The affected addresses sit under 16 local delivery offices and take in parts of Nottingham, Oxfordshire, Ashington, Ilfracombe and Pontyclun. According to Royal Mail, the problems are local rather than national, and the firm has apologised to customers caught up in the slower service.
Which Areas Are Affected This Weekend
Royal Mail said it aims to reach every address it holds mail for six days a week, but that this is not always achievable at a handful of offices. The company said this can temporarily prove impossible because of local issues such as high levels of sick absence, resourcing shortfalls or other local factors.
To soften the impact, the operator said it would rotate deliveries so that no single customer is left waiting too long, and that the offices under pressure were being given targeted support to bring service back to normal. “We’re sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding,” the company added.
The delivery offices flagged by Royal Mail for this weekend are: Aberdare (CF44, CF45); Ashington (NE22, NE62 to NE64); Banbury (OX15 to OX17); Bicester (OX25, OX26, OX27); Bridge of Don (AB22, AB23); Chipping Norton (OX7); Flint (CH6 and CH8); Huntingdon (PE26 to PE29); Ilfracombe (ME13); Lydney (GL15); Nottingham City (NG1, NG3); Oxford East (OX3, OX4, OX33, OX44, OX49); Pontyclun (CF72); Portslade (BN41, BN42); Tarporley (CW6); and Tobermory (PA75).
A Difficult Year and Tighter Targets
The latest warning follows a testing period for the postal service. Royal Mail was fined £21million by Ofcom in October after falling short of its delivery obligations. Across 2024 to 2025 the company delivered just 77% of First Class post and 92.5% of Second Class post on time, both beneath the standards expected of it by the regulator.
Royal Mail has since set out fresh commitments. It is working to lift First Class Next Day delivery to around 85% within nine months, before reaching the 90% level required by Ofcom within a year. For Second Class letters, the company has pledged to deliver 93% within three days over a nine-month period, with the aim of hitting the 95% target by May next year.
Royal Mail acknowledged what it described as a challenging start to the year but maintained that performance was on the mend. By March, according to the company, it was delivering 81.1% of First Class mail within one working day and 90.2% of Second Class mail within three working days.
Jamie Stephenson, Royal Mail’s chief operating officer, said the firm was investing heavily in reliability, while cautioning that improvement on this scale would take time. “We’re putting significant investment into improving reliability and reaching these new delivery targets, but delivering lasting change across a network of this scale takes time,” he said.
Stephenson pointed to reform of the Universal Service as central to the plan, describing it as a way to adapt the network to how people now send and receive mail while protecting the single-price, goes-anywhere service. He said Royal Mail intended to roll out its new delivery model to every delivery office before the Christmas peak, with clear targets set for each quarter as the changes are introduced.
He added that early figures for this year suggested the company was tracking in line with the plan and moving in the right direction. For now, customers in the listed postcodes have been advised to expect delays over the weekend, with normal deliveries due to resume once the affected offices return to full strength.
