Last Updated on 12 June 2026 by Colette
Going to festivals is not a cheap pass time – in fact it’s downright expensive, so I wanted to share with you today a way of getting to go to your favourite festivals without actually having to pay for your tickets this festival season.
Did you know that many of the top UK festivals invite you to volunteer your time to help run the festival in exchange for free entry?
How does volunteering at a festival work?
Essentially volunteering at a festival means you are going to be giving up some of your time to work shifts at the festival, helping to ensure that everything runs smoothly and in exchange you will get free entry to the festival and potentially benefits like hot showers, meal vouchers or phone charging – additional perks obviously depend on who you are volunteering for and vary between festivals.
Your job might include being a steward and providing directions to festival goers, checking wristbands or patrolling campsites and arenas. Some volunteer programs look for people to help with setting up the festival site. If you are volunteering for Oxfam there is also the opportunity to work as a campaigner, engaging with festival goers about Oxfam’s work or working in an Oxfam festival shop. Whatever your specific role entails, you can be sure it will be hard work but you should have a great time!
For the most part, you will need to be 18 or over on the date of the festival you are working at (which means you can apply before you are 18 but you must by 18 by the time the festival rolls around). A handful of festivals will let you volunteer from the age of 16 – do check carefully.
How can I apply to volunteer at a festival?
Whilst some festivals take direct applications for volunteers, most use an organisation to manage this task for them. Sometimes these organisations are businesses, other times they are charities being paid a donation for the service they are providing. In all cases, you are providing your time on a voluntary basis in exchange for free festival tickets.
Some of the UK’s biggest festivals will take volunteers from a variety of sources – it’s not advisable to apply multiple times for the same festival though as if you were successful, the companies don’t take kindly to being let down – you may lose your deposit or not be allowed to volunteer for them in future. Rather, I would take some time to do some research and look at which organisation you’d most like to work for – are they raising money for charity, what facilities will they provide you with, how much work do you need to do over the weekend and what fees are involved in volunteering? Some organisations will give priority to volunteers who worked with them last year before recruiting recruiting new people to their volunteer team.
Oxfam are providing volunteers for 16 of the biggest festivals in the UK this year including Leeds Festival, Glastonbury Festival and Shamabla: You can find out more about volunteering with Oxfam here
My Cause UK is a not for profit organisation and will provide volunteers this year for over 20 events including some of the UK’s best music festivals and concerts. In exchange for your time, My Cause UK make a donation on your behalf to any registered charity of your choice and have helped over 750 charities in this way. This donation doesn’t come out of your pocket, or your deposit but from the fee My Cause UK receive from the festival you’re volunteering at: You can find out more about volunteering from My Cause UK here.
Festaff have been providing casual staff for festivals for over 15 years and this year will provide volunteer staff for over 20 major events this summer including Glastonbury – to be invited to volunteer for Glastonbury you need to have volunteered for Festaff at two events the previous summer. Invitations will go out to these people first before additional volunteers are recruited. You can find out more about volunteering for Festaff here.
Hotbox Events provide staff in the form of both volunteers and paid stewards to some of the biggest music festivals in the UK. You can find out more about working with Hotbox Events here.
WaterAid volunteers offer a range of essential services, including keeping festivalgoers hydrated, providing compost toilets, and helping to keep the festival clean for everyone – all whilst spreading the word about the life-changing power of clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. Volunteering for WaterAid is likely to involve some level of cleaning. You can find out more about volunteering for WaterAid here.
Greenpeace provide volunteers for festivals such as Glastonbury and Latitude. They have not yet released information about which festivals they will be working at this summer. You can find out more about volunteering for Greenpeace here.
Jolly Green Sherpas is a festival luggage service for campers when they arrive – which means if you choose to volunteer with Jolly Green Sherpas, although the work will be hard and physical, most of your work will be done before the festival has even really started. You won’t have to work Friday evening, all day Saturday or all of Sunday – so you are just free to enjoy the festival! You can find out more about volunteering with Jolly Green Sherpas here.
Wicked Events offer volunteering opportunities at a handful of music events this summer including Timber Festival and The Big Feastival. You’d usually be expected work 5 / 6 hours a day.
Is volunteering at festivals worth it?
If you’re wondering whether volunteering at a festival is worth it, then I guess that’s all a question of how much you want to be there and how much you value your time. Don’t forget, depending on which agency you work for, your time is also raising money for charity – if this is something that you are keen to support make sure you are looking at working for a not for profit organisation or charity rather than a business providing volunteers and making money off that in the process.
Obviously attending a festival as a volunteer means you have made a commitment to work a specified number of shifts over the course of the festival weekend so you won’t be able to fully immerse yourself in the festival the way you perhaps would usually – however, if it’s the choice between working a few shifts and not being able to go at all then perhaps volunteering at a festival would work well for you!
If you worked out the cost of your festival ticket as an hourly rate over your shifts – does it feel good value?
Check out these tips from experienced festival volunteers.
What are the benefits of volunteering at a festival?
