Business Mail Advanced (formerly known as Cleanmail Advance) is a simple way of reducing your postage costs. From April 30th 2012, the service provides access to base savings starting at 16.5% over the price of a second class letter in return for meeting some simple qualification criteria.

What is Cleanmail Advance?

If you produce a minimum of 500 letters of the same class for delivery within the UK and you can prepare your mail so Royal Mail’s automated technology can read and verify the address and postcode, you can obtain the following discounts from the franking tariff price:

•   From April 30th 2012, 1st Class letters are discounted by 4.6p (10.5% reduction on Standard 1st Class Letter Meter prices).
•   From April 30th 2012, 2nd Class letters are discounted by 5.1p (16.5% reduction on Standard 2nd Class Letter Meter prices).

In addition, you can receive additional Volume Related Discounts, starting from 1.5% and rising to 7.5%. These additional savings start when 1,000 items qualify for Business Mail Advanced, and increase based on the volume of mail that you send.

VAT and Business Mail Advance 

From April 2nd 2012, Business Mail Advanced is subject to VAT. For further details refer to our section on VAT

How is the discount assessed?


Firstly, you need to frank your mail using the rates contained within your franking machine. Then, log the mailing onto the Royal Mail’s online business account.  As Royal Mail process your mail, sorting machines read the license number and check the letter for address accuracy. They then allocate a discount on an item by item basis for every piece of your mail that is automatically sorted.
Items failing to be automatically sorted are priced at Account / Franked Meter Standard Tariff.

How do I claim the discount?

Discounts are refunded either by cheque or as a credit to a Royal Mail Account. A refund application is not required. Refunds are issued monthly or sooner if a rebate of £1,000 or more is due.

What criteria must be met to receive the discounts?

As well as sending a minimum of 500 letters your business needs to meet the following criteria:

•  Appropriate letter dimensions
   •   Minimum size is 145mm x 110mm. Maximum size is 240mm x 165mm
   •   Minimum thickness is 0.25mm. Maximum thickness is 5mm


•  Appropriate address location and format
   •  Addresses must be machine printed in a defined area of the letter
   •  Optical Character Recognition (OCR) address specification is recommended


•  Appropriate clear zones
   •  Royal Mail requires certain areas of the mail piece to have no markings. These are called clearzones. Royal Mail print bar codes on each item in these areas to assist the sorting process.


• Appropriate presentation
   •  Letters separated into 1st and 2nd Class
   •  Letters presented upside down and facing the front of the trays
   •  Trays are placed in the wheeled containers - Royal Mail will provide A4 trays and a wheeled container
• Letters should bear a license number. This is normally applied when your machine franks a letter.
   • Complete a Customer Collection Receipt