The purpose of the Bill is to:

The purpose of the Bill is to ensure a healthy future for the Universal Postal Service, Royal Mail and the wider postal services sector in the UK by: enabling Royal Mail to modernise through strategic partnership; removing the burden of Royal Mail's historic pension liability; and improving the regulatory regime for the postal services sector.
 
The main elements of the Bill are:
 
• Restructuring of the Royal Mail Group:  The Bill will enable the Royal Mail Group to be restructured, allowing for a minority sale of shares in the Royal Mail Group Ltd whilst ensuring the Post Office remains 100% publicly owned.
 
• Royal Mail Pension Plan: The Bill provides powers for Government to establish a new pension scheme.  Protection for past entitlements is set out in the legislation to ensure that members' historic rights are not adversely affected.    
 
• Regulation of Postal Services: The Bill transfers responsibility for regulating the postal services market from Postcomm to Ofcom, and enshrines maintenance of the universal postal service as the primary duty of the Regulator in relation to postal services.  The Bill provides for the universal service to receive financial support if Ofcom believes that it places an unfair burden on Royal Mail in future.  The Bill extends Ofcom's competition law powers to cover postal services and provides Ofcom with powers to gather information, enabling sound regualatory decisons.

The main benefits of the Bill are: 
 
Royal Mail is the only postal company currently capable of providing a universal service throughout the UK, but it is facing unprecedented challenges in the face of the digital communication revolution and urgently needs to modernise.   The Bill will allow Royal Mail to enter into a strategic partnership with an experienced postal or network operator.  A partner will deliver the commercial confidence, corporate expertise and experience of transformation that Royal Mail needs to modernise at pace, which it needs to do if it is to adapt and thrive in the rapidly changing market. 
 
The Bill will transfer Royal Mail's historic pension liabilities to the Government, removing a significant drain on the company's cashflow and a major barrier to modernisation.  Under the provisions of the Bill, pension scheme members with accrued rights earned before December 2008 will have complete security that their entitlements will be honoured in full.  This is a signficant improvement for scheme members on the current position, given the funding level of the current Royal Mail pension plan.
 
The Bill will make significant changes to the regulatory regime for the postal services sector.  Crucially, the Bill will make maintenance of the universal service the primary duty of the Regulator in relation to postal services.  The universal service is of great importance to consumers and the wider economy, and enshrining it in legislation will ensure that we all continue to enjoy the benefits of the one-price-goes-anywhere six-day-per-week letters service.
 
The changes to the regulatory regime will benefit Royal Mail and other postal operators by placing the postal sector in the broader context of the communications market.  Ofcom has a proven tack record of effective regulation of markets undergoing rapid technological change. 
 
The Bill will also extent Ofcom's competition powers to the postal services sector.  A modernised and effective competition regime is important to the development of the postal market - competition provides a spur to Royal Mail and others to innovate and develop new services, to the benefit of consumers.
 
In addition, the Bill will reduce the regulatory burden on postal services providers, as the current individual licensing regime for postal services will be replaced by a general authorisation scheme.