Royal Mail delivers Christmas jobs boost with almost 200 roles available in Wolverhampton

But the seasonal jobs boost for the city is substantially less than in previous years. In 2015 another 640 were taken on to work at a temporary parcel sorting centre on Stafford Road, but this year the parcel centre will be based in Birmingham.

As a result around 900 temporary jobs are on offer at Royal Mail's sorting operations in Birmingham.

Just 185 are being recruited to work at the Royal Mail's sorting office in Wolverhampton – the North West Midlands Mail Centre on Sun Street, which handles mail for the whole of Staffordshire and the Black Country.

They will support the 1,000 people who normally work at the centre, which was opened in 1998 after a £34 million development on the 17-acre site.

Most of the Birmingham recruits are likely to be based at the temporary parcel sorting office in Washwood Heath, in the 200,000 sq ft former headquarters of delivery company UK Mail before it moved to Coventry.

A Royal Mail spokesman said the main reason for the switch to the Birmingham site was that the building offered better loading bay facilities for parcel vans and lorries.

The rest of the Birmingham jobs will be based at the city's main sorting operation, the 250,000 sq ft Aston Royal Mail Delivery Office.

The 1,100 temporary Wolverhampton and Birmingham staff are being drafted into to back up Royal Mail's 120,000 permanent postmen and women nationwide who will be dealing with the millions of Christmas cards and presents in the run-up to the festive season.

Royal Mail's chief operations officer, Sue Whalley, said: "Christmas is our busiest time of year and the West Midlands is one of our most important areas when it comes to recruiting additional support for the business. We plan all year round to help ensure we deliver the best possible service for consumers and businesses in the UK at Christmas."

The jobs will run from November until early January, primarily to help sort the additional Christmas volumes of mail as well as the increasing amount of online shopping deliveries.

Temporary positions across a variety of shifts will be available. The peak of the additional temporary work will be in the busiest month of December.

Around 14,900 people are needed to work in mail centres, distribution sites and data centres across England.

There are also around 1,300 posts in Scotland, 700 in Wales and 500 in Northern Ireland.

Royal Mail Group's express parcels business, Parcelforce Worldwide, is also recruiting around 1,850 extra sorting staff including 830 drivers throughout the UK.

Royal Mail has set up a dedicated website for people to apply for the Christmas positions – www.royalmailgroup.com/xmasjobs or by calling the helpline on 0345 600 1785.