Pensioners will be hardest hit by a 30p hike in the price of a first class stamp, furious campaigners claimed last night.
The cost will increase to £1.65 on Monday October 7, while second class stamps will remain at 85p.
It is the second increase in the price of a first class stamp in just six months after it went up 10p to £1.35 in April when the price of a second class stamp also went up 10p to the present 85p.
It means the price of a first class stamp has soared 32% this year alone.
Royal Mail bosses say they have tried to keep price rises as low as possible in the face of declining letter volumes, inflation and the costs associated with maintaining the Universal Service Obligation (USO) under which deliveries have to be made six days a week.
But Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “We are disappointed that stamp prices are rising since many older people are not online, so the post is their mainstay, both for paying bills and for sending and receiving greeting cards.
“It’s important to keep postal services affordable because otherwise some older people could be left high and dry, without a basic form of communication on which they have happily relied throughout their lives.”
Dennis Reed, director of pressure group Silver Voices, said: “Older people will be hammered again by the steep rise in the costs of a first class stamp, a 30% hike this year.
“It seems that Royal Mail is trying to price the letter business out of the market so that it can concentrate on the lucrative parcel business.”
He added: “Pensioners rely more than most on the postal service, often preferring to pay their bills that way and also receiving important NHS notifications through the letterbox.
“Royal Mail is already failing its obligations to the British public and we have had enough of this farce of a private business holding the Government to ransom.
“Just like failing rail companies, it should be nationalised at the end of its contract.”
Royal Mail says letter volumes have fallen from 20 billion in 2004/5 to around 6.7 billion a year in 2023/4.
The average household now receives just four letters a week, compared to 14 a decade ago.
But the number of addresses Royal Mail must deliver to has risen by four million in the same period.
Nick Landon, Royal Mail’s chief commercial officer, said: “We always consider price increases very carefully.
“However, when letter volumes have declined by two-thirds since their peak, the cost of delivering each letter inevitably increases.
“A complex and extensive network is needed to get every letter and parcel across the country for a single price – travelling on trucks, planes, ferries and in some cases drones before it reaches its final destination on foot.”
He added: “We are proud to deliver the universal service, but the financial cost is significant.
“The universal service must adapt to reflect changing customer preferences and increasing costs so that we can protect the one-price-goes anywhere service, now and in the future.”
Postal regulator Ofcom said earlier this week that Royal Mail could be allowed to drop Saturday deliveries for second class letters as part of an overhaul.
Under plans being considered, second class deliveries would only be on alternate weekdays, but delivery times would remain unchanged at up to three working days.
Ofcom said no decision had been made and it continues to review the changes.
