Whistl has become the first company to secure a postal contract with the Government of Northern Ireland which will see it process 20m items of mail a year.

The five-year deal will see the carrier collect mail from a number of departments and public sector bodies within the government, sort it, and transport it to Royal Mail for final mile delivery.

The departments listed in the contract include those of education, health, finance and transport.

To meet the workload from the deal, Whistl said it will hire new operational staff and drivers at its sortation depot in Newtonabbey, Belfast.

The company doubled the capacity of the site earlier this year in order to accommodate the 20m additional items the deal will send through the depot.

The deal will bolster Whistl’s mail volumes in Northern Ireland to an annual total of 60m.

Whistl chief executive Nick Wells said: “Whistl is delighted that we can invest in new employment opportunities for some long term unemployed people as well as apprenticeships following the award of this significant contract.

“We are delighted that we won the contract on our ability to provide a cost effective quality service that will benefit the Northern Ireland tax payer through lower postal costs but also to help get people back into the work place.”

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