New jobs and food bank appeal at Co-op stores

The temporary roles on offer will include serving customers and replenishing stock.

Three-month rolling contracts are on offer and people must be flexible with shift patterns and locations.

The retailer, which has more than 240 stores across 16 counties, is also looking to help vulnerable people such as the elderly and those on lower incomes.

So alongside its recruitment drive, it is also launching an urgent food bank appeal to support its charity partners after they reported a major fall in donations at the same time as a spike in demand.

Debbie Robinson, Central England Co-op chief executive, said: “As a co-operative retailer, we want to make sure we are leading the way for our communities during this difficult time.

“We are launching an urgent food bank appeal and we are asking people to show their co-operative spirit and donate an item or two so our food bank partners can provide emergency food and support to individuals and families.

“We have also arranged a donation to our food redistribution partners FareShare Midlands to pay for extra deliveries of vital food packages across the region.

“We also wanted to say we are working hard with our suppliers to make sure that shelves are regularly re-stocked.

“To make sure that there are enough items for everyone, we have placed a temporary limit of two of every product in our stores to help maintain stock levels.

“We are asking our customers and members to be considerate to others at this uncertain time and shop responsibly.”

Items needed for the food bank appeal include cereal, tinned food and fruit, tea bags, dried pasta, rice, long life milk, sugar, biscuits, fruit juice and squash, pasta sauce and instant coffee.

Donations will be collected up from stores and used to create food parcels, which contain around 11 items to provide at least three days’ worth of meals.

Visit www.centralengland.coop/updates.