Well, as well as the most obvious benefit of getting free entry to a festival you either might not otherwise have been able to afford to attend, or simply hadn’t been able to get tickets before they sold out, there are actually a number of other benefits of volunteering at a festival including getting to meet new like-minded people who love festivals too, training, hot showers, phone charging, a dedicated team campsite and car parks, and meal vouchers (Greenpeace offer subsidised travel for their volunteers too to a maximum of £30).
As well as getting free access to the festival, you will get the opportunity to work in a team, make new friends and learn new skills that you might otherwise not have had the chance to develop and, of course volunteering looks great on your CV to potential employers.
Volunteering is also a great way to attend a festival by yourself – volunteering solo is pretty common as firstly you can’t guarantee you’ll be on shift with your mates anyway and you’ll soon be part of a larger team with plenty of people to hang out with and support you.
Are there any downsides to volunteering at a festival?
Of course there are some downsides to volunteering at a festival and its up to you to balance those out and make a decision about what works for your personally.
You don’t get to choose when you work
You will usually be expected to work several shifts across the course of the weekend – and in the interests of fairness these will be decided for you by the organisation you are working for. This might mean that you have to miss the acts you were most looking forward to seeing, or that you have to make an early start for your shift so can’t perhaps party as hard as you might like, or it might simply mean you have to stay on site right till the end when you’d much rather have taken an early dart and be tucked up in bed!
There are fees to be paid up front
It’s worth knowing that for some volunteer roles at festivals (eg stewarding), Oxfam charge a one-off refundable deposit equal to the price of the highest ticket – this is paid back when volunteers have attended the festival as agreed and completed their required responsibilities on site – so whilst you will get to go to the festival for free, you do have to have access to the money temporarily to be able to pay the deposit. You can read more about this here.
My Cause UK take a deposit for your volunteering space and also a nominal charity donation – this varies depending on the festival you are working at but expect it to be around £15 to £30. All of this information is made clear to you before you apply to volunteer.
Festaff don’t take a full lay out on most events, just a £20 refundable deposit plus a £10 / £15 non-refundable admin fee. (For Glastonbury, the full ticket price is required as a deposit).
Each organisation will have different rules and expectations around deposits, admin fees and charity donations -these can even vary from event to event. Make sure you have done your research and are clear about how much you will be expected to pay out up front and how long it will take for that deposit to be returned to you once you have completed your work (it can be quite a few weeks). Each of the organisations is very clear on their website how this works.
Taking the family might be complicated
Some of the family-friendly festivals will allow children to attend with volunteering adults and, if that’s the case, there must be a designated adult to supervise them when you are on shift. The designated adult will not be able to volunteer as you wouldn’t know if your shifts were going to clash. If you are going to take your child with you to a festival you are volunteering at, they will still need a child ticket purchased directly from the festival website as if you were a normal festival goer.
You can read our tips for camping at a festival with children here.
Which festivals are looking for volunteers?
There are volunteering opportunities for many of the UK’s biggest and best festivals this summer – these opportunities are mostly managed by charities who benefit from funds in exchange for providing volunteers to the festival. Some festivals are covered by multiple teams of volunteers so its worth looking at which charity is providing you with a better deal, or even which one aligns best with your own values because don’t forget your time is raising them money as well as getting you free entry to the festival.
If you’re interested in volunteering at festivals this summer, I’ve listed below around 90 festivals you can volunteer at and how you need to apply. Some of these festivals haven’t opened up their lists yet, others might already have filled their volunteer quotas – either way it pays to be organised when you’re planning to be a festival volunteer.
I’ve listed the festivals in alphabetical order to make it easier for you to find the one you’re looking for. If you want to know when festivals are happening, I’ve got listings for May festivals, June festivals, July festivals, August festivals, August bank holiday festivals and September festivals so you can always browse those lists of festival dates to find out what’s on when you’re free and then come back here to check out which festivals have volunteering opportunities!
