Royal Mail fined £21m after post arrived late - Ofcom

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Royal Mail has been fined £21m after almost a quarter of first-class post arrived late, Ofcom has announced.

It is the third-largest fine the communications watchdog has ever issued and follows its investigation after Royal Mail missed its targets for both first and second-class post in 2024/25.

Ian Strawhorne, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said: "Millions of important letters are arriving late, and people aren't getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp."

Royal Mail said it will "continue to work hard to deliver further sustained improvements to our quality of service".

Royal Mail only delivered 77% of First Class mail and 92.5% of Second Class mail on time in the 2024/25 financial year, well short of its 93% and 98.5% targets.

This is the third time it has been fined over delivery delays in recent years, after Ofcom fined it £5.6m in November 2023 and £10.5m in December 2024.

Ofcom's investigation found the company "breached its obligations by failing to provide an acceptable level of service without justification".

It said the actions taken by Royal Mail to try and reach its targets were "insufficient and ineffective".

The fine, Ofcom said, reflected the "harm suffered by customers" as a result of Royal Mail's poor service.