Friday, August 14, 2026
It's what we've all been waiting for - Reading and Leeds volunteer shift preference selection is now open!
There are 29 different volunteer shift patterns to choose from at Reading Festival this year, 24 at Leeds Festival.
You have until 8pm on Monday 17th August to select your Reading shift preferences, until midday on Wednesday 19th August to select your Leeds preferences. Please make sure you have submitted your preferences before this date, as after this, shifts will be allocated based on availability.
Following Monday and Wednesday, it will take us several days to process shift preferences and allocate shift patterns for everyone joining us at Reading and Leeds Festival.
Once we have allocated your Reading and Leeds Festival shifts, we'll send another email letting you know it's time to login and find out your shift pattern and start planning your festival schedule!
There was a little whoops with the shift planner which meant there was an error on the Indigo CATs shift pattern, sorry! This has now been corrected and an updated shift planner has been uploaded to PAAM - no other shift patterns have been affected.
Indigo CATs was incorrectly showing as Thursday Early, Friday Early, Sunday Late.
Indigo CATs has been corrected to Thursday Early, Friday Early, Saturday Late.
If you'd like to see Charli XCX and Fontaines DC DON'T pick Indigo CATs
If you'd like to see Raye and Dave DO pick Indigo CATs.
Big shout out to Guest & Accessibility Supervisor AJ for spotting the mistake!
If you're joining us at Reading and Leeds Festival with friends and would like to have the same shift pattern, please ensure their name and email address are listed in the Friends section of your PAAM profile so we can ensure you have the same shift pattern!
Don't forget to check that your friends have listed your name and email address in their Friends section too!
Please also make sure that you don't have any friends' names from previous festivals still in your friends list as this can slow down the shift allocation process if we're searching to match you with volunteers who haven't signed up this year!
You'll then need to make sure you and your friends put your shift preferences in the same order.
This is your last chance to update the Friends section of your profile before Reading and Leeds Festival shifts are allocated!
To choose your Reading and Leeds Festival shift preferences you need to:
You can log back into your PAAM account and change your order of preferences at any time until shift preference selection closes.
Once we've allocated shift patterns, your shift pattern will show on the Overview page of your PAAM account.
Please note, we are a very small team at Hotbox HQ so whilst we're working hard to allocate shifts as quickly as we can there may be some delay in responses to emails and messages! Whilst we're busy allocating shifts you can drop into our Facebook group for help and advice from our previous staff and volunteers!
Shift preference selection can be a little overwhelming - especially if it's your first time joining us - as there are so many different shift options to choose from! We've listed our top tips for working out your order of shift preferences below:
For further information about how shifts are allocated please read the information within the shift planner PDF.
We have more paid jobs available at Reading and Leeds!
Jobs available:
Reading Festival: Paid Zone Supervisors
Leeds Festival: Paid Facilities Managers, Zone Supervisors and Minibus Drivers
Zone Supervisors work in one or more campsite zones and look after a team of around 10-20 volunteers. Zone Supervisors are responsible for ensuring the volunteers feel comfortable and confident with their role and responsibilities in the zone, as well as managing volunteer welfare and breaks and acting as a first response to incidents in the campsite. Good organisation, leadership and people skills are required for this role. Zone Supervisors work between 47-56 hours throughout the festival, working the same shift every day (all early, all late or all night shifts). They are paid £14.30 per hour (or £16.02 including holiday pay if on PAYE) and receive 2x meal vouchers per shift to use at crew catering.
Minibus Drivers operate the Leeds Festival internal shuttle bus service along the internal vehicle route at Leeds Festival. The role mostly involves picking up customers and crew who have arrived at the wrong gate, as well as assisting with shift deployments and shuttling accessibility customers around the site. Minibus drivers usually work between 30 – 45 hours during the festival (although could be more/fewer depending on shift preferences) and are paid £14.30 per hour (or £16.02 including holiday pay if on PAYE). Minibus drivers also receive 2x meal vouchers per shift to use at crew catering.
Facilities Managers keep an eye on the condition of the facilities blocks in the festival campsites and ensure everything is in tip top condition! We should be clear, the job absolutely does not involve cleaning any toilets! Facilities managers are responsible for reporting anything that needs fixing, cleaning or restocking ASAP to the festival's designated toilet crew, then making sure it gets sorted so no toilets or showers are out of action. Facilities managers work 4x 8 hour shifts over the course of the festival from Wednesday – Monday (although those with a Wednesday early or Monday early shift will have slightly shorter shifts). Facilities managers are paid £12.75 per hour (or £14.28 including holiday pay if on PAYE) and receive 1x meal voucher per shift to use at crew catering.
Zone Supervisors please fill out our staff application form here
Minibus Drivers please pop us an email over to info@hotboxevents.com noting that you would be interested in joining us as a paid minibus driver at Leeds Festival. Please note, all minibus drivers must have a D1 on their driving license.
Facilities Managers Apply for a facilities manager position at Leeds Festival in PAAM in the same way you would for a volunteer or paid steward place at another event. You can log in to your PAAM account here
If there is anything you would like to ask or you would just like to chat with us about, the easiest way is to...
You can connect with us @hotboxevents on Instagram, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube
If you would like to chat with others who have joined us before, head to our Facebook Group
Here you will find new and returning staff and volunteers chatting about what it is like to join us at festivals, arranging to share lifts, asking and answering questions about working at festivals and making new friends!
If you have not joined us at a festival before and are wondering what it is like, check out some of our staff and volunteer interviews!
In these interviews, you will get to hear from those who have joined us talking about how they found their shifts, how they felt they were looked after by the Hotbox team, what it was like working solo for the first time, taking on more responsibility year on year, and even how the experience and confidence gained has helped with career progression away from festivals.
Another way to see what joining us is like is to check out some of our festival photos!
In our festival photo galleries, you will find thousands of photos covering our festival history over the past twenty years!
It's totally normal to be anxious before coming to a festival, particularly if you're coming solo! We get hundreds of messages every year from people who are keen to join us but nervous about coming alone, so we promise you're not...alone! We're a very friendly bunch and if there's anything we can do to reduce your anxiety, please get in touch! You can also join our Facebook Group to make friends with others before the festival. Within this group you will also find links to some volunteer-led WhatsApp groups that have been set up!
If you have specific questions about joining us at festivals, try our festival FAQs!
Our festival FAQs are regularly updated and packed full of answers to the questions we are usually asked, as well as handy festival hits and tips.
We usually send out an email newsletter every month or so. If you would like to keep up to date with our news and festival happenings, please subscribe!
If you would like to drop us an email, it's info@hotboxevents.com
You can reach our office by phone on the numbers below...
Tel: 01252849600 (UK) select option 2 for Hotbox Events
Tel: +441252849600 (International) select option 2 for Hotbox Events
