Sending Letters

Letters are a fourth channel on the same messaging subsystem. The platform hands the document to a print and post provider, who prints, encloses and posts it.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → Communication:

• Letters — the console — compose, queue and track
• Letter Stationery — letterheads and paper definitions
• Postal Address Sources — where addresses come from

Why physical mail still matters

For statutory casework it is often required rather than preferred. Some notices must be served by post, some recipients have no email, and for anything that may be challenged a posted letter with a despatch record is stronger evidence than an email.

Providers

GOV.UK Notify, Lob, ClickSend Post and PostGrid are supported. Public sector organisations already using Notify for email and text can add letters on the same account.

Stationery

Letter Stationery defines the letterhead and paper. Configure it once centrally rather than embedding a letterhead in every template — when the logo or the address changes you will want one place to change it.

Addresses

Postal Address Sources says where the address comes from. An address assembled ad hoc per template is how letters get sent to the old address; taking it from a defined source means correcting it once corrects it everywhere.

The dispatch task

Letters queue and are sent by the Letter Dispatch task, which ships disabled and should run every few minutes. Letters that sit unsent are almost always this.

Deadlines and print time

A letter takes days. Where the letter discharges a statutory obligation, the deadline is usually about despatch rather than arrival, but confirm which — and build the print provider's cut-off into your timing rather than assuming same-day.