The trade body\u2019s charge rate guidance adds<\/a>: \u201cSupermarkets, brands and other labour users have a clear responsibility to ensure that labour providers throughout their supply chains are paid rates that fully reflect legal employment costs and compliance obligations.<\/p>\n \u201cLabour users that pay unrealistically low rates are knowingly or recklessly conniving in illegality as these rates can only be achieved through worker exploitation, tax evasion or both.\u201d<\/p>\n DPD promotes itself as \u201cone of Europe\u2019s leading parcel groups\u201d and is wholly owned by France\u2019s La Poste. It says its team exceeds 15,000 people<\/a>, operating more than 10,000 vehicles from 84 locations and delivering more than 260m parcels a year. Its customers have included John Lewis<\/a>, Marks & Spencer<\/a> and Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Guardian has seen internal DPD records detailing the discrete costs of more than 3,000 temporary workers hired by the courier during the past two financial years. The documents include hourly pay rates, holiday pay, employer\u2019s national insurance contributions and a margin for the temporary recruitment agency, but do not include any sick pay or pension.<\/p>\n Industry experts questioned whether any temporary recruitment agency, which is technically the employer of the workers, could make any profit from DPD\u2019s charge rates if it then paid the sick pay and pension entitlements to its thousands of staff.<\/p>\n Sick pay is now a right on the first day\u2019s absence, although before April it only became due after three days off. Pension contributions are paid by the employer after 12 weeks in the job.<\/p>\n The Guardian outlined to DPD the records seen and what they appear to show. The company said: \u201cOur commercial arrangements with our agencies allow them to fulfil their statutory obligations and are benchmarked against competitors in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the courier company added: \u201cAt DPD, we take our legal, regulatory and ethical responsibilities extremely seriously. As a client, engaging third-party employment agencies, DPD pays an agreed commercial charge rate to agency suppliers for providing temporary labour.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cUnder UK employment law, recruitment agencies act as the primary employers of these agency workers. Consequently, statutory obligations, including the administration and payment of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and auto-enrolment pension contributions, sit directly with the agency suppliers, rather than DPD as the end-user client.<\/p>\n \u201cOur contractual agreements require all agency partners to strictly follow all applicable employment legislation, including statutory pay and pension auto-enrolment requirements. We continuously review our procurement processes and supplier relationships to ensure our agency partners uphold the highest standards of compliance and fair treatment for all workers.\u201d<\/p>\n The discovery of the data comes as the temporary recruitment industry looks at how the government\u2019s new Fair Work Agency, which came into existence on 7 April, will use its powers to enforce workers\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n The agency brings together much of the existing enforcement system into a single body, by combining<\/a> the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, HM Revenue and Customs\u2019 national minimum wage enforcement unit and the Office of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement.<\/p>\n Get in touch<\/p>\n Contact the Guardian Business team<\/p>\n The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact the Business team confidentially using the following methods:<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS<\/a>\/Android<\/a>) and go to the menu. Scroll down and click on Secure Messaging. <\/p>\n When asked who you wish to contact please select the \u2018Business (UK & Global)\u2019 team.<\/p>\n SecureDropIf you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/500.jpg\")
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