Royal Mail has issued a service update warning of delivery delays affecting 20 postcode areas across the West Midlands, including Wolverhampton, Nuneaton, and Lichfield. The postal company has identified a total of 141 UK locations experiencing disruptions as of Wednesday, July 22.
West Midlands postcodes affected
The impacted West Midlands postcodes include: Brierley Hill (DY5), Dudley (DY1-DY3), Kingswinford (DY6), Lichfield (WS7, WS13, WS14), Nuneaton (CV10, CV11, CV13), Stourport-on-Severn (DY13), Tipton (DY4), and Wolverhampton NE (WV11, WV12). Other affected areas include Burslem (ST6), Hunslet (LS10), and Shrewsbury (SY1-SY5).
Royal Mail statement on delays
Royal Mail stated: "We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week. In a small number of local offices, this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as high levels of sick absence, resourcing, or other local factors. In those cases, we will rotate deliveries to minimise the delay to individual customers. We also provide targeted support to those offices to address their challenges and restore our service to the high standard our customers would normally receive. We're sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding."
Network performance and fines
Throughout the previous 24 hours, Royal Mail's air and road network has operated to schedule, and all mail centres have confirmed that mail was processed and dispatched according to schedule. Last year, Royal Mail was fined £21 million by Ofcom for failing to meet delivery targets, after delivering only 77% of First Class post and 92.5% of Second Class post on time in 2024 to 2025.
Improvement plans
Jamie Stephenson, Royal Mail's chief operating officer, stated: "We're putting significant investment into improving reliability and reaching these new delivery targets, but delivering lasting change across a network of this scale takes time. Universal Service reform is a key part of that, helping us adapt the network to reflect how people send and receive mail today while protecting the one-price-goes-anywhere service for the future. We have a plan to deploy the new delivery model to all delivery offices across the country by the Christmas peak period and have set clear targets for each quarter as changes are introduced across the network. Early performance this year shows we are tracking in line with the plan and moving in the right direction."
Full list of affected postcodes
The complete list of 141 affected postcode areas includes: Ashington (NE22, NE62-NE64), Ashton Under Lyne (OL5, OL6, OL7), Barry (CF63), Basingstoke (RG21-RG26, RG28), Bedford (MK40-MK45), Bicester (OX25, OX26, OX27), Brecon (LD3), Brierley Hill (DY5), Buckingham (MK18), Burslem (ST6), Calderway (WF12-WF14), Cambridge (CB1-CB5, CB21-CB25), Carmarthen (SA17, SA31, SA32, SA33), Carrickfergus (BT38), Chichester (PO18, PO19, PO20), Deal (CT14), Droylsden (M43), Dudley (DY1-DY3), Dursley (GL11, GL12, GL13), Flint (CH6, CH8), Frome (BA11), Gloucester North (GL3, GL4), Gosforth (NE3, NE13), Hailsham (BN27), Hengoed (CF81, CF82), Hunslet (LS10), Ilfracombe (EX34), Ilkeston (DE7, DE75), Kidderminster (DY10-DY12, DY14), Kingswinford (DY6), Lichfield (WS7, WS13, WS14), Llangefni (LL62-LL78), Llangollen (LL20), Llanrwst (LL24-LL27), Loughborough (LE11-LE12), Margate (CT7, CT8, CT9), Milton Keynes Kiln Farm (MK8, MK11-MK14, MK19), Neston (CH33, CH64), New Ferry (CH32, CH62, CH63), Nuneaton (CV10, CV11, CV13), Oxford East (OX3, OX4, OX33, OX44, OX49), Penarth (CF64), Portslade (BN41, BN42), Prenton (CH43), Shepshed (LE12), Shrewsbury (SY1-SY5), Sidmouth (EX10), St Helens (WA9-WA11), Stalybridge (SK15), Stourport-on-Severn (DY13), Sunbury-on-Thames (TW16), Tipton (DY4), Tiverton (EX16, EX18), Upton (CH30, CH49), Winslow (MK18), Wolverhampton NE (WV11, WV12), and Yate (BS37).
