The best alternative to Royal Mail Redirection for home movers is a change of address notification service, which updates your address permanently at the source with your bank, HMRC, your council, your GP and thousands of other providers. Royal Mail Redirection forwards post temporarily but never tells the senders your address has changed. Most home movers benefit from using both together.
Key Takeaways
- Royal Mail Redirection forwards your post temporarily. It does not update your address with the organisations sending it.
- A change of address notification service is the only way to permanently update your records at the source.
- Using both together gives the most complete protection: a notification service updates your records, while a redirection catches anything that slips through.
- Royal Mail Redirection does not cover parcels from third-party couriers such as DPD, DHL, Evri or Amazon Logistics.
- Redirection starts from £45 for individuals and concession pricing is available from £22.50 for those on Universal Credit or Pension Credit.
What Royal Mail Redirection actually does
Royal Mail Redirection is a post forwarding service. When someone sends post to your old address, Royal Mail intercepts it and redirects it to your new address. You can set one up for three, six or twelve months, and it covers all Royal Mail-delivered post addressed to any named individual at your old property.
It is one of the most widely used tools when moving home in the UK, and for good reason. It catches post from organisations you may not have thought to notify, provides a financial safety net if something gets missed, and can be applied for up to six months before your move date, which gives you time to get it in place well in advance.
For individuals, redirection starts from £45 for three months. Those receiving Universal Credit or Pension Credit can apply for a Concession Redirection, where prices start from £22.50. Each additional person at the same address adds an extra fee on top of the lead applicant price.
The limitations you need to know about
Royal Mail Redirection is useful, but it has significant limitations that many home movers only discover after they have relied on it too heavily.
- It does not update your address with anyone. Every organisation that sends you post still has your old address on record. When the redirection expires, their letters go back to your old property.
- It does not cover third-party couriers. Parcels from DPD, DHL, Evri, Amazon Logistics, Yodel and similar services are not redirected. You need to update your address with online retailers and courier accounts separately.
- It is temporary. Once the redirection expires, you are fully exposed again. If you have not updated your address with the organisations sending you post, the problem simply restarts.
- It does not work for everything. Some senders use private courier networks that bypass Royal Mail entirely. Those items are never captured.
- Redirected post now travels second class. From June 2025, Royal Mail processes redirected post as second class, which may add a working day to delivery times.
The core problem: Royal Mail Redirection treats the symptom, not the cause. The cause is that organisations have an outdated address for you. The only solution to that is updating your address with those organisations directly, either individually or through a change of address notification service.
The alternatives: at a glance
| Option | Updates address at source | Covers couriers | Permanent fix | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change of address notification service | Yes | Updates records, not forwarding | Yes | All home movers |
| Royal Mail Redirection | No | Royal Mail only | Temporary only | Short-term safety net |
| Virtual mailbox service | No | Some services | Ongoing subscription required | Businesses, frequent travellers |
| PO Box | No | Requires updating retailers separately | Rental period only | Short-term collection point |
| Updating providers directly | Yes | Yes | Yes | Those happy to do it manually |
Change of address notification services
A change of address notification service contacts your providers on your behalf and updates your address directly on their records. It is the only option on this list that actually solves the underlying problem: organisations holding an outdated address for you.
- Updates your address permanently at the source, with no expiry date
- Covers government departments (HMRC, DWP, DVLA, councils), banks, utilities, and local providers such as GPs, dentists and opticians
- Works entirely online, with no phone calls or paperwork
- You enter your details once and select which providers to notify
- A dashboard shows which notifications have been dispatched, helping you track progress and avoid duplication
- Covers retailers and services that send parcels too
Moveinout is a UK change of address notification service covering over 9,000 organisations across 24 categories. That includes everything from HMRC and your local council to your GP, dentist, optician, vet, children's school, solicitor and private pension provider. It is the most complete service of its kind available in the UK.
For a full comparison of the change of address notification services available in the UK, including Moveinout, SlothMove, and what happened to Monadd after its January 2026 acquisition, see our guide to the best change of address services in the UK.
