The price of stamps will rise by up to 13% from 2 April. If you can, buy them soon to lock in the current costs.
A standard first-class stamp will shoot up by 10p to £1.35 and a large letter will set you back an extra 15p, priced at £2.10.
Second-class stamps are also rising by 10p and will cost 85p from 2 April, whereas a large letter will remain at £1.55.
Elsewhere the price of the ‘signed for’, ‘special delivery guarantee’, and ‘tracked’ services for sending your parcel or letters will also increase.
A ‘signed-for’ letter up to 100g in weight will now cost £3.05, and a small parcel that weighs up to 2kg will cost £5.99 to send first class.
The latest round of price hikes is the third time in a year that first-class stamps for a standard-sized letter have surged. In April 2023, prices jumped from 95p to £1.10, and there was a further 15p mark-up in October.
‘Couldn’t come at worse time’
Morgan Wild, interim director of policy at Citizens Advice, said: “Inflation has impacted everything we buy, so these price increases couldn’t come at a worse time. But while average product prices have risen by 22% since 2019, the price of a first-class stamp has soared, almost doubling in that time.
“Royal Mail is choosing to hike prices at a time when millions are left waiting for letters – vital medical appointments, legal documents and benefit decisions – all thanks to post delays. Nobody should be paying more for an unreliable service.”
‘Letter volumes have reduced dramatically’
Reasons for the rises are wage increases and the requirement to provide a service for six days per week, according to the Royal Mail.
Nick Landon, its chief commercial officer (CCO), said: “We always consider price changes very carefully, but we face a situation where letter volumes have reduced dramatically over recent years while costs have increased.
“It is no longer sustainable to maintain a network built for 20 billion letters when we are now only delivering seven billion.”
Landon added: “As a result of letter volume decline, our posties now have to walk more than three times as far to deliver the same number of letters as before, increasing the delivery costs per letter.”
Bulk-buy to save on sending letters is recommended
To save money, personal finance expert Martin Lewis recommends you stock up on stamps next time you head to the Post Office.
The founder of MoneySavingExpert.com said: “For years, every time stamps go up in price I’ve suggested people stock up and bulk-buy in advance as, provided the stamp doesn’t have a price on it and instead just says the postage class, it’s still valid after the hike.
“This has been an effective tactic, as a first-class letter stamp is now £1.25, soon to be rising to £1.35 – in 2012 it was just 60p. So you may as well stock up now.”
