Ofcom “concerned” that Royal Mail has breached its rules
Royal Mail has issued an apology as the newly announced price of second class stamps was found to be in breach of Ofcom rules.
Royal Mail’s price increase on second class stamps to 61p, reported by Post & Parcel last week, breaks Ofcom’s current price cap of 60p, which is in place until April 1 2019.
Ofcom set the current price cap in 2012, when it allowed Royal Mail to increase the price of first and second class stamps by 14p.
The cap was set at 55p and would increase in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation, making the official cap 60.65p in 2019.
Ofcom had announced the cap will increase to 65p from 1 April, and then will rise in line with the annual CPI rate of inflation until April 2024.
The postal service has promised it will donate the extra money raised to charity.
Royal Mail said in a statement: “Due to an error on our part, our new 2nd class stamp price of 61p will be 1p above the existing regulatory price cap for seven days. We apologise for this mistake.
“We are putting this right by donating the revenue we expect to collect from the error – around £60,000 – to our chosen charity, Action for Children.
“We informed our regulator about the mistake as well.”
A spokesman for Ofcom said: “We’re very concerned that Royal Mail has exceeded the price cap and we are urgently seeking clarification from the company over how this happened.”
