Hermes is also looking to hire an additional 9,000 people for self-employed courier roles across the UK. It currently pays more than 16,000 self-employed couriers, according to its website.

While the government lifted the nationwide ban on non-essential English retail in mid-June, Office for National Statistics data suggests that high street footfall is still significantly reduced from the same period last year.

Boris Johnson is believed to be worried about the impact that working from home is having upon the high street economy, announcing last week that his government will scrap its guidance advising those who can work at home to do so on 1 August.

However, Hermes said it thought online shopping would not lose ground even as the high street welcomes customers back.

“The pandemic has expedited the already phenomenal growth of online shopping and we see no sign of this changing,” said chief executive Martijn de Lange.

Hermes said it is preparing for a massive Christmas season, and expects to carry around 3.5 million parcels a day during the period, nearly double that of last year – which could compound high street retailers’s woes.

“As a result, it is important that we have the right infrastructure and people in place to support this,” said Mr De Lange.

“This is good news for the many people who have sadly had their income affected and we are pleased to be able to support the UK economy with so many jobs at this time.“

In that first fortnight of lockdown we had thousands of applications from pub staff, chefs, children’s entertainers, dog walkers, pub singers, beauticians, hairdressers, pilots and many, many others. We look forward to welcoming our new recruits over the coming weeks.”

Hermes UK said it has already invested more than £30m in its operations this year, part of which was used to open 90 new sub-depots, and buy new vans.

Source: The Independent