith branches.  There is no option to prepay in stamps neither the whole nor part of the cost.  This is a photo of the screen with the 'Pre-paid' button greyed out.

Horizon screen when Tracked 24/48 being purchased - no option to prepay in stamps.

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