Royal Mail Redirection forwards post addressed to you at your old home to your new one, for 3, 6 or 12 months. For one adult it starts at around £45 for three months, rising to roughly £95 for a year. Two adults moving together pay less as a joint application than they would separately, which is the single most useful thing to know before you apply.
It is a safety net rather than a solution. Redirection buys you time to update your address with everyone who writes to you, and if you treat it as a substitute for doing that, the problem simply arrives twelve months later instead.
Quick answer: Apply at royalmail.com at least five working days before you move, and up to three months in advance. Twelve months is the best value per month and the option Action Fraud recommends. A concession rate from around £22.50 applies if you receive Universal Credit, Pension Credit and certain other benefits. Children under 16 at the same address are added free.
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What it costs
| Duration | One adult | Two adults on one application | Cost per month, two adults |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | Around £45 | Around £56 | Roughly £18.70 |
| 6 months | Around £66.50 | Around £79 | Roughly £13.20 |
| 12 months | Around £95 | Around £108.50 | Roughly £9.05 |
| Concession, 3 months | From around £22.50 | Reduced rates apply | Check current rates |
The pattern is clear enough that the decision makes itself. Going from six months to twelve costs roughly another £30 and doubles the cover, so on a cost-per-month basis the annual option is comfortably the best value. Most households also take considerably longer than they expect to update every organisation that holds their address.
The joint application saving is worth stating plainly because people routinely miss it. Two separate twelve-month applications cost around £190; one application covering two adults at the same address costs around £108.50. That is a saving of roughly £80 for filling in one form instead of two, and it applies to anyone sharing a surname or not, provided you are moving from and to the same addresses.
Children under 16 living at the same address are added to a parent’s redirection at no extra cost. Adults sharing a house who are moving to different destinations each need their own.
Prices change. These are indicative 2026 figures and the current rates are on royalmail.com, which is also the only place you should be paying for this.
The concession rate, and who qualifies
A reduced rate starting from around £22.50 is available to people receiving Universal Credit or Pension Credit. Other qualifying benefits commonly include Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit. You need to provide proof when applying.
This is under-claimed, largely because it is not prominent in the ordering process. If you receive any means-tested benefit, check before paying the standard rate, because the difference is roughly half.
The proof required is usually a recent award letter or a statement showing the benefit. Have it ready before starting the application rather than abandoning halfway through to find it.
Anyone moving on a tight budget should also look at whether help with moving costs more broadly is available, since the same benefit entitlements that unlock the concession rate often unlock council support for deposits and removal costs. Our guide to loans and grants for moving house covers what exists and how to apply.
Applying, and the timing that matters
Royal Mail asks for at least five working days’ notice, and you can set a redirection up to three months in advance. Applying four weeks ahead is the comfortable position, because it absorbs a completion date that slips without leaving a gap.
You apply online at royalmail.com, by post using a downloadable form, or in person at a Post Office branch. Online is the fastest route and gives you a reference number immediately. You will need identification, both addresses with postcodes, the surnames of everyone to be covered, the start date and payment.
If you have already moved, you are not out of options. A redirection can generally still be set up within six months of moving, though every week that passes is a week of post arriving at a property you no longer control.
Redirection works overseas too, at higher rates, which makes it worth combining with the rest of the leaving admin if you are emigrating. Business redirection is a separate product with its own pricing.
Cancelling before the service starts gets a full refund. Cancelling after it has begun typically refunds the fee minus a £10 charge, and there is a point beyond which no refund applies at all. That matters if a purchase collapses after you have set everything up.
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What redirection does not do
It redirects mail addressed to named individuals only. Anything addressed to The Occupier, to a former resident, or to a business at your address is not covered, and neither is anything delivered by a courier rather than Royal Mail.
The courier gap is the one that surprises people most. Parcels sent by DPD, Evri, Yodel, Amazon’s own network or any non-Royal Mail carrier go to whatever address the sender holds, and no redirection touches them. If you order online regularly, updating the address in each shopping account matters more than the redirection does.
- Redirected mail travels as Second Class. Even if it was sent First Class, so expect a day or two of extra delay throughout.
- Names must match. Post addressed to a maiden name, a middle-name variant or an abbreviation may not be picked up if you did not list it.
- The first few days can leak. Items already in the network when the redirection starts may still land at the old address.
- It ends abruptly. When the term expires, post simply stops being forwarded, with no grace period.
- It is not a change of address. Senders continue holding your old details throughout, which is why the underlying job still has to be done.
Use the redirection as an audit tool rather than just a forwarding service. Every item that arrives forwarded is an organisation that still has your old address, and updating each one as it appears turns twelve months of redirected post into a complete list of who you had forgotten.
Using it alongside direct notifications
The redirection is the backstop. The actual work is telling organisations directly, and the ones with a legal duty attached should be done first regardless of whether the post is being forwarded.
Six notifications carry either a legal obligation or a financial penalty if missed: your driving licence, your vehicle logbook, the council for council tax, the electoral register, HMRC, and your insurers. None of those should be left to a redirection to catch, because the consequence of being unreachable is not simply a missed letter.
The driving licence and V5C logbook are separate DVLA records with separate penalties, and both are free to update. Council tax is billed pro rata from your occupancy date whether you tell them or not.
Everything else, from loyalty schemes to the dentist to a magazine subscription, is exactly what the redirection is for. Deal with those as they arrive forwarded rather than trying to remember them all in advance, because nobody successfully lists them from memory.
Third-party services offering to update your address across hundreds of organisations exist and can save time, but check what they actually cover and what they charge. Several are free at the point of use because they earn commission on the switches they recommend, which is not a problem provided you know it.
