Apply on Royal Mail's own Delivery and Sorting careers page, choose the delivery office you would actually report to, and work through the six steps Royal Mail publishes: apply online, online tests if applicable, interview, offer and checks, onboarding, and a driving assessment for driving roles. There is no shortcut, and no agent who can skip a step for you.
Two answers before you spend an hour on this. A Royal Mail delivery job cannot be sponsored for a UK work visa — the Home Office lists these occupation codes as ineligible, so you need a right to work you already hold. And the hourly rates circulating for these roles are job-board spreads; the figures that can actually be sourced sit in the CWU and Royal Mail pay agreement, and those are the ones used below.
Who You Are Actually Applying To
It is still Royal Mail on the van, but the company behind it changed hands and most guides have not caught up. The parent is International Distribution Services — singular "Distribution" — and it is no longer a plc. EP Group, the Czech group led by Daniel Křetínský, completed its takeover at the end of April 2025, and IDS was delisted from the London Stock Exchange on 2 June 2025. The old corporate address, royalmailgroup.com, now redirects to internationaldistributionservices.com. A guide still calling the owner "International Distributions Services plc" has two errors in four words.
The UK government cleared the £3.6 billion deal in December 2024 only against binding undertakings: the Royal Mail name and brand are kept, the headquarters and tax residency stay in the UK, the universal service obligation is protected, employee benefits are maintained, and dividends are barred unless financial and service targets are met. The government also holds a golden share over the headquarters and tax residency commitments. So the brief's instinct on the undertakings was right, even if its company name was not.
The work itself is being redrawn too. On 10 July 2025 Ofcom reformed the universal service, and from 28 July Royal Mail has been allowed to deliver Second Class letters on alternate weekdays, Monday to Friday, still within three working days. First Class remains six days a week. Ofcom estimated annual savings of £250m to £425m. For anyone applying, that is why rounds, route structures and vacancy patterns keep moving.
The Delivery Roles Royal Mail Lists
Royal Mail's Delivery and Sorting page names five: Postal Delivery Driver (Postie), Parcel delivery postie, Collections driver, Mail sorter and Specialist Delivery Drivers. Its separate Drivers page adds Class 1 LGV (C+E) and Class 2 and MGV (Category C1) work.
On hours, Royal Mail's own wording is worth quoting rather than paraphrasing: "Shifts will vary depending on the role you do. Some roles require flexibility to work earlies, lates and nights shifts and because we're a 24/7 operation there may also be some weekend working required." Drivers are told to expect "a variety of shifts on a rotational rota, including night driving, weekends, and bank holidays", with the reassurance that drivers never have to stay overnight.
Seasonal work is a separate door, and often the easiest one. The Christmas pages list Mail Sorter, Parcel Delivery Driver, LGV & MGV Driver and Customer Service Assistant, and note that Northern Ireland vacancies are handled by Angard Staffing rather than the main careers site. Angard describes itself as the dedicated recruitment partner for Royal Mail and part of Royal Mail Group, so it is not a third-party agency that should ever be charging you a penny.
What It Pays, and Where Each Number Comes From
Royal Mail does put an hourly rate on its own vacancy adverts. The problem is that those adverts do not last: several Postperson with Driving pages checked while writing this had already returned "the job you are trying to apply for has been filled", or an outright HTTP 410. So the durable, citable source is the CWU and Royal Mail Group pay agreement, which is published and dated.
| Figure | What it actually is |
|---|---|
| £15.04 an hour | CWU's stated national hourly rate for a legacy delivery OPG after the year-one 4.2% rise |
| £1.98 an hour less | What a new entrant in a delivery office earns compared with someone on the old contract, per CWU |
| 3% from 1 April 2026 | Backdated, not dependent on any ballot, and flowing through to London pay ranges, Scottish Distant Island payments, pensionable allowances, scheduled attendance and overtime rates |
| 4.75% from 1 April 2026 | New entrants only: the same 3% plus a 1.75% equalisation step, with a formal review no later than January 2027 |
| 37 hours | From 1 June 2026 Royal Mail employs new full-time staff only on 37-hour contracts, down from 40; part-time new entrants' average rises from 31 to 35 hours |
Put the first two rows together and the honest band is roughly £13.06 an hour for a new entrant — the £15.04 national rate less the £1.98 gap the union itself quotes — up to £15.04 on a legacy contract, before the April 2026 uplifts and before London weighting. That is arithmetic on two published union figures, and the working is shown so you can check it rather than trust it.
What this guide will not do is repeat the "£12.54 to £16.24" spread you will see elsewhere. Those numbers are scraped from expired adverts and user submissions across different contracts, regions and London weightings, and they tell you nothing about the office you are applying to. The number that matters is the one printed on the live advert in front of you.
The Licence Rules Are Not One Rule
Most guides flatten this into "a full manual UK licence with a maximum of 6 penalty points". Royal Mail does not use one rule, and the difference can cost you an application.
