Royal Bank of Scotland paid contractors £400 a day to 'stuff envelopes'

Royal Bank of Scotland paid contractors £400 per day to stuff envelopes, according to the Press Association.

The workers were hired by the bank, which is still 62% owned by the Government, and completed tasks such as sending PPI letters to customers.

Those involved claim they were originally hired to complete much more skilled work as specialists, however they were advised on several occasions to put letters in envelopes because of management disorganisation.

Contractors who worked at the offices in Manchester were paid £330 per day plus VAT on occasions during 2017.

The roles carried out would normally be paid at the minimum wage, meaning thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money was wasted.

A contractor, who wishes to remain anonymous, said:

"It is purely because they have no organisational skills on the project we were on and was a complete waste of taxpayers' money."

It is not yet known how much money was spent on the project, or how many workers were involved.

In a statement RBS have defended the actions taken:

"We do not hire contractors at this rate to do this type of work.

"When we employ contractors, they are paid in line with industry rates according to their experience and skills.

"There have been a limited number of occasions when we have used short-term support from other areas of our business to ensure we are delivering on time and in line with our commitment for our customers."

The news comes months after it was revealed fewer than half of RBS customers would recommend its services to friends or family.