Have you moved home recently?

WE HAVE found that almost one in five people have problems with their mail when moving, with roughly one in 10 not receiving or experiencing delays in receiving important letters.

This was higher among particular groups, including disabled and those on benefits. This often leads to further complications, such as asking for important post to be redelivered or being late in paying a bill.

Even more serious is the risk of identity theft. New evidence from Cifas, the fraud prevention service, suggests that the risk of identify fraud is increasing.

Previous occupier fraud (where a former resident’s identity is used to apply for credit or loans) went up roughly 5% between 2015 and 2016. It now accounts for almost one in 10 identity fraud cases in the UK.

Royal Mail offers a redirection service to most residential addresses in the UK. Although many people seem to knew about it only a few seem to actually use it.

So why aren’t more people using it?

One reason is that people simply don’t feel the need to. Some notify all relevant contacts of their change of address. Some said that they didn’t receive enough mail to make it worthwhile. And some rely on family members to forward on mail.

When we looked in more detail we found that some people, particularly those less likely to use the service, may face barriers to receiving their mail when moving.

For instance, younger people, renters and people on lower incomes were less likely to state that forwarding their mail is an easy task. And when we looked at the reasons for not using the service, these groups were less likely to have notified all relevant contacts of their changed address. People aged 18–24 and renters were also less likely than those aged 35–44 to state that it is easier to collect post at their former address.

Another factor that could be putting people off is the price. Royal Mail currently offers the service in three options, ranging from £33.99 for the shortest three-month service to £66.99 for a 12-month package. Over one in five people said they had not used it because of the cost, while two thirds said that a lower price would increase their likelihood of using it.

The service doesn’t allow you to pay in monthly instalments, which a lot of people say would make them more likely to use it. There are also no concessionary rates for older people or those on low incomes.

Citizens Advice is working to develop a series of practical recommendations for reducing barriers to take up of mail redirection services, and will work to persuade Royal Mail to put these recommendations into practice.

You can get help, information and advice from your local Citizens Advice or visit www.citizensadvicewokingham.org.uk or contact Citizens Advice Wokingham at Second Floor, Waterford House, Erftstadt Court, Wokingham RG40

2YF. Tel: 0300 330 1189. email: public@ citizensadvicewokingham.org.uk