JCB offers 200 agency staff permanent contracts amid 'rise in demand'

The company has said "demand for JCB's construction and agricultural products remains very strong."

JCB has announced about 200 agency staff will be given permanent contracts this summer.

It comes as the demand for construction and agricultural machinery continues to rise, the digger manufacturer said.

The starting pay for shop floor workers and increased by 8.5 per cent to £11.35 an hour, the company added.

Chief executive Mark Turner said the organisation had "great confidence in the future".

The firm has 11 UK plants in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, and Wrexham, which now employ around 8,000 people.

The news follows "a tumultuous" period at the peak of the pandemic in 2020, when it announced 950 staff jobs were at risk of redundancy.