Royal Mail to change “per surname” mail redirection policy

Royal Mail is to change its mail redirection policy which charges per surname, following criticism from Citizens Advice that the policy penalises unmarried couples or spouses who keep their own names.

Currently customers pay an upfront fee per surname to have a mail redirection service in place for a designated length of time.

However, the policy, which also affects children and elderly relatives who have different surnames to the householders, adversely affects anyone who doesn’t fit the traditional nuclear family model.

“Royal Mail’s redirection service is an important offer to consumers yet its pricing structure is unfair, outdated and too costly,” Citizens Advice said in a press release, stating that 55% of people who moved house within the last two years in the UK lived with someone who had a different surname to them.

“Consumers are facing a double whammy,” said Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, pointing out that Royal Mail has drastically increased the price of the service while keeping the pricing structure the same.

“We’re calling on Royal Mail to change its redirection service to no longer charge per surname within the same household. As the dedicated universal service provider, it has a duty to make sure this service is fair and affordable.”

Royal Mail confirmed that it is in the process of reviewing the pricing structure.

“We wrote to Citizens Advice last week, before the report was issued, to confirm that we will change the pricing structure of our popular redirections service away from a per surname basis or anything similar. We are currently working on the details of this new pricing structure and will share once finalised.”

(Source: The Guardian)