Royal Mail Redirection: How It Works, What It Costs and What It Misses (2026)

Royal Mail Redirection is a postal forwarding service that automatically redirects post sent to your old address to your new one. It starts from £45 for 3 months and runs up to 12 months for £95 per person. It is one of the most useful tools available when moving home, but it has significant limitations that many home movers only discover after relying on it too heavily. This guide covers everything you need to know: how it works, what it costs, what it covers, and crucially, what it does not.

What is Royal Mail Redirection?

Royal Mail Redirection is a paid service offered by Royal Mail that intercepts post addressed to you at a previous address and forwards it to your current one. You set it up in advance of your move, choose a duration of 3, 6 or 12 months, and pay per person. Royal Mail then automatically diverts all eligible post for that period.

It is widely used by home movers, people who spend extended periods away from home, and businesses relocating premises. For home movers specifically, it acts as a safety net during the transition period between moving day and completing all your direct address notifications with banks, government departments, utilities and other providers.

It is worth being precise about what the service is and what it is not. Royal Mail Redirection is a forwarding mechanism. It catches post that would otherwise go to your old address and diverts it to your new one. It does not contact senders, does not update any records, and does not solve the underlying problem of organisations holding an outdated address for you. That requires separate action.

How does Royal Mail Redirection work?

Once your application is approved and the service is active, Royal Mail processes post arriving at your old address and redirects it to your new address before delivery. This happens automatically for all eligible post throughout the duration of your chosen period.

The redirection applies to post addressed to the specific names you registered on the application. Post addressed to other occupants at the old address is not affected. This is why each person in a household who wants their post forwarded needs their own separate redirection.

From June 2025, Royal Mail processes redirected post as second class. This may add a working day to delivery times compared to the original class of service the item was sent with. For most correspondence this makes no practical difference, but it is worth noting if you are expecting time-sensitive post.

How much does Royal Mail Redirection cost in 2026?

Royal Mail Redirection pricing is charged per person and varies by duration. Current individual pricing starts from £45. Always check royalmail.com for the most current prices, as rates are reviewed annually.

Each person at the address whose post you want redirected requires a separate redirection at the per-person rate. Two adults moving together need two individual redirections. Concession pricing is available for those receiving Universal Credit or Pension Credit, see the section on concession rates below.

What does Royal Mail Redirection cover?

The distinction matters more than most people realise. A significant and growing proportion of UK deliveries now go through third-party couriers rather than Royal Mail. If you regularly receive parcels from Amazon, ASOS, eBay, supermarket deliveries, or any other online retailer, those deliveries almost certainly use a courier network that is not covered by Royal Mail Redirection. You will need to update your delivery address directly with each retailer and courier account.

What does Royal Mail Redirection not cover?

Beyond the courier limitation, there is a more fundamental issue with relying solely on Royal Mail Redirection: it does not update your address with anyone.

Every organisation that sends you post still has your old address on their records throughout the entire redirection period. Your bank, HMRC, the DVLA, your energy supplier, your GP: all of them continue sending post to your old address, which Royal Mail then forwards to you. This works while the redirection is active. The moment it expires, those same organisations send their next letter directly to your old address, bypassing you entirely.

This is the core limitation that home movers most commonly underestimate. A 12-month redirection feels like a long time, but it ends. If you have not updated your address with your providers during that period, you are back where you started, except now the redirection has also expired.

How do you set up Royal Mail Redirection?

There are three ways to apply: online, by post, and in person at a Post Office branch in limited circumstances.

Online (fastest)

Apply at royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redirection. You will need:

• The full names and dates of birth of everyone whose post you want to redirect
• Your old address and postcode
• Your new address and postcode
• A payment card registered to your old address, if your card is registered to your new address, Royal Mail may ask additional questions as part of their fraud prevention process
• Your chosen start date and duration

By post

Download and complete the redirection application form from the Royal Mail website. Attach your original identity and proof of address documents. Post the completed form to the Royal Mail Redirection Centre. Postal applications take longer to process, so allow extra time beyond the standard five working day window.

In branch

In-person applications at Post Office branches are generally reserved for specific circumstances, including applications made under a Power of Attorney, following the death of a loved one, or in domestic abuse situations where additional safeguards are needed.

How long should you run Royal Mail Redirection for?

Royal Mail recommends 12 months for most home movers, and Action Fraud specifically recommends redirecting post for at least a year to reduce the risk of identity fraud. This gives you a full year to work through your address updates with all your providers, covering the annual cycles of correspondence that less-frequent contacts send, annual insurance renewals, pension statements, investment summaries, and similar documents that only arrive once a year.

Three months is only sufficient if you are extremely organised and confident you will complete all direct notifications very quickly. Six months is a reasonable middle ground for movers with a shorter provider list. But for most people, 12 months provides the most complete protection and is worth the additional cost over a shorter period.

You can renew your redirection once it expires if you discover that post is still arriving at your old address after the initial period.

Is there a concession price for Royal Mail Redirection?

Yes. Royal Mail offers a Concession Redirection service for individuals receiving Universal Credit or Pension Credit. Concession pricing starts from £22.50. The full concession pricing by duration is listed on royalmail.com and mirrors roughly half the standard individual rate. To apply for the concession rate, you will need to provide evidence of your benefit entitlement alongside your redirection application.

Apply through the standard online process on royalmail.com and select the concession option. Verify the current concession pricing on the Royal Mail website before applying, as rates are reviewed at the same time as standard pricing.

Is Royal Mail Redirection enough on its own?

No. This is the most important question to answer clearly and the one where most moving advice falls short.

Royal Mail Redirection and a change of address notification service are not alternatives to each other. They solve fundamentally different problems, and using both together gives the most complete protection available when moving home.

Royal Mail Redirection is temporary. It catches post during the transition period. It does not update your records with anyone. When it expires, the problem returns.

A change of address notification service is permanent. It updates your address at the source with the organisations that send you post. Once updated, they send future correspondence to your new address indefinitely.

The recommended approach is to run both simultaneously during the first 12 months after your move. The notification service handles the permanent fix. The Royal Mail Redirection catches anything that slips through during the update process and provides a safety net for providers you may have missed or that are slow to update their records.

For a full comparison of change of address services available in the UK, see our guide to the best change of address services.

Updating your address at the source

The limitation of Royal Mail Redirection, that it forwards post without updating anyone's records, is exactly the problem that a change of address notification service solves. Rather than waiting for post to arrive at your old address and be redirected, a notification service contacts your providers directly and updates their records with your new address.

Moveinout is a UK change of address notification service covering over 9,000 organisations across 24 provider categories. That includes HMRC, your council, banks, energy suppliers, your DWP benefits, your GP, dentist, optician, vet, solicitor, private pension provider, and hundreds more. 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, helping you track progress and avoid duplication throughout your move.