How to Complete the Royal Mail Claim Form: Lost or Damaged Mail

To claim compensation from Royal Mail for a lost, damaged, or delayed item, complete the Royal Mail claim form online at help.royalmail.com or pick up a paper version at any Post Office branch. You have 80 calendar days from the date of posting to submit it, and you will need your tracking or reference number, your certificate of posting, and proof of the item’s value before you begin. Most decisions arrive within 30 calendar days.

Who Files the Claim

For a lost item, the sender files. For a damaged item, either the sender or the recipient can file, but Royal Mail pays only one party. If both submit a claim for the same item, Royal Mail processes the sender’s unless it has already paid the recipient.¹

One boundary worth knowing: if you bought something online and the retailer arranged the shipping, your contract for the postage is with the retailer, not Royal Mail. In that case you claim from the retailer.²

When You Can File

For a loss claim, you have to wait before the form will be accepted. Standard services — 1st Class, 2nd Class, and Signed For — require at least 10 working days past the expected delivery date. Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm requires 5 working days. Once that window opens, you have 80 calendar days from the date of posting to submit. After 80 days Royal Mail has no legal liability for the loss, so the form will not help you.³

What to Gather Before You Open the Form

Uploading or attaching incomplete evidence is one of the fastest ways to slow a decision. Have these ready:

Your tracking or reference number. This appears on your Post Office receipt or the label attached to the item and is between 9 and 27 characters long. It may be labelled a “barcode” or “reference.” Without it Royal Mail cannot trace the item.⁴
Your certificate of posting. The counter receipt or your online postage confirmation shows the date of posting and the service you paid for.
Proof of value. Royal Mail accepts original receipts, bank or credit card statements, PayPal records, invoices, manufacturing costs, and auctioneer valuations, and any other documentation that establishes market value of the contents.³
Photos of damage, for damage claims. Keep the damaged item and its packaging; Royal Mail may ask to inspect them.

A detail that trips people up on the paper form: all documentation you send must be originals, not copies. Keep photocopies of everything for your own records before you post the packet.³

Filling in the Form

Online

The fastest route is Royal Mail’s online claims portal at help.royalmail.com. The form asks you to select the claim type (lost, damaged, or delayed), enter your tracking reference, describe the contents, and upload evidence of value. Once you submit, you should receive an automated confirmation with a reference number so you can check the status.

Paper

Pick up a claim form at any Post Office branch. Complete every section, attach your original evidence, and post it to the address printed on the form. Because Royal Mail will not accept photocopies, consider sending the packet by a tracked service so you have proof of receipt.³

How Much You Can Recover

The compensation is the lower of the item’s market value and the cap for the service you used. If you posted a £15 book by 1st Class, you get up to £15; if you posted a £500 necklace by 1st Class, you get £20 no matter what the necklace cost.

1st Class, 2nd Class, and Signed For: up to £20 for contents, plus a postage refund. Without additional evidence of value, the postage refund is a book of stamps.³
Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm: up to £750 included, with extra cover available up to £2,500 at the time of posting.⁵
Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am: up to £50 included, with extra cover available up to £2,500.⁶
Articles for the Blind: up to £46 based on market value.³

Delay claims work on a different basis. For standard letters and large letters within the UK you receive the price of postage. For parcels, the refund is calculated on the lowest postage price for that size parcel rather than what you actually paid. Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 items are not eligible for delay compensation, and neither are items sent outside the UK.⁷

After You Submit

Royal Mail will contact you with the outcome within 30 calendar days. If they cannot finalise the claim in that time, they will send an update explaining the delay.³ The decision arrives through the contact method on your form, usually email or post. Where the claim is approved for a Special Delivery item, you receive a fee refund plus compensation for actual loss up to the cover level you purchased.

Why Claims Get Rejected

Royal Mail’s policy lists several situations where no compensation is paid, and some of them catch people out:

Inadequate packaging. Breakable items must be packed in a strong container with sufficient protective material and marked “FRAGILE HANDLE WITH CARE” in capitals above the address.³
Incomplete or illegible address. The full postal address, including the complete postcode, must be written clearly on the front.³
The customer’s own act or omission, such as failing to collect a held item within the required timeframe.
Events outside Royal Mail’s control, including severe weather, terrorism, vandalism, and acts of unrelated third parties.
Natural deterioration of perishable items due to inherent characteristics rather than mishandling.
Filing after the 80-day deadline. Late claims are automatically ineligible.³

If Your Claim Is Denied

You can ask Royal Mail to review the decision. A different team will re-examine the claim. For disputed deliveries where Royal Mail insists an item was delivered but you believe it was not, you can request the GPS coordinates of the delivery scan to check whether the recorded location matches the address.

If the internal review does not resolve it, you can take the complaint to the Postal Redress Service (POSTRS), an independent alternative dispute resolution scheme. To be eligible you must either hold a “deadlock letter” — Royal Mail’s final response confirming they will not change their position — or have waited 8 weeks from your first complaint without resolution. POSTRS only covers cases where you, as the sender, had a direct contract with Royal Mail. Where that is not the case, Ofcom advises seeking independent legal advice if you remain dissatisfied.²

1
Royal Mail. Royal Mail’s Retail Compensation Policy for Damage and Part Loss
2
Ofcom. Royal Mail
3
Royal Mail. Royal Mail’s Retail Compensation Policy for Loss
4
Royal Mail. Help With Tracking Reference Numbers
5
Royal Mail. Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm
6
Post Office. Postage Compensation
7
Citizens Advice. Claiming Compensation From Royal Mail