Leisure centre assistant jobs

Leisure centre assistants keep a sports or leisure centre open and safe. The job usually mixes reception and bookings, setting up and taking down equipment in sports halls and studios, cleaning and checking the building, and, at centres with a pool, lifeguarding. Most centres are owned by councils but run by leisure trusts or private operators, so who employs you decides your pay scale and terms. Starting pay is usually close to the National Living Wage, which is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026.

Who runs leisure centres

Many council leisure centres are no longer run directly by the council. The common arrangements are:

• a council running the centre in-house, with staff on council terms
• a charitable leisure trust, sometimes set up by the council and sometimes a national trust running centres for many councils
• a private operator under a contract with the council
• a school or college that opens its sports facilities to the public outside the school day

Your terms depend on which of these employs you. A council employee is normally paid on the NJC pay spine, joins the Local Government Pension Scheme and gets Green Book leave. A trust or contractor sets its own pay rates, uses its own pension scheme, often a defined contribution workplace pension, and may have different sick pay. When a contract changes hands, staff usually transfer to the new operator under TUPE; TUPE: when your employer changes explains what is protected.

What you do on a shift

Leisure assistant, recreation assistant, leisure attendant and duty assistant are all used as job titles, and the duties overlap.

Dry-side work covers setting up badminton courts, five-a-side goals, gymnastics mats and fitness class equipment, putting it away safely afterwards, and checking the gym floor and changing rooms. You may run the reception desk, take payments and memberships, and answer phone bookings. Cleaning is part of almost every role: changing rooms, toilets, spills and the poolside.

Wet-side work means lifeguarding. You supervise swimmers from the poolside, enforce pool rules, respond to emergencies and carry out water and safety checks with the duty manager. Rotation between the poolside and other duties is common, because lifeguards need breaks from watching the water. The lifeguard profile goes into the qualification and the poolside work in more detail.

Every shift also involves health and safety routines: checking fire exits, first aid kits and defibrillators, reporting faults and following the centre’s normal operating procedures and emergency action plan.

Qualifications and training

You can start in a dry-side or reception role without formal qualifications. Employers look for customer service experience, reliability and a willingness to do physical, sometimes dirty work.

For pool duties you need a recognised pool lifeguard qualification, most commonly the National Pool Lifeguard Qualification awarded by the Royal Life Saving Society UK. It involves swimming, rescue and first aid assessments, and you must keep it current by requalifying. Many employers will train you if you are a competent swimmer, sometimes in return for agreeing to stay for a set period or repaying the cost if you leave early. Read that agreement before signing.

Other qualifications open up better-paid work at the same centre: a gym instructor or personal trainer qualification, swimming teacher awards, or first aid at work. Duty manager posts usually ask for a lifeguard qualification plus supervisory experience.

Shifts and contracts

Leisure centres open early and close late, seven days a week, so shifts cover early mornings, evenings, weekends and bank holidays. A full-time rota may include split shifts. Part-time and casual contracts are very common, which suits students and people fitting work around other commitments; finding part-time public sector jobs has more on where to look.

If you work more than six hours you are entitled to a 20-minute rest break, and you must have 11 hours’ rest between working days. Whether you get extra pay for bank holidays or Sundays depends entirely on your contract; there is no statutory right to it.

What the job pays

Pay depends on the employer. The legal minimum from 1 April 2026 is:

Age or status	Hourly rate
21 and over (National Living Wage)	£12.71
18 to 20	£10.85
Under 18	£8.00
Apprentice (under 19, or 19 and over in the first year)	£8.00

Some trusts are accredited Real Living Wage employers. The voluntary rate announced on 15 October 2026 is £14.10 an hour across the UK and £15.45 in London, and accredited employers have up to six months to bring it in.

Council-employed assistants are paid on the NJC pay spine. After the 3.3 per cent award from 1 April 2026 the lowest point, SCP 3, is £25,614 a year full time, about £13.28 an hour. A qualified lifeguard or duty assistant may be paid a little more than a dry-side assistant at the same centre.

Hourly rates translate into very different annual amounts depending on contracted hours. Converting hourly pay to an annual salary shows the arithmetic, and the take-home pay calculator shows what you keep after tax and National Insurance.

Getting a job and moving on

Vacancies are advertised on the operator’s own careers site as well as council job pages, so check who runs your local centre first.

Progression usually goes from assistant to senior or duty manager, then to centre manager. Others move sideways into fitness instruction, swimming teaching or sports development. Entry-level pay is modest and the work is physical. It is still a common first job, partly because of the flexible shifts and partly because the employer often pays for qualifications.