2 hours ago
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Lucy HookerBusiness reporter
Qualifications: experience working with children, stocky build, own big, white beard an advantage. But may need to tighten their belt.
Santas taking up their seasonal roles in garden centres, stately homes and farm parks across the country will be checking their pay clauses, twice, after news that average rates have not risen.
The per hour rate for a Father Christmas in the middle of the pay range is £15, the same as last Christmas.
Elves, hired to usher children through grottos, typically earn less, but have seen a slight bump in average pay compared to last year.
Incomes Data Research (IDR) which compiled the data said an elf earning in the middle of the earnings range would be paid £12.48 this year compared to £11.60 an hour for Christmas 2024.
Pay for Father Christmases varies across venues from the most extravagant events at castles and stately homes to retail outlets and garden centres. IDR said some were paid at the minimum wage of £12.21 but could earn as much as £27.59 an hour at a small number of venues.
Dobbies paid £17 an hour for starter Santas for whom it was "the first time leaving the North Pole" and £20 for those with experience, IDR said.
Hundreds of tourist and retail sites across the UK host Christmas events in December, involving a visit with the big man as well as additional experiences such as Christmas markets, light shows and winter wonderland trails.
Further requirements for the Father Christmas role generally include infinite patience, an ability to improvise, and tolerance for repetition.
Word from the grotto is that this year Hot Wheels, slime, Transformers and unicorns are all still topping the request lists.
A strong constitution also helps, faced with the hacking coughs and snotty noses of a particularly bad flu' season.
Santa will, though, generally have the advantage of being indoors and seated throughout.
Elves, charged with keeping the festive spirit going through the waiting-in-the-queue part of the experience, are more likely to be on their feet for long periods, in fancy dress, or posted outside dressed as forest creatures.
Advertisements for elf roles typically ask that candidates have a love of Christmas, but one, for the position of Head Elf at Santa's Secret Forest in Liverpool required applicants to have "knowledge of Christmas lore (North Pole geography, elf hierarchy and reindeer etiquette)".
