Summer Jobs UK: 10 Seasonal Jobs, Pay and When to Apply

From festivals and holiday parks to fruit picking, lifeguarding and summer camps, here are ten summer jobs in the UK, when to apply, what the law says you must be paid, the rules for under-18s and what students need to know about tax and visas.

By Tony Musso on Fri Oct 23 2026

Summer is the easiest time of year to pick up work in the UK. Tourist areas fill up, festivals and events need hundreds of staff for a few days at a time, farms need pickers and packers, and employers everywhere need cover while their permanent staff take holidays. For students and school leavers it's also the one time you can work full time without juggling lectures or lessons.

This guide covers ten summer jobs worth looking at, when to apply, what you must be paid, the rules if you're under 18, and the tax and visa basics for students.

When to start looking for summer work

The best summer jobs go early. As a rough guide:

January to March: holiday parks, summer camps, activity centres, lifeguard posts and festival staffing agencies start recruiting. Roles with accommodation or training fill first.
March to May: hotels, pubs, restaurants and attractions in tourist areas hire for the season. Farms start recruiting for the main picking months.
May and June: shops, cafés and offices look for holiday cover, and there are always late vacancies when people drop out.

If you want a particular job, such as working at a festival you love or a holiday park by the sea, apply as soon as applications open rather than waiting until your exams finish.

10 summer jobs in the UK

1. Festival and events staff

Festivals, sporting events and outdoor concerts need stewards, bar staff, catering crew, litter pickers and car park attendants. Most paid roles come through event staffing agencies. Some festivals also offer a free ticket in exchange for volunteer shifts, often run through charities, which usually ask for a deposit you get back once you have completed your shifts. Be clear which you are signing up for: if it's a paid job, the minimum wage applies.

2. Hospitality: pubs, cafés, restaurants and hotels

The biggest source of summer work. Seaside towns, national parks and cities with summer festivals, such as Edinburgh in August, need waiting staff, kitchen porters, baristas, housekeepers and receptionists. Some hotels in remote areas offer live-in jobs. Our waiter and waitress CV example shows how to present even a little experience, and the bartender career page explains where bar work can lead.

3. Holiday parks and campsites

Holiday parks hire entertainment teams, activity leaders, housekeepers, receptionists, maintenance staff and pool lifeguards for the season, often from spring to autumn. Some offer staff accommodation, which makes them popular with students looking for a whole summer away.

4. Attractions, theme parks and heritage sites

Theme parks, zoos, museums, castles and gardens take on ride operators, admissions staff, guides, café workers and shop assistants. It's often weekend and school holiday work, which suits students who want to keep a few days free.

5. Retail

Shops need cover for staff holidays, and seaside and tourist shops get far busier in summer. Garden centres are busy from spring. Retail is a good first job because the skills, such as handling cash and dealing with customers, transfer to almost anything.

6. Farm work and fruit picking

From late spring to autumn, farms need pickers, packers and graders for soft fruit, vegetables and flowers. Some jobs pay piece rates on top of an hourly wage and many include on-site accommodation. Our guide to farm work in the UK covers seasons, pay and what to check before you accept.

7. Lifeguard

Pool lifeguards usually need the National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ), and you must be at least 16 to take the final assessment. Beach lifeguards are trained to a separate beach standard and work for the RNLI or local services. Getting qualified before the summer puts you ahead of most applicants, and the qualification is useful year-round at leisure centres.

8. Summer camps and activity centres

Day camps, residential camps and outdoor activity centres need activity instructors, group leaders and support staff. You'll need an enhanced DBS check to work with children, and first aid or activity qualifications help. It's tiring but very good for your CV, especially if you are thinking about teaching, youth work or coaching.

9. Holiday let and housekeeping work

Holiday cottages, short-term lets and hotels need cleaners and housekeepers for "changeover days", when one set of guests leaves and the next arrives. The hours are concentrated but reliable through the season, and the work is easy to fit around other jobs.

10. Office temping

Recruitment agencies fill summer holiday cover in offices, councils and schools' admin teams. Reception, data entry and admin temping pays at least the minimum wage, is usually indoors and gives you useful office experience for your CV.

For year-round options you can keep after the summer, see our guide to part-time jobs in the UK.

