Retail giant Marks & Spencer to recruit 20,000 extra staff for Christmas

Retail giant Marks & Spencer is to recruit 20,000 extra staff for the busy Christmas period, 5,000 more than last year.

The jobs will be based in the firm's 500 stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, with most contracts ending in December or January.

Last year more than one in five of the 15,000 seasonal staff were made permanent employees after finishing their contracts.

Steve Rowe, M&S director of retail, said: "We want to make sure that our customer needs are met so we're putting the call out for 20,000 passionate, service-centred recruits to come join the team and help make it a merry Christmas for millions of M&S shoppers."

PA