Statement: Changes to Royal Mail’s regulatory reporting requirements

Ofcom wants people to have access to simple, affordable and reliable postal services that meet their needs.

In July 2022, we published a statement on our review of postal regulation. This included a decision to strengthen our monitoring regime in order to support the financial sustainability and efficiency of the universal postal service.

Royal Mail will now be required to submit to us annually a view of the financial sustainability of the universal service over a five-year period. It will also be required, every five years, to provide a detailed forecast on efficiency; and to publish two measures of its efficiency expectations from that forecast. It will be required to report annually on its progress against those expectations.

We consulted on our detailed proposals for these forecasts and annual reporting, and this statements confirms them. The changes to the reporting requirements will come into effect at the start of the 2023-24 financial year.