Virtual mailbox services
A virtual mailbox is a service where your post is sent to a physical address managed by a third-party company. That company receives your post, scans it and uploads it to a secure online portal where you can read it from anywhere. You can then instruct the service to forward, shred or store individual items.
- Post is digitised and accessible online from any device
- Physical forwarding to any UK or overseas address is usually available on request
- Useful for people who spend extended periods abroad or have no fixed UK address
- Some services also accept parcels, depending on the plan
- Does not update your address with senders, they send to the virtual mailbox address rather than your home
- Ongoing subscription cost, typically starting from around £10 to £25 per month
Virtual mailbox services are best suited to businesses and individuals who genuinely need a permanent managed address rather than someone who has simply moved home. For a home mover, the overhead of maintaining a virtual mailbox address indefinitely is unlikely to be worth it compared to simply updating your address with your providers once through a notification service.
Post Office Box (PO Box)
A PO Box is a physical box at a Post Office branch where post is held for collection. You rent it for a fixed period and use it as a receiving address. It is primarily a business tool but can serve as a temporary address for individuals in specific circumstances.
- Rental periods available from Royal Mail directly, with pricing that varies by box size and location
- Post must be collected in person from the branch, with no home delivery
- It does not redirect or forward post. It is simply an alternative receiving address
- Couriers and most online retailers will not deliver to a PO Box
- Only Royal Mail-delivered items are held. No parcel services are included
A PO Box is an impractical alternative to Royal Mail Redirection for most home movers. The requirement to physically collect post, combined with the courier limitation, makes it unsuitable as a day-to-day post solution during a move.
Updating providers directly
The most thorough approach is contacting every organisation that holds your address and updating your records directly with each one. This is the most permanent solution available, but it is also the most time-consuming, and the one most likely to result in something being missed.
- Permanently updates your address at the source with each provider
- Covers all providers including courier accounts and online retailers
- No cost beyond time
- Requires you to identify every relevant provider, easy to overlook organisations you contact infrequently
- Each provider has a different process: some online, some by phone, some by post only
- Can take hours or days to complete if done manually across all providers
Most people underestimate how many organisations hold their address. HMRC, the DVLA, their bank, their energy supplier, their GP, their dentist, their loyalty card accounts, their children's school, their vet, their optician, their insurance providers, the list runs to dozens of organisations for the average home mover. Doing this manually is possible, but it is also the reason change of address notification services exist.
Why using Royal Mail Redirection and a notification service together makes sense
These two approaches are not in competition with each other. They solve different parts of the same problem, and used together they give you the most complete protection available when moving home.
A change of address notification service is the permanent fix. It updates your records at the source with the organisations that matter, banks, government departments, local councils, healthcare providers, utilities and more. Once done, those organisations send future correspondence to your new address. There is no expiry date and no need to renew.
Royal Mail Redirection is the safety net. Even after using a notification service, there will be organisations you forgot about or that are slow to update their records. Letters from those organisations will still come to your old address for a period. A redirection catches them and forwards them to you while the update process completes.
Running both in parallel during the first three to six months after a move is the approach that leaves the fewest gaps. It is also the approach recommended by Citizens Advice for home movers who want to make sure no important correspondence gets lost.
A practical tip: Set up Royal Mail Redirection as soon as you know your move date. You can apply up to six months in advance. Start your change of address notifications on or after moving day, once you are living at the new address. The two processes run in parallel, covering each other's gaps throughout the transition.
Moveinout covers over 9,000 UK organisations across 24 categories. You enter your details once, select who needs to know, and Moveinout dispatches notifications on your behalf. A dashboard shows which providers have been notified, so you can track progress and make sure nothing important has slipped through.
Update your address with thousands of providers in one process.
Moveinout notifies your bank, HMRC, your council, your GP, your dentist, your energy provider and over 9,000 other organisations, the permanent fix that Royal Mail Redirection alone cannot provide.
Get started with Moveinout →No phone calls. No paperwork. Notifications dispatched on your behalf.
