Letters and parcels

At Post Office, we’re doing everything we can to help our customers. Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide are also committed to delivering as comprehensive a service as possible at all times.

To help us do this, there are some changes to services due to the latest social distancing guidelines and significantly higher than normal absence rates due to illness and self-isolation.

Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide are providing normal deliveries, but it’s likely some areas of the country will experience some level of disruption during the pandemic. They are working hard to keep any delays to a minimum. Thank you for your patience and understanding in these unprecedented times.

Last updated 12:00 29 December 2020.

Royal Mail have reinstated the delivery guarantee to their Special Delivery services, however, due to the ongoing coronavirus restrictions the guaranteed times are as below:

Special Delivery Guarantee by 1pm is guaranteed by 4pm.

Special Delivery Guarantee by 9am is guaranteed by 11am.

Please visit www.royalmail.com/service-updates and www.parcelforce.com/service-updates for any or any further updates.

Last updated 12:00 29 December 2020.

Royal Mail and Parcelforce services to Europe have been reopened and are now fully operational and we are selling and accepting international items to the European destinations. For items posted today [29 Dec], customers should expect a delay up to 2 working days for some countries.

Parcelforce’s temporary suspension of delivery guarantees is still in place for all international services due to the Coronavirus impact. From today [29 Dec] customers need to apply the relevant customs declaration forms to goods and gifts being sent to EU destinations. This will ensure items have correct documentation by 1 January 2021 when the EU transition period ends. This does not apply to anyone posting from branches in Northern Ireland.

Please visit www.royalmail.com/service-updates and www.parcelforce.com/service-updates for any or any further updates.

Public Health England has advised that there’s no perceived increase in risk of contracting coronavirus from handling post or freight. From experience with other coronaviruses, these types of viruses don’t survive long on objects, such as letters, parcels or identity documents. But it’s sensible to wash your hands thoroughly after contact with anything outside of your home and avoid touching your face.

To minimise contact during delivery, Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide colleagues will not be handing over the hand-held devices to customers to capture signatures. Instead, they’ll log the name of the person accepting the item. Parcelforce Worldwide drivers will log the first and last name of the recipient and record the geolocation of delivery.

Where the item being delivered won’t fit through the letterbox, they will place your item at your door. Having knocked on your door, they will then step aside to a safe distance while you retrieve your item. This will ensure your item is delivered securely rather than being left outside.

If you wish to send hand gels/sanitisers in the mail, please follow the guidance below:

- There are several hand gels available, the gels that are flammable and have the GHS flammable pictogram (see right) are prohibited in the mail

- If customers are unsure please ask them to open parcels and check for pictogram

- There are chemical sanitisers that are not flammable which are permitted and these will not have the pictogram and are safe to send

- These items are not governed by their alcohol content. This applies to domestic and international mail (subject to country restrictions)