‘No light at the end of the tunnel for consumers’ as 2025 figure is 50% higher than previous year, says Citizens Advice
Royal Mail has been criticised for offering an “unacceptable” performance over the crucial Christmas period after it failed to deliver letters and cards on time to about 16 million people, Citizens Advice found.
The consumer watchdog, which carried out research into Christmas deliveries, said that figure was 50% higher than in 2024, and the highest level over the festive period in five years, excluding when Royal Mail was hit by strike action in the run-up to Christmas four years ago.
“We’re afraid there’s no light at the end of the tunnel for consumers struggling with Royal Mail’s persistent delivery failures,” said Anne Pardoe, the head of policy at Citizens Advice. “When people have no other postal provider to choose from, the sheer volume of delays is simply unacceptable.”
The research, based on a survey of almost 2,100 adults conducted by Yonder, calculated that 5.7 million of the 16 million who experienced delivery delays missed out on receiving important information, such as health appointments, fines, benefit decisions and legal documents.