- Postperson with Driving. Royal Mail's adverts ask for a full UK manual driving licence (Category B, up to 3.5t) registered to your current address, with no more than 6 penalty points.
- Parcelforce collection and delivery drivers. The frontline careers page states a "full UK manual driving licence (Cat C1) with no more than 6 penalty points".
- Class 1 LGV. The Drivers page asks for a valid UK Large Goods Vehicle Class 1 licence (C+E) "with less than 6 penalty points" — less than six, so five is the practical ceiling, not six.
- Class 2 and MGV. A valid UK Category C1 licence "registered to your current address, with less than 6 penalty points".
Two details worth pinning down. Royal Mail says registered to your current address, not to your current name and address, so update your DVLA record before you apply rather than after a rejection. And transmission is role-specific: the manual wording appears on postperson and Parcelforce adverts, while the LGV and MGV pages specify only the licence category and say nothing about transmission. If you hold an automatic-only licence, that is a question for the specific advert, not something to assume in either direction.
Can Royal Mail Sponsor a Visa? No, and Here Is the Proof
This is the question most Royal Mail guides leave out, and for readers outside the UK it is the only one that decides anything.
Under the Skilled Worker rules in force since 22 July 2025, the Home Office publishes every occupation code and marks it eligible or not. On that list:
- 9211 Postal workers, mail sorters and messengers — Ineligible
- 8214 Delivery drivers and couriers — Ineligible
- 8211 Heavy and large goods vehicle drivers — Ineligible
- 7123 Van salespersons and roundspersons — Ineligible
"Ineligible" means no employer can sponsor that job, however short-staffed it is. The skill threshold for the route rose to degree level in July 2025, with narrow time-limited exceptions on the Temporary Shortage List that do not cover postal or delivery work, and the general salary floor is £41,700 a year or the going rate for the occupation, whichever is higher — which a delivery round would not reach in any event.
So Royal Mail delivery work is open to you if you already hold the right to work: British or Irish citizenship, settled or pre-settled status, indefinite leave to remain, a partner or family visa, a graduate visa, or a dependant visa that permits work. It is not a route into the UK. Anyone offering you a sponsored Royal Mail postperson job is running a scam. If you are looking from abroad, our guide to jobs in UK for foreigners sets out the routes that genuinely exist.
Holiday, Overtime and the Benefits Royal Mail Actually Lists
Royal Mail's own benefits wording is "at least 22.5* days of annual leave to relax and recharge, increasing the longer you're with us", and the asterisk is the part that gets dropped: "Some roles offer a higher starting entitlement. Please refer to the job advert for details." So 22.5 days is a floor, not the entitlement, and a guide quoting it as a flat figure has read half the sentence.
The rest of the list on Royal Mail's own pages: 24/7 wellbeing support, company sick pay, a pension scheme it describes as market-leading, paid parental leave, development through the Royal Mail Academy, and My Bundle+ with more than 800 retail discounts. Claims about free stamps at Christmas or an online GP do not appear anywhere on those pages, so treat them as unconfirmed unless an advert says otherwise.
On overtime, Royal Mail adverts have carried enhanced pay at 1.25x above the full-time week. Read that next to the contract change: from 1 June 2026 new full-time staff are employed only on 37-hour contracts, down from 40. Where your overtime trigger sits therefore depends on which contract you are hired onto, and that is on the advert, not in any guide.
On the physical side, Royal Mail's postperson-with-driving adverts describe carrying a mailbag weighing up to 16kg and walking around 20,000 steps a day, while its seasonal mail sorter page describes lifting bags up to 11kg and pushing wheeled trolleys weighing up to 250kg. "Mailbags of 10kg or more" understates the delivery round and misdescribes the sorting job.
How to Apply
- Start on the Delivery and Sorting page rather than a job board. Individual Royal Mail vacancy links die quickly; the category page does not.
- Filter by delivery office, not just by town. Rounds are run from a specific office and that is where you would report every morning.
- Read the rate and the hours on the advert itself. They differ by contract type, region and London weighting, and no guide can tell you yours.
- Expect Royal Mail's six steps: apply online, online tests if applicable, interview, offer and checks, onboarding, and a driving assessment for driving roles.
- Fix your DVLA address first for a driving role, and check your penalty points against the exact wording on that advert rather than the general rule.
- Confirm your right to work before you apply, because there is no sponsorship available for these occupation codes.
- Never pay for a Royal Mail job or a shift. Angard Staffing is part of Royal Mail Group and is paid by the employer; anyone asking you for money is not recruiting for Royal Mail.
If Royal Mail turns you down, or there is nothing at your office, the same licence and the same right-to-work position carry straight across to the wider market covered in our delivery driver jobs in UK guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I apply for a Royal Mail delivery job?
Through Royal Mail's own Delivery and Sorting careers page, filtering by the delivery office you want. Royal Mail then runs six steps: apply online, online tests if applicable, interview, offer and checks, onboarding, and a driving assessment for driving roles.
