Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made representations to Royal Mail on the impact of price rises on SMEs.

The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s commercial decisions, including the prices of stamps and other services.

In setting its prices, Royal Mail must observe the regulatory framework set by Ofcom which imposes prices controls, ‘safeguard caps’, on certain second-class products to ensure a basic universal service is available to all at affordable prices.

On 24 January 2024, following a public consultation, Ofcom announced its decisions regarding retail price caps on Royal Mail’s universal postal services to apply from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027.