Sports and leisure assistants: pay and what the work involves

Occupation 6211 · Caring, leisure and other service occupations

Sports and leisure assistants

Sports and leisure assistants, provide and maintain facilities for sporting and recreational activities and supervise their use, maintain the continuity of entertainment and social events, offer odds and accept bets on the result of sporting and other events, control gambling activities, work behind the scenes in production and broadcasting enterprises in a supporting role to ensure operations run smoothly.

How people enter it

There are no formal academic entry requirements, although some employers may require GCSEs/S grades. A variety of vocational qualifications are available in Sports and Recreation and Leisure and Tourism.

What the work involves

maintains sports and leisure equipment and prepares equipment for use
supervises the use of swimming pools, gymnasium apparatus, fitness machines and other recreational equipment
work in teams patrolling popular stretches of the coast, advising people when and where they can swim safely and making rescues when necessary
maintains hygienic operation of swimming pools and associated facilities such as hot tubs, showers and changing areas
carries clubs for golfers, advises on the layout and distance of golf courses and appropriate choice of golf club
announces acts, makes introductions, proposes toasts and maintains the continuity of entertainment events and social functions
assesses likely outcome of an event and establishes odds, accepts and records bets, issues receipts and pays out on winning bets
controls the progress of games of cards, roulette and other gambling activities according to established rules
provides support in production and broadcasting operations, such as helping set up and maintain the set, running errands, moving equipment, looking after guests, and transporting crew and cast between locations

Also called

Croupier · Leisure attendant · Lifeguard · Runner (broadcasting) · Sports assistant

What it pays

Measure	Hours	Basis	Period	Value	Source
6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	None	2026-03	63,100.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	None	2026-03	67,600.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	None	2026-03	78,100.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	None	2026-03	1,900.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	None	2026-03	10,500.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	None	2026-03	79,900.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	None	2026-03	4,500.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Region	Measure	Hours	Value	Period
East	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	4,800.00	2026-03
East Midlands	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	5,200.00	2026-03
London	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	7,900.00	2026-03
North East	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	2,900.00	2026-03
North West	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	11,700.00	2026-03
Northern Ireland	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	1,900.00	2026-03
Scotland	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	10,500.00	2026-03
South East	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	11,000.00	2026-03
South West	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	6,300.00	2026-03
Wales	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	4,500.00	2026-03
West Midlands	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	5,800.00	2026-03
Yorkshire and The Humber	6211 : Sports and leisure assistants	None	7,500.00	2026-03

Common questions

Does pay for sports and leisure assistants vary by region?

ONS publishes regional pay for this occupation where the survey sample supports it — 12 of 12 cells on this page. The rest are withheld by ONS, and are shown as withheld with the reason, rather than left out.

Where do these pay figures come from?

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, published by the Office for National Statistics. Figures are shown exactly as ONS publishes them — we do not adjust, model or fill them in, and every number on this page carries the series and period it came from.

Classified alongside this

Air travel assistants · Leisure and travel service occupations n.e.c. · Rail travel assistants · Travel agents