Royal Mail to hire 2,000 fewer temporary workers this Christmas

Royal Mail will recruit just 19,000 temporary workers this year to handle its busy holiday season, meaning 2,000 fewer people than last year will be around to help organise and post parcels.

In the latest clue that rival postage firms have staved off business for the firm, the Royal Mail will hire 15,000 new employees in England, 1,100 in Scotland, 600 in Wales and 400 in Northern Ireland.

Another 2,000 people will be recruited to assist the express parcel faction of Royal Mail, Parcelforce Worldwide.

More than 21,100 individuals were brought on board last year to meet consumer demand, but since Amazon announced it would reduce its minimum spend on free delivery to £10, Royal Mail seems to be preparing for a lull.

The group’s chief operations officer, Sue Whalley, said: “Christmas is the busiest time of the year for Royal Mail and we plan all year round to help ensure we deliver the best possible service to our customers.”

“Every Christmas, we make a substantial financial commitment in additional resources to handle the festive mailbag, including the recruitment of thousands of temporary workers.”

Royal Mail will also be launching a Christmas price promotion to compete with online rivals.

Nick Landon, the managing director of Royal Mail Parcels, explained: “We are pleased to further simplify our stamped parcels portfolio to provide great value and support consumers and small businesses.”

“To launch the new small parcel format we are introducing a festive price promotion that will benefit customers sending Christmas presents to friends and relatives, marketplace sellers and smaller businesses selling gifts online.”

The postal service was privatised by the coalition last October after being valued at 330p a share, though shares closed on Friday at 431.7p.