Christmas temp jobs 2026: who's hiring, what they pay and how to apply

Most large employers announced their seasonal hiring in September and October. These are the figures they published themselves, checked on 3 November 2026. Pay is the starting rate for store or sorting roles unless stated.

Some employers are hiring fewer people than last year. The John Lewis Partnership recruited 13,700 seasonal workers for Christmas 2025, against more than 10,400 this year. Royal Mail's roles are spread across the UK: 12,500 mail sorting roles in England, 1,243 in Scotland, 485 in Northern Ireland and 355 in Wales, plus 5,000 delivery and collection roles and 2,100 temporary truck drivers.

Outside retail and post, Christmas jobs also come up in pubs, restaurants, hotels and delivery firms. Careers Wales lists the large chains in each sector, and recruitment agencies advertise seasonal work too. Royal Mail fills part of its roles through Angard Staffing: if you don't see a vacancy near you on its site, check Angard's. In Northern Ireland, Angard handles all of this year's seasonal mail sorter roles.

Employers usually recruit for Christmas from September right into December. Tesco opened applications at the end of September, John Lewis advertises from the end of September through November, and the first M&S and Currys starters are already in store. It is not too late on 3 November 2026: new vacancies appear every day, and some stay online for only a few days.

1. Set up job alerts on each employer's careers site. Tesco suggests the search term 'festive colleague'; elsewhere, add 'Christmas' or 'festive' to the search box.
2. Apply to several stores at once if you don't mind where you work. Tesco says you can apply for more than one role.
3. Expect the peak in December: Royal Mail's seasonal period starts with Black Friday and Cyber Monday and is busiest in December. Tesco offers day and night shifts to fit around your own Christmas.
4. Be ready for bank holiday shifts: Careers Wales warns that some Christmas jobs mean working Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and possibly Christmas Day.

A temporary contract is still a job with legal rights. The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage apply across the UK, and the rates in force until 31 March 2027 are £12.71 an hour at 21 and over, £10.85 at 18 to 20, and £8 under 18 or on the apprentice rate. Seasonal contracts end well before the April 2027 rise to £13.21, explained in our article on the minimum wage 2027.

• Holiday pay: almost every worker, including agency and irregular-hours workers, is entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year. If your hours change from week to week, you build up 12.07% of the hours you work in each pay period: 30 hours in a week earns 4 hours of leave. Any statutory leave you have not taken must be paid when the job ends.
• Rolled-up holiday pay: for irregular-hours and part-year workers, the employer may add holiday pay to your hourly rate instead. Check your payslip to see which method is used.
• Fixed-term contracts: if you are employed for a set period (Sainsbury's 4 to 12 weeks, for example), you must be treated the same as permanent staff.
• Agency workers: you are entitled to the minimum wage for every hour you work, even hours missing from a timesheet. After 12 weeks in the same role you get the same pay and conditions as permanent staff, but many Christmas assignments are shorter than that.
• Zero-hours contracts: you do not have to accept the hours offered, and you can ignore a clause that stops you working for another employer. You still get the minimum wage and holiday pay.

In Northern Ireland, holiday rights are explained on nidirect rather than GOV.UK: if you work casual or irregular hours there, you are entitled to paid time off for every hour you work, and any holiday you have not taken is paid when the job finishes. If you think you are not getting the minimum wage, GOV.UK tells you to contact Acas.

Every employer must check that you are allowed to work in the UK before you start. The check works the same way in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. What you show depends on your nationality:

• British or Irish citizens: a British passport, or an Irish passport or passport card, current or expired. Without one, a UK or Irish birth or adoption certificate plus an official letter showing your name and National Insurance number (from HMRC, the DWP or, in Northern Ireland, the Social Security Agency).
• Everyone else: a share code from the GOV.UK online service, or your eligible immigration documents. You choose which, and the employer cannot turn you down for using documents instead of a share code.
• Students on a visa: the employer must check any limit on the hours you can work and see evidence of your term and vacation dates. Check your own visa conditions before you accept extra shifts.

Large seasonal recruiters often do this online. Royal Mail, for example, asks mail sorters to upload clear photos of their documents to a vetting service, then bring the original ID on their first day.

Some employers don't ask for a CV: Tesco uses an online form where a CV is optional. Many others do, and recruitment agencies, pubs and independent shops still expect one. For a seasonal role, the recruiter reads your CV in a few seconds and looks for three things: you are available on the right dates, you can start soon, and you can cope with a busy shift. Put those at the top.

1. Your availability in the personal statement: start date, end date, shifts (early, late, nights), weekends and bank holidays. Tesco's form asks which days suit you best, so decide before you apply.
2. Experience that looks like the job, even if short: a Saturday job, a summer season, volunteering, sport or a society role where you dealt with people or worked to a deadline.
3. The practical details: a full manual UK driving licence for delivery roles, till or stock experience, and whether you are comfortable on your feet all shift. Royal Mail sorters lift mail bags of up to 11kg and push trolleys of up to 250kg.
4. The words of the job advert: if it asks for 'replenishment' or 'picking online orders', use those words. Our guide to skills for a CV shows which ones to choose. To see which sectors are still hiring beyond Christmas, read our monthly update on the UK job market.

Is this your first job? The student CV example shows how to fill the page with your studies, part-time work and activities. If the advert asks for a covering note, adapt our cover letter for a job application in a few lines, and run your CV through the AI CV checker before you send it to an employer that screens applications online.

Seasonal interviews are short. Tesco's last 30 minutes, in person. Expect questions on your availability, a time you helped a customer, and how you handle a queue or a busy shift. Our guide on how to prepare for an interview gives you the answers to rehearse.

A Christmas job can last longer than the season. Currys says almost half of last year's seasonal colleagues (49%) were offered a permanent position, and Tesco, Royal Mail and Sainsbury's all invite temporary staff to apply for permanent roles. When your contract ends, add the job to your CV with one figure if you have it (orders picked per hour, customers served a day), and ask your manager for a reference while they still remember you.