Royal Mail makes donation to Action for Children after breaching Ofcom rules

26 Feb 2019 News

Action for Children is to receive a £60,000 donation from Royal Mail, after the postal service breached Ofcom rules.

Royal Mail announced on Friday that from 25 March it would increases the price of a second-class stamp from 58p to 61p. However, under a cap imposed by regulator Ofcom, second-class stamps must not be priced above 60p until 1 April.

Ofcom estimated that six million second-class letters will be sent in the week that the service will be in breach of regulations, meaning that some £60,000 will be amassed by Royal Mail. The company will therefore donate this sum to Action for Children.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “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.”

“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.”

Royal Mail has been in a partnership with Action for Children since 2017, when it announced that it would campaign for greater prevention of mental health issues in UK schools.

Carol Iddon, Action for Children’s managing director of children’s services, said: “We are incredibly grateful for our ongoing partnership with Royal Mail which helps us support thousands of vulnerable children in communities across the UK.”

“This contribution will help us reach even more children and families to make sure they get the best start in life, have safe and loving homes, and to prevent them from falling into crisis,” she added.

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