A guide to hiring seasonal workers in the UK

Seasonal workers are employees hired on a temporary basis to cover predictable peaks in demand. Their roles are tied to specific times of the year, such as harvest season, school holidays, or the Christmas retail period.

Examples include:

• Agriculture – fruit and vegetable pickers, poultry workers.
• Hospitality & Tourism – hotel staff, bar workers, summer lifeguards.
• Retail – sales assistants, stockroom staff, delivery operatives.
• Events & Festivals – ticketing staff, stagehands, caterers.

These roles play an important part in keeping businesses operating smoothly when demand spikes. Without them, many industries would struggle to maintain service levels. Some of the industries that will hire seasonal staff include agriculture, tourism & hospitality, retail, and events & festivals.

Agriculture

The agricultural sector is one of the UK’s largest employers of seasonal staff, particularly in horticulture and poultry. According to the Review of the Seasonal Worker Visa, an estimated 53,000 seasonal, casual or gang workers are needed annually to sustain UK farming operations.

Tourism & Hospitality

Hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions rely on seasonal workers during summer holidays and festive periods. Hospitality has been heavily affected by labour shortages post-Brexit, making efficient recruitment vital.

Retail

The Christmas peak is one of the busiest times for UK retailers. From shop-floor staff to logistics teams in warehouses, seasonal employees play a vital role in managing demand and maintaining service levels. To better understand how HR teams can support retail operations during this high-pressure period, explore our HR for retail sector page. It offers practical insights into workforce planning, employee engagement, and compliance tailored specifically to retail environments.

For a deeper dive into the everyday challenges faced by HR professionals in retail, our blog on five HR challenges in the retail industry highlights key pain points such as high turnover, seasonal hiring, and maintaining morale. It also shares actionable strategies to help HR teams stay agile and responsive in a fast-moving sector.

Events & Festivals

Large-scale cultural events, music festivals, and sports tournaments often require temporary staff to manage crowd control, catering, and logistics.

The UK Seasonal Worker visa allows overseas workers to come to the UK for temporary agricultural work.

Key details:

• Eligibility: Applicants must have a sponsor (licensed scheme operator).
• Duration: Up to 6 months.
• Permitted activities: Horticulture (picking fruit, vegetables, flowers) and, at certain times, poultry work.

Authoritative stats:

• In 2024, the UK issued 35,561 Seasonal Worker visas, including 590 for poultry. (Gov.uk)
• The annual quota stands at 45,000 visas for horticulture plus 2,000 for poultry, with the option to extend by 10,000 if demand requires. (UCDavis Migration Report)

These figures underline the scale of seasonal employment and the importance of visas in sustaining UK agriculture.

Employers need to be aware of updates to the visa scheme from 2025 onwards:

• Extended quotas may be allocated based on demand.
• Compliance requirements around pay, accommodation, and working conditions are tightening to prevent exploitation.
• Employer responsibility: Businesses must work with licensed operators and ensure that visa rules are followed, including right-to-work checks and record-keeping.

As a result of these changes, employers may need to plan recruitment earlier, invest in compliant onboarding processes, and ensure that pay and conditions meet legal standards.

Seasonal staff have many of the same rights as permanent employees. But because their contracts are often short-term, employers can sometimes misunderstand their obligations.

Are Seasonal Workers Entitled to Holiday Pay?

Yes, seasonal staff are entitled to statutory holiday pay.

• The standard entitlement is 5.6 weeks per year, pro-rated for temporary contracts.
• For example, someone working 12 weeks would receive 1.3 weeks of paid holiday.
• Employers must calculate entitlement based on hours worked and ensure it is clearly stated in contracts.

Do Seasonal Workers Get Sick Pay?

Seasonal workers may be eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if they:

• Have been ill for at least four consecutive days.
• Earn at least £123 per week.
• Are classified as employees under PAYE.

Employer obligations: If the criteria are met, SSP must be paid at the statutory rate (£116.75 per week as of April 2025).

Do Seasonal Workers Pay Taxes?

Yes, seasonal staff are subject to PAYE (Pay As You Earn), including:

• Income tax (based on earnings and tax code).
• National Insurance contributions (NICs).

Employers should note that the recent rise in NICs has created additional costs for businesses. See our Engage NI Report for real-world examples of how organisations are offsetting these increases with salary sacrifice schemes.

Offering benefits can help employers attract and retain seasonal staff in competitive markets. The types of benefits you can include in your offering to seasonal workers include:

• Financial: competitive pay, bonuses, discounts.
• Non-financial: flexible schedules, wellbeing support, recognition schemes.
• Practical: accommodation, meals, transport support.
• Development: training opportunities and pathways into permanent roles.

