Future Fit and the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) have joined forces to offer exciting career development opportunities for lifeguards, helping to retain vital talent in the physical activity sector for longer.

As the leading training provider for health, fitness, and wellbeing professionals in the UK, Future Fit brings decades of experience in developing long-term career pathways in the physical activity sector. This partnership extends that vision to thousands of lifeguards seeking to build meaningful, multi-disciplinary careers.

High staff turnover remains one of the most pressing challenges for the industry, leading to increased recruitment, training, and mentoring costs. The problem is particularly acute for lifeguards. RLSS UK qualifies more than 40,000 lifeguards a year, yet data shows that most remain in their role for just two to three years. Many take on lifeguarding as a temporary job while studying or exploring career options, often leaving the sector without realising the variety of long-term roles available beyond lifeguarding in fitness, wellbeing and management.

To help reduce lifeguard attrition, RLSS UK has partnered with Future Fit, the UK’s leading health, wellbeing, and personal trainer courses provider, to upskill lifeguards with affordable, accessible, high-quality training. The initiative will open the doors to the broader career opportunities available for lifeguards, helping to keep them working in the Leisure industry longer.

Jo Talbot, Commercial Director at RLSS UK, says: “This meaningful and proactive partnership is not only supporting our current lifeguard workforce but also helping to combat the industry challenges around staff retention. It amazes me how many people in our sector started their journey as lifeguards before progressing into fitness, swim teaching, or management. If we can showcase these career pathways and provide affordable training opportunities, we can support people in building careers in our sector.

“Working with Future Fit gives us peace of mind that we are guiding our lifeguards towards high-quality, professional training and setting them up for an exciting future.”
The partners will launch a series of initiatives to help develop lifeguards and offer opportunities to fitness instructors. The first joint initiative will see Future Fit offer a 15% discount on its core fitness qualifications and CPD products to all RLSS UK-qualified lifeguards, helping them upskill into fitness instructing roles. Lifeguards will be able to access this discount via a referral code provided through the RLSS UK network.

Tom Godwin, Group Operations Director, Future Fit, says: “We're thrilled to partner with RLSS UK to create meaningful career pathways for lifeguards. At Future Fit, we believe in developing well-rounded fitness professionals, and this partnership allows us to help talented individuals expand their skills beyond the poolside. By providing accessible, high-quality training opportunities, we're not only supporting individual career growth but also addressing the industry-wide challenge of retention. Together with RLSS UK, we're committed to showcasing the diverse and rewarding career paths available within the physical activity sector.”

RLSS UK will highlight other opportunities and pathways within the physical activity sector and encourage qualified lifeguards to consider a career in the industry.

Future initiatives will include health and wellbeing awareness, especially around the health benefits of aquatic fitness, bespoke training, webinars, free and funded training and more.

This collaboration also has the support of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA). Tara Dillon, CEO of CIMSPA, says: “As someone who started their career as a lifeguard, I know how the skills and knowledge you develop in the role can positively impact your whole career. This partnership is really important for helping employers and deployers retain and develop our talented lifeguards who have a passion for the sector. Having opportunities to develop their skills and careers will enable our lifeguards to plan a long-term career in the sector and to support more people in experiencing the benefits of being physically active.”

To find out more about how this partnership can help you, or your team, build a lasting career in the leisure sector visit https://www.futurefit.co.uk/partners/rlss-uk-referral/