What does a Royal Mail postperson earn an hour?
CWU puts the national rate for a legacy delivery OPG at £15.04 an hour after the year-one 4.2% rise, and says a new entrant earns £1.98 an hour less, which is about £13.06. A 3% rise applies from 1 April 2026, or 4.75% for new entrants.
Does Royal Mail sponsor work visas for delivery jobs?
No. SOC 9211 postal workers and mail sorters, 8214 delivery drivers and couriers and 8211 large goods vehicle drivers are all marked Ineligible on the Home Office list, so no employer can sponsor them. You need an existing right to work in the UK.
How many penalty points can you have to drive for Royal Mail?
It depends on the role. Postperson with Driving and Parcelforce adverts say no more than 6 penalty points. The Class 1 LGV and Class 2 and MGV pages say less than 6, which means five or fewer.
Do I need a manual driving licence?
For Postperson with Driving and Parcelforce collection and delivery roles, Royal Mail's adverts specify a full UK manual licence registered to your current address. The LGV and MGV pages specify only the licence category, so check the individual advert.
How much holiday do Royal Mail delivery staff get?
Royal Mail says at least 22.5 days of annual leave, increasing the longer you are with the company, and footnotes that some roles start higher. It is a minimum rather than a fixed figure, so read the advert.
Who owns Royal Mail now?
EP Group, led by Daniel Křetínský, through International Distribution Services. The £3.6 billion takeover completed at the end of April 2025 and IDS was delisted from the London Stock Exchange on 2 June 2025, with binding undertakings protecting the universal service.
Is there an online test, and do I need a CV?
Royal Mail lists online tests as a step that applies to some roles rather than all, and it does not say a CV is unnecessary. Assume you will need your work history to hand, plus licence details for driving roles.
People Also Search For
Royal Mail jobs near me
Filter the Delivery and Sorting page by location; vacancies are tied to a specific delivery office rather than a general area.
Postperson with Driving
The most advertised delivery role, needing a full UK manual licence registered to your current address with no more than 6 penalty points.
Royal Mail Christmas jobs
Seasonal Mail Sorter, Parcel Delivery Driver, LGV and MGV Driver and Customer Service Assistant roles, with Northern Ireland handled by Angard Staffing.
CWU pay deal 2026
3% from 1 April 2026 for existing staff, backdated, and 4.75% for new entrants including a 1.75% equalisation step.
Royal Mail 37 hour contract
From 1 June 2026 Royal Mail employs new full-time staff only on 37-hour contracts, replacing the previous 40-hour recruitment practice.
Angard Staffing
Royal Mail Group's own dedicated recruitment partner, covering delivery driver, mail sorter and customer service roles, and all Northern Ireland vacancies.
Royal Mail second class alternate days
Ofcom allowed it from 28 July 2025, still within three working days, with estimated savings of £250m to £425m a year.
Skilled Worker visa salary threshold
£41,700 a year or the occupation's going rate, whichever is higher, under the rules in force since 22 July 2025.
More Job Guides
If Royal Mail is one option rather than the only one, these cover the rest of the UK market:
- Delivery Driver Jobs in UK — the wider delivery market, and what the same licence is worth elsewhere.
- How to Get a Warehouse Driver Job in UK — the indoor alternative when the weather stops being romantic.
- Warehouse Jobs UK Visa Sponsorship — what sponsorship really covers in logistics, and what it does not.
- Jobs in UK for Foreigners — the routes that exist once the ineligible occupation codes are ruled out.
- How to Apply for Tesco Supermarket Jobs in UK — an employer that does publish its hourly rate, at every age.
- Store Assistant Jobs in UK — similar entry requirements, indoors and on fixed hours.
- How to Apply for Barclays Customer Service Jobs in the UK — the desk-based step up from a frontline role.
- Office Assistant Jobs in UK — where the same reliability gets you off your feet.
- Work From Home Jobs in UK — the opposite end of the same job market.
- How to Apply for UPS Package Handler Jobs in the USA — the same kind of work under a union contract, on the other side of the Atlantic.
- How to Apply for Marks and Spencer Retail Jobs in the UK — the hourly rate M and S announces itself, and why no store role can be sponsored.
- How to Apply for Network Rail Maintenance Jobs in the UK — the medical and drug screening standard, and why the trackside code cannot be sponsored.
- How to Apply for Heathrow Airport Jobs in the UK — the five year vetting and counter terrorism check that decide the application.
This article is for general informational purposes, using Royal Mail Group's own careers pages for roles, hiring steps, licence requirements, benefits and annual leave wording; the CWU and Royal Mail Group pay agreement and CWU letters to branches for pay figures and contract hours; International Distribution Services and UK government announcements for ownership and undertakings; Ofcom's July 2025 universal service statement; and the Home Office eligible occupation list and Skilled Worker guidance for the visa position. Royal Mail vacancy adverts expire quickly, and pay, hours and immigration rules change. Always check the live advert and the official guidance before you commit.
