Royal Mail to recruit 20,000 Christmas workers

Royal Mail says the festive period is its busiest time of year

Royal Mail is to recruit 20,000 temporary workers to help with deliveries and parcel sorting over Christmas.

The jobs will be in two parcel hubs, four seasonal parcel sort centres and 37 mail centres across the country.

An extra 118,000 sq m (1.27 million sq ft) of temporary space has been created across the four parcel centres, which are in Milton Keynes, Northampton, Daventry and Atherstone, Warwickshire.

"It [the festive period] is the busiest time for us, and we work tirelessly behind the scenes - planning months in advance - to ensure everything runs smoothly," said Royal Mail's interim chief operating officer, Jamie Stephenson.

Online orders

There are 12,000 mail centre sorting jobs available in England, 2,000 in Scotland, 600 in Wales and 400 in Northern Ireland.

There are also 3,000 delivery and collection roles across the country and 2,000 temporary drivers are needed.

Contracts will run from late October to early January 2026 and will cover big shopping events including Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The seasonal recruits will help sort the growing number of online shopping orders before the packages are taken to Royal Mail's 1,200 delivery offices.

Parcelforce Worldwide is also recruiting additional drivers and indoor workers.