What summer jobs pay

Every worker above school leaving age must be paid at least the National Minimum Wage for their age, or the National Living Wage from 21. The rates from 1 April 2026 are:

Age	Minimum hourly rate
21 and over (National Living Wage)	£12.71
18 to 20	£10.85
Under 18 (above school leaving age)	£8.00
Apprentices under 19, or in the first year of an apprenticeship	£8.00

Rates usually change each April, so check GOV.UK for the current figures. A few other things are worth knowing:

Children below school leaving age aren't entitled to the minimum wage, so pay for a 13 to 15-year-old is whatever the employer offers.
Tips. Employers must pass all tips, gratuities and service charges on to workers in full, under rules that started in October 2024.
Accommodation. If your employer provides accommodation, the minimum wage rules limit how much of the cost they can count against your pay. Charges above that limit can take your pay below the legal minimum.
Holiday pay. You build up paid holiday from your first day, even in a short summer job. If you leave without taking it, you should be paid for what you have built up.

Rules for under-18s

If you're under school leaving age, child employment rules apply. In the school holidays, 15 and 16-year-olds of school age can work up to 35 hours a week and up to 8 hours a day, and 13 and 14-year-olds up to 25 hours a week. You can't work before 7am or after 7pm, you must have a two-week break from any work during the school holidays each year, and many councils need the employer to get a work permit. Our guide can 15-year-olds work in the UK? covers the full rules.

Once you're above school leaving age but under 18, you count as a young worker. You can usually work up to 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, with a 30-minute break if you work more than four and a half hours, 12 hours' rest between working days and two days off each week. Our guide to rest breaks at work explains these rights. Selling and serving alcohol is tightly controlled for under-18s, so most bar jobs are for adults.

Tax and National Insurance for students

There's no special student tax rate. A summer job is taxed like any other job, through PAYE:

Income tax. Most people can earn £12,570 in the 2026/27 tax year before paying income tax. Many students earn less than that across the year, so pay little or no tax.
Fill in the starter checklist. If you don't have a P45 from a previous job, your employer will give you HMRC's starter checklist. Tick the statement that matches your situation so you get the right tax code. Without it you may be put on an emergency code and pay too much.
Getting money back. If you overpay income tax, HMRC usually refunds it after the tax year ends, or you can claim it on GOV.UK.
National Insurance is worked out on each pay period, not the whole year. If you earn more than £242 in a week, you pay 8% on the amount above that, even if your total for the year is low. Unlike income tax, it isn't refunded, but it counts towards your State Pension.
Student loans. You don't make student loan repayments from a summer job while you are still on your course. Repayments start from the April after you leave.

If you work for yourself over the summer, for example tutoring or dog walking, the first £1,000 of self-employed income in a tax year is usually covered by the trading allowance. Above that you need to register for Self Assessment. Our guide to how tax works in the UK explains payslips, tax codes and refunds in more detail.

Summer work for overseas students and visitors

Whether you can work depends on your immigration status, and every employer must check your right to work before you start. Our guide to proof of right to work explains how to prove yours with a share code.

Student visa. You can usually work during term time up to the weekly limit shown on your visa, and full time during your university's official vacations. For many undergraduates the summer is a vacation, but for many master's students it's part of the course, so check your dates with your university. Student visa holders can't be self-employed, fill a permanent full-time vacancy or work as a professional sportsperson or entertainer.
Visitor visa. You can't work, paid or unpaid.
Youth Mobility Scheme visa. Young people from certain countries can live and work in the UK for a set period on this visa.
Seasonal Worker visa. This covers horticulture, such as fruit and vegetable picking, and poultry work through licensed scheme operators.

Irish citizens can work in the UK freely. EU citizens without settled or pre-settled status need a visa to work here.

How to get hired for a summer job

Keep your CV to one page and put your available dates near the top. Employers hiring for the season want to know exactly when you can start and finish.
Show you're reliable. School, sport, volunteering and caring responsibilities all count as evidence. Our student CV example and teenager CV example show what to include when you have little work history.
Add quick certificates. Food hygiene, first aid and lifeguard qualifications make you easier to hire.
Apply direct as well as online. Hand your CV in at local cafés, shops and attractions, and ask if they need summer cover.
Line up a reference, such as a teacher, tutor or previous employer, before you apply.

Ready to apply? Make a clear one-page CV in a few minutes with CV Studio.

Build your CV in CV Studio