March price hikes: phone contracts, stamps & more

Several different industries are rolling out prices rises on everything from stamps to mobile phone bills in March. Here are four things that will get more expensive this month.

Stamps

Royal Mail has announced that the price of first and second class stamps will rise by 2p from 26 March.

The price of a first-class stamp will increase from 65p to 67p and a second class stamp will cost 58p up from 56p.

If you are posting a large letter you’ll face a bigger increase of 3p on stamps taking the cost of a first class large letter stamp over the £1 mark to £1.01. Opt to post a large letter second class and you’ll pay 79p up from 76p.

The increase is necessary to “ensure the sustainability of the Universal Postal Service,” according to the Royal Mail.

The firm also argues that UK stamp prices “are among the best value in Europe”, with its own data showing that the European average for First Class letters is 94p.

Mobile phone bills

Three, O2, Vodafone and EE have all announced they will hike their prices this month.

EE is putting prices up by more than 4% on 30 March. This will work out as an extra £14.64 a year for someone on a £29.99 a month contract.

Three has confirmed its prices will go up this month, but has yet to say by how much, just that it will be in line with the RPI measure of inflation.

O2 prices will go up by 4% with the change taking place in March but not appearing on bills until April.

Vodafone will put prices up in line with RPI in April.

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Passport renewals

If you’re planning a trip abroad you may need to add a little extra into your holiday fund if you need to renew your passport. The Home Office is planning to put up renewal fees as part of an overhaul of its prices this month.

The price of an online renewal will rise from £72.50 to £75.50, but a postal application is rising further from £72.50 to £85.

The difference is the first time the Home Office has charged more for postal applications, but it says there are more processing costs involved and that needs to be reflected in the price.

If you need to fast-track your application you’ll pay almost 40% at £142, compared to £103 currently.

“The passport is an invaluable document that allows millions of British people to travel around the world for business and pleasure,” says Immigration minister Caroline Nokes.

“Our priority is to ensure that UK travellers have a secure, effective, and efficient service from the point of application to the time they pass through the UK border and it is only right that we should look at this whole process when setting our fees.

“These proposals will ensure that those people who don’t travel abroad are not footing the bill for those who do.”

Applying for a passport for your child is also set to get more expensive with a £3 increase to £49 for online applications and a £12.50 increase to £58.50 for postal applications.

Parliament must approve any changes to passport prices. If these changes are approved the new prices will come into effect from 27 March.

Broadband

Millions of EE broadband customers will be hit with a 4.1% price hike from 30 March. The move will only apply to those who signed up or upgraded from 26 March 2014. 

Fast forward a couple of days and Sky broadband users can expect a price rise of their very own, which you can read more about here.

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