Royal Mail has announced it is recruiting almost 22,000 temporary workers to help transport, sort and deliver additional parcels and mail over the festive period, covering Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas.
The roles include 12,500 mail center sorting positions in England, 1,243 in Scotland, 485 in Northern Ireland and 355 in Wales. A further 5,000 delivery and collection roles are available across the country, along with 2,100 temporary HGV and MGV driver roles.
The temporary positions will be based at two parcel super hubs in Warrington and Daventry, five seasonal parcel sort centers, four parcel hubs and 37 mail centers nationwide. The five seasonal sort centers are located in Atherstone, Stoke-on-Trent, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Daventry, with a combined 152,300 m2 of additional temporary space created, described by Royal Mail as equivalent to almost 22 football pitches. The four parcel hubs are in Stonebridge Park, London; Wishaw, Scotland; Severn Beach, Bristol; and Wakefield, Yorkshire.
Royal Mail chief operating officer Jamie Stephenson said, “Christmas is the busiest and most important time of the year for our customers, and we’re working hard across every part of our operation to deliver for them. While many people start thinking about Christmas as the festive season approaches, we’ve been planning for it since January. From recruiting thousands of seasonal colleagues to strengthening capacity across our network, we’re making significant investments to help ensure every card, gift and parcel arrives in time for Christmas.”
The seasonal roles will run from late October to early January 2027, peaking in December.
Royal Mail is also adding 7,500 hire vans to its existing fleet of 6,000 vehicles, which includes 9,000 EVs, and is bringing in more than 1,400 road haulage contractors per day to transport festive mail and parcels.
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