free swimming for under 16's and over 60

free swimming programme
Message from Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport:


We are giving 20 million people the chance to swim for free in pools the length and breadth of England.

From 1 April 2009, almost 300 local councils are providing swimming free of charge for people aged 60 and over – and more than 200 are offering free swimming to those aged 16 and under, too.


David Walliams helps Culture Secretary Andy Burnham launch the Government's £140m Free Swimming Programme.

Top swimmers Jo Jackson, Mark Foster and Heather Frederiksen also backed the initiative that will see over a thousand local pools offer free swimming to people aged 60 and over and 16 and under.



Swimming is the country’s most popular sporting activity. The Government’s free swimming initiative is an important part of our plans to secure a long-term legacy from London hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games - and to get two million people more active and more healthy. As such it is recognised through the London Inspire Programme. The Free Swimming Programme is in support of Change4Life – the nationwide movement to help everyone eat well, move more and live longer.

It is a partnership between the Government, local councils of all political colours, Sport England and swimming's governing body.

•Check if your council is offering free swimming on our list of participating local authorities.


•Local authorities own and are responsible for running the pools taking part, so check with them for more details.


•Find out which council covers where you live – just by typing in your postcode or address.

City, district and unitary councils are responsible for providing free swimming so you should contact them in the first instance.



Please note:

•To take part, you may be asked to prove your age
•Councils may ask you to apply for a free swimming membership card – at no cost or for a minimal fee
•If your own council does not offer free swimming and you are in either age group, you can use a pool owned by any participating local authority, whether nearby or anywhere else in England, please also see out Frequently asked questions for swimmers
•For more information about the free swimming initiative, please see our Frequently asked questions for local authorities
•For more information about swimming, see the British swimming website
•Find out what Sport England is doing to get us more active.

I hope you will join the thousands – we hope millions! – of people, young and old, who will take the plunge this year, thanks to free swimming.

Andy Burnham
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

I can confirm this works

I went to my leisure centre and filled in some forms and was given a card for each child.
FREE swimming, yippee
HOT from me

at our baths we had to pay £2.00 each for the card for each child & then free swimming until 2011

my council didnt do this wen i was at school but hot!

Some councils are allowing free swimming for 18's and under, Durham being one of them. Youngsters can register as long as they haven't reached their 19th birthday so quite a generous scheme. http://www.durham.gov.uk/Pages/Servi...?ServiceId=644

Worth checking on your local council website

Can you use pools in a neighbouring authority if your authority DOES offer free swimming? May parents are just in one area but the pools are a long way from them, they want to use the pool in the nearby area but that's not where they pay council tax.

Hope this makes sense - thanks to anyone who can help!

My daughter has recently signed up for this and it works well. Pool gets busy but she loves it! x

northern ireland loses out again, :(

Oh good two close by Local Authorities, one refused to take part (Bromley Council) and Croydon has it for over 60's only.

Just 20yrs to wait and 50yrs for my kids.........

rbw you will have to check what the local authority requirement is in your area, I rang mine in April and they said anyone is welcome as long as they can prove their age, they were not doing cards as it was expensive to administer so they said just turn up at any free swimming session. I rang the pool that I wanted to use, they were very helpful.

We got our cards through a link that was posted on the swimming baths website.

The cards took a few months to come, but we were able to use the printed reciept to go swimming during public swimming times

Liverpool have been doing this for years, it's usually time restricted (usually before 4pm during the week, after midday at a weekend)

North Hampshire out too!!

It's your local council that pays for it, so in what way are you losing out? You aren't paying for it!