Royal Mail has issued a delivery disruption alert for a number of postcode areas across the UK. The delivery firm has shared a list of the postcodes most affected by delays.
As of Tuesday, May 19, there are delays across 16 UK postcode areas. Royal Mail said: “We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.
“In a small number of local offices, this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as high levels of sick absence, resourcing, or other local factors. In those cases, we will rotate deliveries to minimise the delay to individual customers.
“We also provide targeted support to those offices to address their challenges and restore our service to the high standard our customers would normally receive.”
It added: “We’re sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.” Over the past 24 hours, Royal Mail’s air and road network has operated to schedule.
View 2 ImagesSome areas won’t receive mail on time(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
All mail centres have also reported that mail was processed and dispatched on time. There will be delays across the UK next week due to the Spring Bank Holiday.
No deliveries or collections will take place on Monday, May 25, except in Ayr (KA6-KA8).
Royal Mail said: “We deliver and collect your mail on most days of the year, including Saturdays. However, we don’t usually deliver or collect on public or local holidays.”
The firm has faced criticism over late deliveries and was fined £21 million by Ofcom in October. It was issued for missing targets after it delivered just 77% of First Class post and 92.5% of Second Class post on time in 2024 to 2025.
Royal Mail has since vowed to meet its letter delivery targets by May 2027 as part of a £500 million turnaround.
To help meet the targets, Royal Mail is planning to axe its Saturday Second Class deliveries and move to alternate weekdays.
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This will mean deliveries three days one week, and two days the next. First Class Next Day delivery targets are aiming to improve to around 85% within nine months, before reaching the 90% target set by regulator Ofcom within a year.
Royal Mail also vowed to deliver 93% of Second Class letters within three days over the course of nine months, and to hit the 95% target by May next year.
- Ashington DO (NE22, NE62-NE64)
- Ilfracombe DO (EX34)
- New Ferry DO (CH32, CH62, CH63)
- Perth DO (PH1, PH2, PH14)
- Tweedale DO (TF3, TF4, TF7, TF8, TF12)