- 110 Above – Apply Direct
- 2000 Trees – Oxfam | Apply Direct
- Anti Loo Roll Festival | Apply Direct
- All Points East Festival – Festaff | My Cause UK
- Also Festival – Apply Direct
- ArcTanGent Festival – Oxfam
- Avonstock – Apply Direct
- Barcode Festival – Festaff
- Barn on the Farm – Apply Direct
- Beat Herder – Festaff
- Bearded Theory – Festaff | Oxfam | My Cause UK
- Beautiful Days – Oxfam
- Belladrum Tartan Heart – Festaff
- Big Feastival – Wicked Stewarding
- Big Love Festival – Apply Direct
- Black Deer Festival – Apply Direct [No festival this year]
- Blackweir Live – Oxfam
- Bloodstock Open Air – Festaff
- Boardmasters – Oxfam | Jolly Green Sherpas
- Boomtown Fair – Festaff | My Cause UK | Oxfam | WaterAid | Apply Direct
- Boundary – Greenbox Events
- BST Hyde Park – My Cause UK | Festaff
- Bristol Sounds – Greenbox Events
- Bunkfest – Apply direct
- Call of the Wild – Apply direct
- Cambridge Club Festival – Wicked Stewarding [No event this year]
- Camp Bestival Dorset – Hotbox Events | WaterAid
- Camp Bestival Shropshire [No event this year]
- Camper Calling – My Cause UK
- Camp Severn – Apply Direct
- Carfest – Festaff
- City Splash – My Cause UK | Oxfam
- Creamfields –Festaff | Jolly Green Sherpas
- Cross The Tracks – My Cause UK | Oxfam
- Crystal Palace Park Shows – Oxfam
- Deershed – Apply Direct
- Download Festival – Oxfam | Hotbox Events | Jolly Green Sherpas
- Eden Festival – Apply Direct
- Elderflower Fields – Apply Direct
- End of the Road Festival – Wicked Events
- Equinox – Wicked Events
- Festival on the Farm – Apply Direct
- Field Day – Oxfam
- Folk on the Farm Festival – Apply Direct
- Found Festival – Apply Direct
- Forbidden Forest – Hotbox Events
- Forwards – My Cause UK
- Glastonbury – Festaff | Oxfam | WaterAid
- Gottwood – Greenbox Events
- Great Escape Festival – Apply Direct
- Greenbelt – Apply Direct | Greenbox Events
- Green Man – Apply Direct | WaterAid
- Gunnersbury Park Events – Oxfam
- Harlequin Fayre – Apply Direct
- Highest Point – Apply Direct
- Houghton Festival – Apply Direct
- In It Together – Apply Direct | Jolly Green Sherpas
- Isle of Wight Festival – Oxfam | Festaff
- Just So Festival – Apply Direct
- Kendal Calling – Greenbox Events | Festaff | Jolly Green Sherpas
- Keswick Mountain Festival – Apply Direct
- Lakefest – Wicked Events
- Latitude – Oxfam | Hotbox Events
- Leeds Festival – Oxfam | Hotbox Events
- Leopallooza – Apply Direct [no festival this year]
- Little Lindi – Apply Direct [No event this year]
- Love Saves The Day – Greenbox Events | My Cause UK
- Love Supreme – Greenbox Events | Festaff
- Lytham Festival – Oxfam
- Maui Waui Festival – Apply Direct
- Mighty Hoopla – Oxfam
- Moovin Festival – Apply Direct
- Mostly Jazz – Apply Direct
- NASS [no festival this year]
- Neighbourhood Weekender – Festaff
- Nocturne – Greenbox Events
- Noisily Festival – My Cause UK | Apply Direct [CANCELLED]
- Octoberfest Langdale Valley – Festaff
- Parklife – Apply Direct
- Pilton Party – WaterAid
- Primadonna – Apply Direct
- Project 6 – My Cause UK
- Radio 1’s Big Weekend – Apply Direct
- Reading Festival – Oxfam | Hotbox Events
- Red Rooster – Greenbox Events
- Rewind North – Festaff [No event this year]
- Rewind Scotland – Festaff [No event this year]
- Rewind South – Festaff
- Rising Music Festival – Apply Direct
- Rock Oyster Festival – Apply Direct
- Secret Garden Party – My Cause UK [No event this year]
- Shambala – Greenbox Events | Oxfam | My Cause UK | WaterAid
- Shrewsbury Folk Festival – Apply Direct
- Sidmouth Folk Festival – Wicked Stewarding
- Sign of the Time Festival – St Clare Hospice
- Slam Dunk – Apply Direct
- Smoked & Uncut – WaterAid
- Smoke & Fire Festival – Apply Direct
- Soho House – Greenbox Events
- Solfest – Apply Direct
- Standon Calling – Apply Direct [No event this year]
- St Ives Food and Drink Festival – Apply Direct
- Sundown Festival – [No event this year]
- Teddy Rocks – Apply Direct
- The Big Retreat – Apply Direct
- The Brit Fest – Apply Direct
- The Great Estate Festival – Apply Direct
- The Long Road – Greenbox Events
- Together Again Festival – Apply Direct
- Tokyo World Festival – My Cause UK
- Towersy Festival – [No event this year]
- Tramlines – Apply Direct
- Truck Festival – Apply Direct | Festaff | Wicked Stewarding
- Valley Fest – [No event this year]
- Vegan Campout – Wicked Stewarding
- Waterworks Festival – Greenbox Events | My Cause UK
- We Out Here – Greenbox Events | My Cause UK
- Wide Awake – My Cause UK | Oxfam
- Wilderness Festival – Oxfam | Apply Direct
- Womad – [No event 2026]
- Woodshrop | Apply Direct
- World Yoga Festival – Apply Direct
- Wychwood – Wicked Events
- Y Not? Festival – Apply Direct | Festaff
- York Museum Gardens Concerts – Greenbox Events
I hope, if you’re looking for ways to save money on festival tickets, this post has provided you with food for thought. Have you volunteered at a festival before – or would you consider it? I’d love to know if you’re planning on volunteering at festivals this summer!
For more festival based content, have a look at these posts next:
What food to take to a festival
How to save money at a festival
European music festivals in 2026
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