Next year, almost a million households will no longer get Saturday second-class mail from Royal Mail. Beginning in February, the postal service—which is being acquired by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky—will test cutting back on delivery.It is the first phase in a major commercial upheaval that will see Royal Mail permanently eliminate second-class deliveries on Saturdays. Nearly one million homes will be impacted by the decreased delivery trial, which will be implemented at 37 of Royal Mail's 1,200 delivery facilities. Although the precise sites have not been disclosed, it is anticipated that the experiment will impact around three delivery offices in each of Royal Mail's twelve areas in order to guarantee a uniform distribution throughout the nation.First-class and parcel deliveries will still be made six days a week.

Currently Royal Mail must deliver letters six days a week to all 32million addresses in the UK under the Universal Service Obligation. But the postal service has been lobbying for change for four years, saying the commitment costs up to £2million a day.

Letter volumes have fallen from a peak of 20billion a year in 2004/5 to just 6.7billion annually, it said.Watchdog Ofcom will launch a consultation on the proposal to deliver second class letters every other working day early next year.A final decision is expected to be made in the summer and the changes could then be rolled out nationally in 2026.

Parliament would not have to make any changes to legislation for the decision to be pushed through.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: 'The pilots are designed to ensure everything runs smoothly and we can deliver a better customer experience if we deploy any Universal Service changes.'We will only look to implement our new operating model if Ofcom's new regulations come into force. Until then, the current regulatory framework remains in place and any proposals are subject to change.'

Earlier this year,  revealed that Royal Mail had hatched plans to trial cutting business post, including bank statements, bills and some NHS letters.