Citizens Advice responds to Ofcom's announcement on the future of the UK's postal service

Responding to Ofcom's announcement on the future of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and what this means for the millions of people who rely on the UK's postal service, Tom MacInnes, Interim Director of Policy at Citizens Advice, says:

“With Royal Mail failing to meet its targets for nearly half a decade, the current Universal Service Obligation (USO) clearly doesn’t protect consumers as it should.

“Reforms to the USO need to address this. They can't just be a disguise for cuts that prioritise saving Royal Mail money over providing a good standard of service.

“We agree that improving reliability and affordability is essential. But cutting deliveries won’t automatically lead to the more reliable service people need.

“Ofcom has acknowledged some of Royal Mail’s failings but we need to see that recognised with action. The regulator needs to make sure we have a USO that serves its basic purpose of protecting consumers - not Royal Mail’s bottom line.”

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

  3. Citizens Advice helped 2.66 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2022-23. And we had 60.6 million visits to our website. For full service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.

  4. Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 16,000 trained volunteers, working at over 1,600 service outlets across England and Wales.

  5. You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers.Citizens Advice responds to Ofcom's announcement on the future of the UK's postal service