Royal Mail has reported improved delivery performance for both First and Second Class mail in the third quarter of the 2025-26 financial year.
The latest independently verified Quality of Service results, published by the company, cover the period from September 29 to November 30, 2025.
During the quarter, 91.6% of Second Class mail was delivered within three working days, while 98.4% arrived within five working days. For First Class mail, 77.5% of items were delivered the next working day and 96.6% were delivered within three working days.
According to Royal Mail, all performance figures improved compared with the previous quarter despite disruption caused by Storm Claudia, which led to flooding and transportation disruption in November.
Delivery targets set by postal regulator Ofcom are not applied during the Christmas period between December 1 and December 31 due to the significant increase in seasonal volumes.
Royal Mail said that during the 2025 Christmas period more than 99% of items posted by the final recommended dates arrived on time. The company said this marked the third consecutive year it had achieved that level of on-time delivery during the holiday period.
USO reform implementation
The operator also reiterated its view that longer-term service improvements will depend on reforms to the Universal Service Obligation (USO). In July 2025, Ofcom approved changes allowing Royal Mail to deliver Second Class mail every other weekday while maintaining six-day-a-week delivery for First Class mail from Monday to Saturday.
Royal Mail has been piloting a revised delivery model in 35 of its approximately 1,200 delivery offices while discussions with unions continue over nationwide implementation.
The company said the pilot program has demonstrated improved efficiency and service levels, including during the Christmas period when mail volumes doubled.
In a statement, the company affirmed that evidence from the pilots show that USO reform “will result in significant and sustained improvements in quality of service to customers.”
However, while Unite the Union agreed to the deployment of USO reforms last year, an agreement has not yet been reached with the Communication Workers Union. In January, discussions between Royal Mail and the union moved into the Achieving National Agreement Procedure.
Alistair Cochrane, CEO of Royal Mail, said, “While these results show improvements for both First and Second Class mail, we recognize that our performance in letters is still not good enough. Unfortunately, under the current delivery model there is no viable way to significantly and sustainably improve quality of service for customers.
“The answer is to urgently implement Universal Service reform, which is why we have now entered an intense period of discussions with the CWU to finally reach an agreement on these changes. We owe it to our customers and our people to provide an exceptional mail service, and we are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the CWU that finally allows us to do so.”