UK retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) plans to recruit 11,000 seasonal workers across its stores for Christmas, with the first recruits due to join teams from 25 October.

Applications are open for the new roles, which pay £13.41 ($17.75) an hour.

According to the company, successful candidates will receive operational training and support when they join.

The recruits will work across food, clothing, and gifting departments, supporting customer service and store operations during the retailer’s “busiest” festive trading weeks.

M&S said the recruitment programme is intended to manage higher customer demand and footfall during the winter holiday period.

M&S retail director Thinus Keeve said: “Our brilliant store colleagues play such an important part in delivering the magic of M&S at Christmas, and we are looking forward to welcoming 11,000 new colleagues to teams this year.

“Christmas is busy, fast-moving and a really exciting time to join M&S. We will give new colleagues the training, tools and support they need to get up to speed quickly. What matters most is bringing energy, curiosity and a real commitment to doing the right thing for our customers and working as part of the team.”

The hiring initiative follows other recent developments for the business.

Last month, M&S announced a partnership with LVMH-owned Sephora to open Sephora shop-in-shops at 100 M&S locations on high streets and in retail parks across the UK.

The Sephora offer launched in selected M&S stores and on M&S.com in spring 2027, with home delivery and nationwide Click & Collect available.

Also last month, M&S committed more than £4m to price reductions on over 50 products in its organic food range.

Items including organic carrots, lamb, pasta, and potatoes are being added to its Remarkable Value range, which M&S says is “benchmarked to competitor prices”.