Christmas may be on everyone’s mind as it gets closer, but it appears pay discrepancy might be an important topic in Santa’s grotto this year as the man in red sees stagnant pay while elves see an increase.
Pay rates for seasonal Santas have remained unchanged since last year, once again earning £15.00 per hour at a median, according to figures from Incomes Data Research, monitoring the job market for festive roles.
Hourly rates for these positions, found in a variety of settings including garden centres and other retail outlets, tourist attractions, leisure venues, hotels and holiday parks, ranged widely, from £12.21 (equivalent to the National Living Wage) at three employers to £27.59 at a farm park.
Some organisations operated pay ranges for their Santas – for example, the garden centre operator Dobbies offers £17.00 to candidates for whom it is the ‘first time leaving the North Pole’ and £20.00 for those with prior experience.
Meanwhile, elves saw an improvement in pay; a 7.6 per cent increase on the median rate from £11.60 recorded in 2024 to £12.48. The pay rise for Santa’s little helpers even exceeded the rise in National Living Wage, which surged by 6.7 per cent this year. But elves’ median pay remains 17 per cent lower than the salary for Father Christmas.
Elves often received free or subsidised meals, and even some entry tickets to Santa’s grotto, the IDR found.
Katherine Heffernan, principal researcher at Incomes Data Research, said the increase in elf pay was “perhaps inevitable given the fact last year’s median rate is less than the current statutory minimum”.
She told The Times: “This year’s median rate is just over 2 per cent above the national living wage and over two-thirds of respondents pay more than this.
“But the proportion of organisations setting their elf pay rates at exactly the level of the national living wage is higher this year at just under a third, compared with 26 per cent of last year’s sample.”
Pay remained competitive for Santas, with some organisations operating a pay range; garden centre operator Dobbies offered £17.00 to candidates for whom it is the ‘first time leaving the North Pole’ and £20.00 for those with prior experience.
Meanwhile, head elves across five organisations had a median pay rate of £12.80 – equivalent to a 2.8% premium for taking on the associated additional responsibilities. However, one garden centre pays the statutory minimum of £12.21 to regular and head elves alike.
Just under a fifth of the sample operate youth rates for elves, with under-21s on pay rates that are typically aligned to the relevant minimum wage age rate (currently £10 for workers aged 18-20 and £7.55 for 16- and 17-year-olds).