The fraud argument for twelve months
We looked at why fraud prevention bodies recommend the longest option, because the case for it is stronger than the convenience argument that most guidance makes.
| Document | How often it arrives | Caught by 3 months? | Caught by 12 months? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank and card statements | Monthly | Yes | Yes |
| Car and home insurance renewal | Annually | Unlikely | Yes |
| HMRC coding notices and correspondence | Annually or ad hoc | Unlikely | Yes |
| Pension and investment statements | Annually | Unlikely | Yes |
| Premium Bond and savings notices | Irregular | Unlikely | Probably |
| Replacement bank cards | Every few years | Unlikely | Possibly |
| Electoral registration | Annually | Unlikely | Yes |
The pattern is that anything arriving annually is very unlikely to be caught in a three-month window and almost certain to be caught in a twelve-month one. That is the whole argument, and it explains why the shortest option is poor value despite the lower headline price.
The fraud dimension follows directly. Documents containing your name, your old address and account details arriving at a property occupied by strangers is the raw material for identity fraud. It is not that new occupants are dishonest; it is that post left in a communal hallway or put out with recycling is a risk that costs about £30 to remove for a further nine months.
If mail is still arriving forwarded as the term ends, renew rather than letting it lapse. Royal Mail sends a renewal invitation with a code before expiry, and you can extend for a further 3, 6 or 12 months.
Prices and terms described are indicative for 2026 and should be checked against royalmail.com before applying.
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One practical detail on names. The redirection follows surnames at the old address, so anyone whose post arrives under a variant needs listing explicitly. Maiden names still used by a pension provider, a middle name that appears on a bank account, an anglicised spelling used by an employer, and the shortened form a magazine subscription uses are all common gaps. List every variant you can think of when applying, because adding one later means contacting Royal Mail rather than amending it yourself.
Businesses run from a home address need the business redirection product rather than the personal one, since post addressed to a company name is not covered by a personal application. If you are moving a home-based business, apply for both.
When it is not worth paying for
Skip it if you are moving within the same household, if you receive almost nothing by post and have already updated your bank, employer and HMRC, or if you are moving somewhere temporary for a few weeks before settling properly.
Nearly every moving checklist lists redirection as essential. For a minority of households it genuinely is not.
Someone in their twenties who banks entirely through an app, has no insurance policies in their own name, receives no paper statements and rents rather than owns may genuinely receive nothing of consequence by post. If you can list everything that writes to you, updating those directly is faster and free.
Short interim accommodation is the other case. Paying for a redirection to an address you will leave in six weeks means paying again when you settle, and the sensible move is to redirect once to the permanent address when you know it.
What you should not do is rely on the new occupants forwarding things. It is an imposition, it fails within weeks, and it puts your correspondence in someone else’s hands. If you are on good terms, ask them to return items to sender rather than to hold them.
For the full sequence of who needs telling, our moving house checklist runs from eight weeks out to the first week in the new place.
A final word on where to apply. Search results for this service carry a number of paid listings from commercial address-change companies, some of which charge a fee on top of the Royal Mail price or bundle it with services you did not ask for. The official route is royalmail.com, a Post Office branch, or the downloadable form, and there is no cheaper intermediary because the price is set by Royal Mail. If a site is charging more than the published rate, you are paying for the referral rather than the redirection.
How EcoGreen Movers fits into the admin
Redirection is one of the few tasks you can clear weeks ahead, which makes it a good early win while the rest of the move is still uncertain. EcoGreen Movers quotes on a fixed basis and confirms arrival windows rather than vague morning slots, so the admin can be scheduled around the day instead of squeezed into it.
Getting a quote is another early win that does not depend on a confirmed date. Standard covers the loading and unloading, Standard Plus adds furniture dismantled and reassembled, and Premium adds the packing, and knowing which you want makes the eventual booking a phone call rather than a decision. Boxes can be ordered on their own well ahead, and storage is worth asking about at the same time if the dates look likely to separate.
We run residential moves across the UK, including London, Manchester and Edinburgh. Get in touch for a quote once you have a date.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost?
Around £45 for three months, £66.50 for six and £95 for twelve for one adult. Two adults on a single application pay around £108.50 for twelve months, which is roughly £80 less than two separate applications. Concession rates start near £22.50 for those on qualifying benefits.
How far in advance should I apply?
At least five working days before the move, and you can set one up to three months ahead. Four weeks is comfortable, because it absorbs a completion date that slips. You can also still apply within about six months of having already moved.
Does it cover parcels?
Royal Mail parcels within the UK, yes. Deliveries by other couriers are not covered at all, because the redirection only operates within Royal Mail’s network. Update the address in your online shopping accounts separately.
Can I cancel it?
Yes. Cancelling before it starts gives a full refund. Cancelling after it has begun typically refunds the fee minus a £10 charge, and beyond a certain point no refund is available. Useful to know if a purchase falls through late.
What happens when it expires?
Forwarding simply stops, with no grace period, and anything still addressed to the old property is delivered there. Royal Mail sends a renewal invitation beforehand, and you can extend for a further 3, 6 or 12 months if post is still arriving.
In summary: one joint application, twelve months
Apply once covering both adults rather than twice, take the twelve-month term because annual documents will not otherwise be caught, and check the concession rate if you receive any means-tested benefit. Set it up four weeks before the move.
Then treat every forwarded item as a task. The redirection is buying you a list of organisations that still hold your old address, and the point of the year is to finish that list before it expires.
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