“We’re spending thousands on benefits that employees discover in their exit interviews. We’re losing people to competitors offering ‘better packages’ that are actually worse than what we already provide.”

Emma Parkin, Head of Proposition Marketing, The Access Group

Emma highlights the need for clear communication of employee benefits and alignment between what’s offered and what employees perceive.

Hiring seasonal staff at scale requires careful planning and the right tools.

Planning Ahead

Effective seasonal workforce planning begins well before peak demand hits. Starting recruitment three to six months in advance allows time to attract and assess the right candidates. By analysing historical workforce data, HR teams can forecast staffing needs with greater accuracy and avoid last-minute gaps. Leveraging HR software with built-in forecasting and scheduling tools can help recruitment efforts align with operational requirements, helping teams stay agile and prepared.

Writing Effective Job Descriptions

Clear and informative job descriptions are important for attracting seasonal staff. Candidates need to understand the basics, like contract length, pay, and entitlements. However, it’s equally important to highlight additional benefits such as staff discounts or accommodation options. Including details about potential future opportunities can also encourage long-term interest. Recruitment systems with talent pool functionality make it easier to re-engage previous seasonal workers, turning short-term hires into reliable returnees.

Using Recruitment Platforms and Agencies

Recruitment platforms and agencies can simplify the hiring process by automating job postings, tracking candidates, and managing compliance checks. These tools also support hiring managers by streamlining approval workflows, reducing delays and improving coordination. When integrated with onboarding and engagement systems, they help deliver a consistent and professional candidate experience from application to day one.

For organisations looking to bring more control in-house, Access Applicant Tracking System (ATS) offers a centralised way to manage every stage of recruitment. From advertising roles to shortlisting and communicating with candidates, the software helps reduce admin, improve visibility, and speed up time-to-hire.

Recruiting seasonal workers also brings compliance responsibilities and employers should check that they follow these directives:

• Right to work checks — verifying identity and visa status.
• Health & safety obligations — providing adequate training and safe workplaces.
• Ethical recruitment — avoiding exploitation, ensuring fair pay and conditions.

Manual compliance processes can be time-consuming and prone to errors. With Access HR software, employers can:

• Automate right-to-work verification and document storage.
• Track training completion and health & safety certifications digitally.
• Monitor compliance risks through real-time dashboards.

This reduces the risk of penalties and helps maintain trust with both regulators and employees.

Recruiting seasonal staff successfully is about creating a streamlined, compliant, and engaging process that reflects your organisation’s professionalism. For medium and large businesses, managing seasonal hiring at scale can quickly become complex without the right systems in place. This is where technology can make all the difference.

Simplify Recruitment with Integrated HR Software

Integrated HR software can significantly streamline the recruitment process by bringing all key hiring activities into one central platform. From posting vacancies across multiple job boards to tracking candidates throughout the hiring journey, automation reduces manual effort and speeds up time-to-hire. 

With built-in analytics, HR teams can also gain valuable insights into recruitment trends, helping them forecast future hiring needs and allocate resources more effectively. This not only improves efficiency but also enhances the candidate experience and supports more strategic workforce planning.

Onboard Quickly and Effectively

Seasonal roles demand a fast turnaround. Traditional onboarding processes can be time-consuming and inconsistent, but HR software streamlines this with:

• Digital contracts and e-signatures for speed and convenience.
• Automated compliance checks, including visa verification.
• Customisable onboarding journeys tailored to specific roles.

Engage and Retain Seasonal Talent

Even if workers are only with your business for a short time, how you engage them matters. Poor experiences can impact your employer brand and make it harder to rehire next season. Our engagement tools help you:

• Connect employees instantly with company news, training, and updates through self-service portals.
• Provide access to employee benefits platforms, helping seasonal workers feel valued.
• Gather real-time feedback via pulse surveys, improving the experience during busy periods.

By combining recruitment, onboarding, and engagement tools in one platform, you’re not only filling seasonal roles quickly, you’re also:

• Creating a repeatable, compliant hiring process year after year.
• Reducing reliance on agencies and lowering recruitment costs.
• Enhancing your employer value proposition (EVP) so workers return season after season.

Enhancing your employer value proposition (EVP) so workers return season after season needs clarity, consistency, and a compelling message. To help shape a strong EVP that resonates with seasonal staff, explore our blog on employee value proposition examples, which offers practical insights and real-world inspiration. You can also download our EVP template to start crafting a message that reflects your organisation’s strengths and attracts the right talent year after year.

Solutions like Access Workforce Management and Access PeopleXD Evo support this long-term vision by offering tools that simplify planning, automate routine tasks, and provide clear visibility across your workforce.

With the right technology in place, seasonal hiring becomes a strategic advantage rather than a recurring challenge.