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Almost every site around Burton upon Trent that takes a delivery needs a counterbalance driver, which is what makes it the most useful ticket to hold locally. WSUK places counterbalance drivers into loading, container and yard work near Burton upon Trent on weekly PAYE pay.
Counterbalance FLT jobs around Burton upon Trent cover loading and unloading trailers, devanning containers, block stacking and moving stock around a yard. Sites near Burton upon Trent want a current accredited counterbalance certificate (RTITB, ITSSAR, AITT or NPORS), normally refreshed within the last three years. WSUK places counterbalance drivers around Burton upon Trent at £13.00—£15.00 an hour, paid weekly through PAYE, with no fee to you.
Burton upon Trent is one of the UK's prime overnight distribution locations, sitting on the A38 midway between the M1, M6, M6 Toll and M42, close to the A50 trans-Pennine corridor. Its logistics core is the 200-acre Centrum 100 business park beside the A38, home to Boots, DHL, Clipper Logistics, Argos and the Palletforce SuperHub — a 318,000 sq ft central hub handling over 30,000 pallets a night. The Wellington Road Industrial Estate and Branston add further distribution and FMCG acreage, much of it rooted in the town's famous brewing heritage with operators such as Molson Coors and Marston's. With Lichfield, Tamworth, Derby and Cannock close by, Burton is a high-volume palletised storage and haulage hub at the north of the Golden Triangle.
Overnight pallet networks, brewing and FMCG create relentless, time-critical labour demand in Burton — trailers must be loaded, sortation hubs cleared and goods-in booked in on the clock, and any shortfall delays the whole network. WSUK supplies temporary warehouse and forklift teams — pickers, packers, loaders, goods-in/out operatives and counterbalance, reach and PPT drivers — inducted for the town's fast-paced hubs. We manage vetting, right-to-work checks, PAYE payroll and working-time compliance, so labour arrives cleared and lawful. As nightly volumes and seasonal peaks rise and fall, we flex headcount to match, giving Burton operators dependable cover without carrying permanent overhead.
Counterbalance work is the movement of goods in and out of the building rather than up into the racking. It is more varied than reach work and more of it is outdoors.
Driving into trailers and curtainsiders to load and unload, building and breaking down pallets on the bay, and working to a vehicle departure time.
Unloading shipping containers, often hand-balled onto pallets at the door and then moved by truck. Physical, and busiest at import-heavy sites and the ports.
Moving stock around a yard, block stacking where there is no racking, and feeding production or waste lines. Outdoor work in all weather, so sites provide the kit.
WSUK covers Burton upon Trent and its estates — Centrum 100, Centrum West, Wellington Road and Branston — plus Lichfield, Tamworth, Swadlincote and Derby. From a single reach-truck driver for a night shift to a full loading and picking crew for a pallet-hub peak, we mobilise vetted temporary staff fast across the A38 and A50 catchment.
A current accredited counterbalance certificate, refreshed within the last three years for most sites, plus a familiarisation on their own trucks and traffic routes. Beyond that, counterbalance roles are the easiest forklift work to get into with modest hours behind you, which makes it the sensible first ticket if you are moving up from operative work. A lot of counterbalance shifts also include some manual handling, and we will tell you when that is the case.
Indicative PAYE rates as a guide — actual pay varies by shift, experience and site, with premiums for nights, weekends and bank holidays. Every rate we advertise is at or above the National Living Wage.
| Role | Indicative pay |
|---|---|
| Counterbalance FLT Driver (days) | £13.00–£14.50 / hr |
| Counterbalance FLT Driver (nights) | £13.75–£15.00 / hr |
| Container Devanning & FLT | £13.00–£14.75 / hr |
| Counterbalance & Reach (dual) | £14.00–£16.00 / hr |
| Warehouse Team Leader | £14.50–£18.00 / hr |
Counterbalance suits operatives taking their first step up, and experienced drivers who would rather be on the loading bay and in the yard than in a narrow aisle all shift.
Counterbalance is the ticket most often used as a lever to pay someone the operative rate for forklift work. We book and pay it properly.
From application to your first shift, with the checks and the payroll handled for you.
Tell us your licence, tickets and which shifts you can actually work.
A named consultant calls within 2 working hours to talk through what fits.
Right-to-work, references and the site induction handled before you start.
Start on shift, then paid weekly through PAYE with holiday accrued.
It depends how close you are to a port or an import-heavy distribution site. Devanning work concentrates around the container terminals and the big import sheds, and where there is a lot of it near Burton upon Trent the shifts tend to involve more hand-balling alongside the driving. We will tell you the split before you accept.
Both exist near Burton upon Trent. Loading bay work is mostly under cover, while yard moves, block stacking and external loading are outdoors in all weather. Sites issue the appropriate kit, and we will tell you which kind of shift a role actually is.
A forklift that carries the load on forks out front, balanced by a counterweight at the rear, with no outrigger legs. That design is what lets it drive directly into trailers and containers, which is why it is the truck used for loading, unloading and yard work.
For most people, yes. It is the most widely asked-for ticket because nearly every site loads or unloads vehicles, and it is the easiest forklift work to get into without a long history of hours. Reach and VNA pay more but sites are stricter about demonstrable experience.
Usually £13.00—£14.50 an hour on days and £13.75—£15.00 on nights. Drivers who also hold reach and can be used on both typically sit at £14.00—£16.00.
WSUK serves employers across the Golden Triangle. Explore our other locations.
Tell us your ticket and last refresher date. We will match you to counterbalance work around Burton upon Trent and reply within 2 working hours.