Parcel giant Evri delivers jobs to Bury after agreeing DHL tie-up

It is hiring 5,000 couriers across the country

Evri is planning to hire 5,000 couriers in a fresh recruitment drive as the parcel giant takes on rivals after entering the business letter market. Many of the jobs will working from the company's base in Bury.

The Yorkshire-based firm recently announced it was joining forces with DHL's UK ecommerce arm to form one of the country's biggest delivery firms. It said the new roles would bring its total self-employed courier network to 33,000, its highest number.

The roles will be available throughout the UK, with a focus on regions including Plymouth, Bury, Hastings, Dover and Scarborough.

About 1,000 of the new jobs will be permanent, while the rest are set to be flexible positions to cater to the typically busy summer months and other peak periods for deliveries.

Couriers who commit to working five or more days a week, including Saturday and Sunday, are also given the chance to opt in to its revamped "Evri Plus" scheme, which includes paid holiday and automatic enrolment into a pension scheme.

Evri, which was previously part of the Hermes parcel group, was bought by US private equity firm Apollo for around £2.7 billion last year.

It announced plans last month to merge with rival DHL's UK ecommerce business to create a combined company set to deliver more than one billion parcels and one billion letters each year.

The deal means Evri will enter the UK business letter market for the first time, bolstering its competition to Royal Mail. Evri has spent £32 million on improving its customer service offering and has seen an improvement in its ratings over recent years, but has said there is "more to do" to improve with customers continuing to report delivery issues.

Chief executive Martijn de Lange said: "We know that service, reliability and quality are critical factors for our clients and consumers, and so by expanding our self-employed network further, we remain focused on delivering in each of those areas."

Couriers typically earn about £20.90 an hour on average, according to Evri.