Price of first class stamp increases to £1.80

The price of stamps has risen again, with the cost of a first class stamp jumping by 10p to £1.80.

The increase came into effect on Tuesday despite repeated failures by Royal Mail to meet its delivery targets and amid growing concerns over the performance of the service.

The changes also mean that the price of a second class stamp has risen by 4p to 91p.

Stamps bought before the price increase will remain valid and can still be used for postage.

It means the cost of a first class stamp has now more than doubled – by 137% – in the past six years after eight increases, while the cost of a second class stamp has been hiked six times.

The latest increase comes after Royal Mail said in February that it had missed delivery targets once again in the most recent quarter.

Announcing the decision last month, Royal Mail said the price change reflected the continued rise in the cost of delivery as letter volumes fell and the number of addresses surged.

Richard Travers, managing director of letters at Royal Mail, said: “We always consider price changes very carefully, balancing affordability with the rising cost of delivering mail.

“On average, UK adults now spend just £6.50 each year on stamps and there are 70% fewer letters sent than 20 years ago.

“In the meantime, the number of addresses we deliver to has increased by four million to 32 million addresses across the UK.”

The last time Royal Mail met its annual target for delivering first class post on time was in 2019-20.

The firm – whose owner International Distribution Services (IDS) was bought last June for £3.6 billion by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group – repeated its call to “urgently move forward” with reforms to the service.