Postal services in the United Kingdom

Postal services in the United Kingdom are provided predominantly by the Royal Mail (which delivers letters) and Post Office Ltd (which oversees post offices). Since 2006, the market has been fully opened to competition which has thrived in business-to-business delivery, but not in ordinary letter delivery.

The industry is regulated by Ofcom and consumer interests are represented by Consumer Focus. Since 1 October 2011, the main piece of legislation is the Postal Services Act 2011, although some parts of the Postal Services Act 2000 are still in force. The 2011 Act enables the government to privatise Royal Mail and to possibly mutualise Post Office Ltd.

History

Main article: Postage stamps and postal history of Great Britain

The quality of postal services in the 17th and 18th centuries improved with development of better roads and means of transportation.^[1]

Anthony Trollope is credited with major contributions to the development of postal services in the years 1851-1867, described, e.g. in Chapters 8 and 13 of his autobiography.^[2]

Postmaster General, position created in 1510
Royal Mail, established 1516 by King Henry VIII
General Post Office, established 1660 by King Charles II
Rowland Hill, creator of the penny post, 1844
Post Office Ltd, separated from Royal Mail as a new business in 1986
Parcelforce, separated as a new division within Royal Mail in 1986
Green Paper on Postal Reform (1994) published setting out the options for privatisation and regulation of the Post Office and Royal Mail
British Forces Post Office, the British Army's postal & courier service, a history of its development

Law

Postal Services Act 2000
Postal Services Act 2011
First Postal Services Directive, 97/67/EC
Second Postal Services Directive, 2002/39/EC
Third Postal Services Directive, 2008/06/EC

References

↑ Her Majesty's mails: an historical and descriptive account of the British Post Office by William Lewins, published by Sampson, Low and Martin in 1864.
↑ Trollope, Anthony (1883). An Autobiography. Chapter 2. Retrieved 2010-07-02.

Postal services in the United Kingdom

Postal geography	Postcodes List of postcodes List of postcode areas List of postcode districts Postal counties Post town List of post towns London postal district Postcode Address File Mailsort

Organisations and philately	Royal Mail Post Office British Forces Post Office Parcelforce Postage stamps and postal history Whistl

Infrastructure	Delivery office Integrated mail processing Intelligent Letter Sorting Machine Mail centre

British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies have different operators and regulatory arrangements.

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Postal services in the United Kingdom

History

Law

References

See also