Postal Services Act 2011

Postal Services Act 2011

Long title An Act to make provision for the restructuring of the Royal Mail group and about the Royal Mail Pension Plan; to make new provision about the regulation of postal services, including provision for a special administration regime; and for connected purposes.
Citation c. 5
Introduced by Vince Cable
Territorial extent United Kingdom
Dates
Royal Assent 13 June 2011
Commencement Section 43, Schedule 4, Section 66, Schedule 9, Sections 89-90, Section 91 (3)&(4) and Sections 92-93 on 13 June 2011; Section 64 (2)-(6) on 15 September 2011; remaining sections on 1 October 2011 (except Section 1 on 20 December 2011)
Other legislation
Relates to Postal Services Act 2000, Communications Act 2003
Status: Current legislation
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Postal Services Act 2011 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database

The Postal Services Act 2011 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act enables the British Government to sell shares in the Royal Mail to private investors and includes the possible mutualisation of the Post Office.

The Act allows private buyers to own up to 90% of Royal Mail, with Royal Mail staff being offered at least 10% of the shares of the company.[1] It enables the Post Office business to be separated from Royal Mail, to allow it to remain in government ownership or be mutualised. It provides for the government to take over the assets and liabilities of the Royal Mail pension scheme, which has a considerable deficit.[1] It allows for the transfer of regulatory responsibility from Postcomm to the communications regulator Ofcom. The Act also writes into law the requirement on Royal Mail to maintain a 6-day a week universal service.

During its passage through the House of Commons, the government added an amendment to include a guarantee that a silhouette or portrait of Queen Elizabeth's head would remain on British postage stamps even if the Royal Mail were to be taken into foreign ownership.[2] Following this stage it was considered by the House of Lords when the government added further amendments to safeguard the universal service.[3]

The Act was granted Royal Assent on 13 June 2011 and the majority of its provisions came into force on 1 October 2011.[4]

Summary of main provisions

Postal regulation: Transition to the new regulatory framework

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, June 24, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.