Royal Mail, the British Post Office, has sparked outrage by setting up its own recruitment agency, called Angard Staffing, to fill thousands of temporary jobs, The Daily Mirror newspaper reports.
 
Unions fear the move is a "devious ploy" to save money and get around new rights for agency workers coming into force at the weekend. They also claim it is part of a shift towards using more "casual" postmen that is damaging delivery services.
 
The Communication Workers' Union believes management would like to follow the example of the Dutch postal service, which is said to rely on an army of students, mums and retired people who fit in deliveries when it suits them. Under new rules, temporary staff have the right to the same pay and conditions as full-timers if hired through a third party.
 
But Department of Business guidance says "those who are likely to be outside of the regulations include… where a company employs its temporary workers directly."
 
CWU deputy general secretary, Dave Ward, commented "the creation of a separate company to recruit and manage casual labour smacks of a deliberate attempt to get around the agency regulations. It is a clear sign of Royal Mail preparing to casualise the industry."
 
But Royal Mail last night dismissed the claims over its new in-house recruitment agency Angard as "nonsense".
 
A spokesman told The Daily Mirror "through Angard, our costs are lower than we would pay to external agencies." He added that its main job would be to recruit 18,000 temporary staff for the busy Christmas period.