Royal Mail: This agreement with the CWU paves the way for Universal Service reform rollout

Royal Mail has today reached agreement with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) on the deployment of Universal Service reform.

The agreement also includes a pay rise and a series of enhanced terms and conditions for delivery and processing CWU-grade colleagues who joined on or after 1 December 2022. The CWU will shortly issue a consultative ballot.

 240 delivery offices will start piloting the Universal Service changes while the CWU consultative ballot is taking place, ahead of a wider rollout across the company’s 1,200 delivery offices.  The full rollout is expected to be complete by December 2026. The new Universal Service delivery model, developed with the CWU, incorporates a range of learnings from 35 offices which began piloting the changes last year.

Previously the Universal Service Obligation required Royal Mail to deliver First Class and Second Class letters six days a week, Monday to Saturday. Letter volumes have declined from 20 billion a year at their peak in 2004-05 to 6.3 billion a year in 2024-25 and the average household now receives only four letters a week, down from 14. Ofcom made changes to the postal regulations in July 2025 to ensure the Universal Service remains sustainable, affordable and reliable.

The changes allow Royal Mail to deliver Second Class letters every other weekday, Monday to Friday.

There will be no changes to:

• The one-price-goes-anywhere service to all parts of the United Kingdom
• First Class letters delivered daily, six days a week (Monday to Saturday)
• The option of First Class and Second Class letters, giving people the choice of price and speed
• Parcels delivered up to seven days a week.

In addition to the agreement on the rollout of Universal Service reform, Royal Mail and the CWU have agreed a pay rise and enhanced terms and conditions for new entrants who joined Royal Mail on or after 1 December 2022 including:

• A 4.75% pay rise backdated to 1 April 2026. CWU-grade colleagues on legacy contracts^[1] will receive a 3% pay increase, in line with the April 2025 three-year pay agreement
• From 1 June 2026 all new entrant contracts for people joining the company will be based on a standard working week of 37 hours
• As part of Universal Service change deployment, c.6,000 part-time posties will be able to increase their average weekly hours if they choose to and there is a business need.

Royal Mail and the CWU have also agreed to invest in a number of people-focussed initiatives which will benefit frontline colleagues financially and support their development. These include a new delivery site incentive scheme to reward colleagues when their site exceeds agreed performance targets, alongside launching a new way to help our people build their skills and open more opportunities to grow their career at Royal Mail.

 Alistair Cochrane, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Mail said: “This agreement with the CWU paves the way for Universal Service reform rollout and represents a significant investment in our people.   “Moving ahead with reform will make a real difference to Royal Mail’s quality of service, supporting the delivery of a reliable, efficient and financially sustainable postal service for our customers across the UK.”