Thanks for the info!

IRC's are no longer for sale in the UK, this was confirmed to me by Royal Mail on Twitter. Of course some PO's may still have stock left over. But after the leftover stock goes they will no longer be able to order any more so they will be finished.

IRC's are however still accepted for exchange, so anyone sending them from abroad for UK postage is safe. The amount of postage they can be redeemed for will be £0.87.

Interestingly the Universal Postal Union rules state a country does not have to sell them, just accept.

Thank you!
What I want to know is when sending a request to the UK with an IRC, will they still exchange them for UK stamps?

They are still sold in the UK but you need to know what you are asking for and go to the larger of the post offices as few will keep stocks of them.


Update :

I also see from the Royal Mail website that they are supposedly no longer sold. We used them for business purposes recently and managed to find a post office which had 70-100 in stock. They seemed to be dated December 2013 so it is not entirely clear whether they have been stopped or not.

Thanks!
Will IRCs still be accepted in UK post offices (since they're not sold there anymore)?

The new UK prices have finally been announced, they come into effect April 30th so anyone now sending to the UK may well need to include enough IRCs/UK stamps/US$.

The new prices are here