Quick summary: alternatives to Royal Mail Redirection
- Change of address notification service, the best long-term solution. Updates your address permanently at the source with thousands of providers. Moveinout covers 9,000+ organisations across 24 categories.
- Royal Mail Redirection, a short-term safety net from £45. Forwards post but does not update your address with senders. Does not cover third-party courier parcels. Best used alongside a notification service.
- Virtual mailbox, suited to businesses and frequent travellers. Ongoing subscription to have post scanned and managed digitally. Not the right fit for a standard home move.
- PO Box, a physical collection point. Requires collecting post in person. Does not cover couriers. Impractical for most home movers.
- Updating providers directly, the most thorough approach but time-consuming. Most efficiently handled through a notification service.
- For a full comparison of change of address services available in the UK, see our guide to the best change of address services.
Frequently Asked Questions
The most common questions people ask about alternatives to Royal Mail Redirection.
A change of address notification service like Moveinout is the best long-term alternative. Unlike Royal Mail Redirection, which only forwards post temporarily, a notification service updates your address permanently at the source with banks, government departments, utilities, your GP and thousands of other providers. For the most complete protection, use both: a notification service to update your records, and Royal Mail Redirection as a short-term safety net for anything that slips through.
Not strictly, but using both together is the most sensible approach. A change of address notification service updates your records permanently. Royal Mail Redirection acts as a safety net for any post that slips through during the transition, particularly from organisations you may have overlooked or that are slow to process updates. Running both for the first three to six months after a move leaves the fewest gaps.
Royal Mail Redirection does not cover parcels delivered by third-party couriers such as DPD, DHL, Evri or Amazon Logistics. It also does not update your address with the organisations sending you post, they still hold your old address on record. Once the redirection expires, their post reverts to going to your old property. From June 2025, redirected post is also processed as second class, which can add a working day to delivery times.
Royal Mail Redirection for individuals starts from £45 for three months. Additional people at the same address are charged an extra fee per person. Those receiving Universal Credit or Pension Credit can apply for a Concession Redirection starting from £22.50. Always check the Royal Mail website for the most current pricing as rates are reviewed annually.
A virtual mailbox is a service where your post is delivered to a physical address managed by a third party. That company then scans your post and uploads it to a secure online portal, so you can read it digitally from anywhere. Physical forwarding to another address is usually available on request. Virtual mailboxes are primarily used by businesses and people who travel frequently or spend time abroad, they are not typically the right fit for a standard home move.
Yes, for most purposes. A change of address notification service updates your address permanently with the organisations that send you post, which removes the need for redirection from those providers once their records are updated. Many home movers use both, a notification service to update records, and Royal Mail Redirection as a short-term backup for anything that slips through during the transition period.
Royal Mail Redirection can take up to five working days to be activated after your application. You can apply up to six months before your move date, which makes it one of the few moving admin tasks you can take care of well in advance. Applications can be made online at the Royal Mail website or in person at a Post Office branch.
For most home movers, yes, as a short-term safety net. It catches post from organisations you have not yet updated or that are slow to process address changes. But it does not replace the need to actually update your address at the source. A change of address notification service does that part. The two tools solve different problems and work best in combination.
When Royal Mail Redirection expires, any organisations that still have your old address on record will send future correspondence to that old address. The redirection no longer catches it. This is exactly why updating your address with providers directly, using a change of address service, is so important. Once updated at the source, providers continue sending to your new address regardless of whether a redirection is in place.
Royal Mail Redirection only covers items delivered by Royal Mail itself. Parcels sent via third-party couriers such as DPD, DHL, Evri and Amazon Logistics are not redirected. You need to update your delivery address directly with online retailers and your courier accounts separately. A change of address notification service covers your address records with retailers as part of the update process.
The permanent fix, not just a temporary forward.
Moveinout updates your address at the source with over 9,000 UK organisations. Use it alongside Royal Mail Redirection for complete peace of mind when you move.
Get started with Moveinout →No queues. No paperwork. Notifications dispatched on your behalf.
