Citizens Advice responds to the Ofcom review of postal regulations

Matthew Upton, Director of Policy at Citizens Advice, said:

“Shoppers have been faced with abysmal service in parcel deliveries for too long.

“For the second year running, we found more than two thirds of people had problems getting their parcel during the winter months - the busiest time of the year.

“We’re glad Ofcom is looking at how people can complain about deliveries and at how to make parcel deliveries easier for disabled people. But until the regulator starts monitoring firms’ performances and fining those which fall short, disappointing deliveries will remain the norm.”

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  • Citizens Advice, the consumer advocate for the postal sector, has been calling for stricter rules for parcel companies, better complaints processes, and fines from the regulator, Ofcom, if company negligence leads to parcels getting lost or stolen. This comes as the charity found consistent problems across the entire industry.

  • The Citizens Advice Parcel Delivery Company League 2021 table findings and methodology can be found here .

  • In 2020, Citizens Advice found that 7.1 million disabled people had a problem with parcel delivery in a single week. Ofcom’s proposals should mean that all parcel companies can deliver for everyone, regardless of their accessibility needs.

Notes to editors

  1. Citizens Advice is made up of the national charity Citizens Advice; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.

  2. Yonder Data Solutions conducted telephone polling for Citizens Advice, interviewing 2,008 adults from Great Britain between 2 and 20 February 2022. This follows research in 2021 during the weeks of 17 to 28 February. The research was weighted to be nationally representative of Great Britain. They asked:

  3. Our network of charities offers impartial advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. 

  4. We helped 2.4 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2020-21. And we had 40 million visits to our website. For full service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.

  5. Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 21,000 trained volunteers, working at over 2,600 service outlets across England and Wales.

  6. You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers.