THE Royal Mail has announced that the price of its first-class stamps will rise by 15p to £1.10 and the price of its second-class stamps by 7p to 75p.

The price increase will come into effect from April 3, 2023. 

The postal service says the increase is necessary to ensure the one-price-goes-anywhere universal service remains sustainable and has been subject to careful consideration by Royal Mail. 

The Royal Mail says it has made the decision in light of the fact that there has been a 25 per cent drop in letter volumes since the Covid-19 pandemic, which increase both costs and inflation rates.

And the volume of letters has decreased from 20 billion a year in 2004 to approximately eight billion per year in 2023, and at the same time the number of addresses has risen by four million in the same period.