Royal Mail delivery delays hit 35 UK postcodes this weekend

Royal Mail has announced that numerous postcode areas across the UK will experience delayed deliveries this weekend. The postal service typically delivers letters six days a week, with parcel deliveries also operating on Sundays.

However, the company has confirmed disruptions to its network for Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7. 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.” The disruptions are affecting locations including Nottingham, Oxfordshire, Ashington, Ilfracombe and Pontyclun.

Royal Mail has come under fire over late deliveries and was handed a £21million fine by Ofcom in October as a result. The firm fell short of its targets after delivering just 77% of First Class post and 92.5% of Second Class post on time during 2024 to 2025.

This year, Royal Mail has pledged to meet improved targets. The company is working towards boosting First Class Next Day delivery to approximately 85% within nine months, before achieving the 90% target mandated by regulator Ofcom within a year.

Royal Mail also pledged to deliver 93% of Second Class letters within three days over a nine-month period, with plans to achieve the 95% target by May next year.

The postal service acknowledged a “challenging start to the year” but maintained that improvements were underway.

By March, Royal Mail reported it was delivering 81.1% of First Class mail within one working day and 90.2% of Second Class mail within three working days.

Jamie Stephenson, Royal Mail’s chief operating officer, said: “We’re putting significant investment into improving reliability and reaching these new delivery targets, but delivering lasting change across a network of this scale takes time.

“Universal Service reform is a key part of that, helping us adapt the network to reflect how people send and receive mail today while protecting the one-price- goes-anywhere service for the future.

“We have a plan to deploy the new delivery model to all delivery offices across the country by the Christmas peak period and have set clear targets for each quarter as changes are introduced across the network. Early performance this year shows we are tracking in line with the plan and moving in the right direction.”