The act enabled the British Government to sell shares in Royal Mail to private investors and includes the possible mutualisation of the Post Office.

[1] It enabled the Post Office business to be separated from Royal Mail, to allow it to remain in government ownership or to be mutualised.

It provided for the government to take over the assets and liabilities of the Royal Mail pension scheme, which had a considerable deficit.

The act also wrote into law the requirement for Royal Mail to maintain a six 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 the monarch's head would remain on British postage stamps even if the Royal Mail were to be taken into foreign ownership.