Supporting our communities

We have a major presence in every UK region, employing local people, connecting customers, companies and communities.

Our support for communities starts with the services we provide and our direct economic impact as an employer and purchaser of goods and services. This is supported by our active investment in communities and our charitable giving programme. 

Connecting communities

Royal Mail makes a major contribution to the UK’s social and economic infrastructure. As the sole provider of the Universal Service, we play a vital role, connecting millions of customers, businesses, organisations and communities every day. Our economy and society both rely upon these connections. 

Royal Mail Letters and Parcels deliver to almost 29 million UK addresses every working day. We provide a six-days-a-week service at the same competitive price wherever in the country an item is collected from, or delivered to. Our provision of the Universal Service means that those in rural communities are not disadvantaged because of where they live. 

  1. Our commitment to collection points.  We are committed to ensuring all our customers can access collection points.  Find out more about the PDF DUSP 1.8.4 condition (PDF 74KB)

  2. Our customers in remote areas. As part of the Ofcom Regulatoy Regime we are required to ensure that customers in remote areas can access our services.  Find out more about the PDF DUSP 1.8.3 condition (PDF 42KB)

Our economic impact

We make one of the single biggest economic contributions of any UK company. We employ 159,000 people spread amongst every locality and provide the highest quality employment of any UK postal services operator.  

Each year, we pay around £4.2 billion in wages and salaries – money that employees go on to spend throughout the UK economy. £2.5 billion is spent on non people costs, a major proportion of which is procurement activity.

We also support the future economic wellbeing of our communities through our inclusive recruitment practices and programmes to support education and literacy.  We provide work experience placements and apprenticeships and support schools’ literacy and numeracy curriculums. 

Supporting good causes

Our community investment strategy is about enhancing our contribution to the UK economy and making a positive difference to the communities in which we operate. Each year, Royal Mail invests more than £10 million directly in UK communities, including support for our colleagues’ fundraising and volunteering activities. 

As part of this effort we form partnerships with other organisations to make a big difference at a local level.

Our Charity of the Year programme is our flagship colleague fundraising initiative. We have been awarded a Guinness World Record for our payroll giving scheme. Our employees have donated over £45 million through payroll giving since 1989, supporting 1,000 charities across the UK. 

Did you know? 

  • Each year, Royal Mail invests more than £10 million directly in UK communities, including support for our colleagues’ fundraising and volunteering activities.
  • We hold the Guinness World Record for payroll giving, with more than 975 charities benefiting. Royal Mail employees account for six percent of all payroll giving donors in the UK.
  • We provide a free delivery service for blind and visually impaired people, worth around £5 million a year.
  • Our colleagues raised £2.6 million for our previous Charity of the Year partner, Barnardo’s.
  • We support a charitable fund, the Rowland Hill Benevolent Fund, dedicated to helping Royal Mail employees, pensioners and their families during times of need.
  • More than one million pupils across the UK benefit from our educational support materials.