Ofcom capped second-class stamp price at 60p until 1 April, but stamps will cost 61p from 25 March

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Royal Mail is to donate £60,000 to charity after it was found by regulator Ofcom to have increased the price of second-class stamps beyond the permitted level of 60p.

The postal service company, privatised via a much-criticised stock market floatation in 2013, said on Friday it would increase the price of a first-class stamp by 3p to 70p and a second-class stamp by 3p to 61p.

The increases will take effect from 25 March and will help ensure the sustainability of the universal postal service, the company said.

However, hours later it admitted that the new price of the second-class stamp was in breach of a cap imposed by Ofcom that prevents it from increasing the cost of second-class stamps above 60p until 1 April.

While second-class stamps will only be in breach for a week – and only by a penny – the difference is worth £60,000 to Royal Mail, indicating that about 6m second-class letters will be sent during the course of that week.

“Due to an error on our part, our new second-class stamp price of 61p will be 1p above the existing regulatory price cap for seven days. We apologise for this mistake,” the company said in a statement.

“We are putting this right by donating the revenue that we expect to collect from the error – around £60,000 – to our chosen charity Action For Children, which helps disadvantaged children across the UK. We informed our regulator about the mistake as well.”

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Royal Mail said it had reviewed the price changes “very carefully” while seeking to minimise any impact on customers.

The company believes stamp prices in the UK rate among the best value in Europe.

The Royal Mail said its research showed that the average price of a first-class stamp in Europe was 99p and 77p for second class, adding that the UK has one of the highest quality of service specifications of any major European country.

