How many roles, and where

Tesco is recruiting more than 28,000 temporary workers across the UK for the Christmas trading period. Most roles are in Superstores and Extra stores, serving customers on the shop floor, replenishing shelves and picking orders for home delivery. A smaller number of picking roles are also available at distribution centres.

Pay, hours and experience

Tesco's colleague rate of pay starts from £13.28 an hour, rising to £14.55 for stores inside the M25. Night work carries an additional premium of £2.35 an hour for hours worked between midnight and 6am, and extra payments may apply depending on location and skills, so the exact rate should be checked on the individual vacancy.

Festive colleagues joining Tesco are normally offered a minimum of 12 guaranteed hours each week, with opportunities for fewer hours, down to 7.5, also available. Shifts cover early mornings, days, twilights and nights, giving applicants a choice of patterns. Tesco says no previous retail experience is necessary, and applicants should bring the right attitude and a helpful approach to customers.

How and when to apply

Applications are made online through Tesco Careers, store by store, and closing dates vary. For example, a festive colleague early-mornings role at York Askham Bar Extra was listed with an apply-by date of 9 November 2026, while other stores list different dates through November. That variation is the key warning: a national headline number does not mean every store closes on the same day.

Applicants should search by their local store and apply promptly if the store and shift suit them. As with any genuine employer vacancy, there is no fee to apply, and anyone asking for payment in connection with a Tesco application should be treated as a scam.