The Franchise

What You Would Be Building

A plain-language look at The Otters Swimming Franchise — built on the model proven at our flagship school, Ogden Otters — covering the role, the territory and what's included.

The Owner's Role

This is an actively managed business, particularly during launch. You will lead your team, uphold Otter Way standards and drive growth in your territory — not a passive investment.

Territory

Every franchise partner gets an exclusive territory — we won't place another Otters location where it would realistically compete with yours. Rather than a fixed mile radius, your territory is based on realistic travel time and local geography, since these vary hugely across the UK.

Venue Options

You hire pool venues rather than owning or fitting out your own. You're responsible for finding a venue, and we help negotiate terms — including a standard maximum hourly rate — so pool hire doesn't quietly eat into your margins. As a rough guide, pool hire typically runs around £500 a week including bills, though this varies by location and how much pool time you want.

Core & Additional Services

Every location delivers the same core teaching and safety programme — though covering the full range, babies through to developing swimmers, needs both a swim teaching and a preschool/baby swimming qualification. Additional services like aquacise or holiday clubs depend on your venue and local demand — see the full breakdown below.

From Owner-Led to Team-Led

This is entirely up to you and what you want to achieve. Sam started out teaching in the pool herself every single day, with a skeleton team — just two self-employed swimming teachers and three part-time reception staff, made possible by a separate reception area at her venue. Not every venue has that: without one, you'll need mini breaks between lessons to handle admin and greeting yourself, which usually means teaching fewer classes a day — so it's worth weighing the cost of reception support against the lesson time you'd otherwise lose, like any business — our first franchise partners get extra hands-on help working through decisions like this. Sam's team has since grown to 14+ people on-site, 12 of them employed and five working more than 20 hours a week. With that growth came the need for real policies and procedures, developed and refined over years — which you inherit from day one, rather than building from scratch.

Launch Timescale

How long it takes to launch depends on your marketing strategy and the level of need in your chosen area. We strongly advise researching current swimming provision locally as part of your planning — but no single swim school has the capacity to teach every child in an area, so there's almost always room for a quality provider.

Core & Optional Services

Every Otters Swimming Franchise location delivers the same core teaching and safety programme, wherever it is. Beyond that, what's available depends on your venue, licensing and local demand — so we won't promise a service upfront that your territory might not be able to support.

Core — every location

Swimming lessons from babies through to developing swimmers
Water-safety education
A structured progression pathway with badges and certificates
Regular written feedback for families
Safeguarding and quality-assurance standards

Delivering the full core programme, from babies through to developing swimmers, needs a teacher who holds both a swim teaching qualification and a preschool/baby swimming qualification — that's you or a member of your team.

Optional — depends on your territory

School swimming programmes
Depends on a local school partnership.
Aquacise
Depends on suitable pool depth and an instructor holding a recognised aquacise/water-based exercise qualification.
Lane swimming
Depends on spare pool time or space.
Intensives and holiday clubs
Depends on block-booking capacity.
Seasonal activities
Depends on local demand and the launch plan.

Investment at a Glance

The figures below are early estimates, based on comparable UK children's activity and swim franchises. They have not yet been confirmed against real running costs or finalised in legal documentation, so treat every value as indicative and subject to change.

Franchise agreement length: 5 years, with an option to renew for a further 5 years
Initial franchise fee: From £40,000, depending on territory size
Ongoing management fee: 8% of gross turnover
Marketing contribution: 2% of gross turnover, ring-fenced for shared marketing
Estimated setup costs: £1,500 – £2,000, on top of the initial fee
Minimum working capital: £4,000 – £6,000 (roughly 2–3 months of running costs)
Rough total investment: From approximately £45,500, excluding local venue hire variation

What Your Initial Fee Includes

This isn't just a licence to trade — it's a complete business, ready to run.

The full OTTER Swim School Framework — every policy, procedure and process needed to run a successful swim school
The Otter admin app, parent portal, and assessment certification and badges
Use of The Otters Swimming Franchise brand, logo and marketing identity
Comprehensive franchisee training — business setup, teaching methods and operational excellence
Ongoing business support, including regular check-ins and continued access to Sam and the team
Website and marketing set-up

Beyond the fee, we also help you find the best possible deal on pool hire, and can help you rent equipment to get started rather than buying everything outright.

Don't let money be the reason you don't take up this opportunity. A payment plan may be available: typically a deposit of around 25% of the fee, with the balance paid over 12 months at a flat 8% charge for spreading payments over time. On the standard £40,000 fee, that's roughly a £10,000 deposit, then around £2,700 a month for 12 months. Assessed individually, so ask us when you enquire.

Founding partner bonus — only 3 places, ever

Sign as one of our first three franchise partners

There will only ever be three founding partners in the history of The Otters Swimming Franchise — all three places are still available. Sign as one of them, at the standard £40,000 fee, and you also receive:

Ready-to-use school partnership agreement template (worth £1,000)
A complete risk assessment and social-media strategy pack (worth £6,000)
Three full-day strategy sessions with Sam personally — at setup, 6 months, and 1 year (worth £6,000)
Ongoing strategic mentoring directly from Sam throughout your first year
Hands-on help recruiting and training your first swim teachers

Once all three founding-partner places are taken, this bonus tier closes for good — every franchise partner after that still gets the full standard package above, just without these founding-only extras.

Please note: Business results vary according to location, facility availability, local demand, operating costs, management and the commitment of the franchise partner. Past performance by the franchisor or another location does not guarantee future results. Detailed financial information is provided during the franchise discovery and due-diligence process.

What's Included and What's Excluded

Typically included

The initial setup estimate covers starter teaching equipment (floats, aids and safety kit, which you can add to as your business grows), your first year's insurance, a DBS check (around £65 for your own — this grows as you take on staff, each needing their own), branded uniforms and a laptop to run your admin app and parent portal. It assumes you already have a mobile phone; if not, budget roughly £50 a month for one. Your website, marketing set-up and booking system are already covered by the initial fee, so you won't need to budget for those again. The ongoing management fee covers continued support and the shared booking and member-management app used across every Otters Swimming Franchise site.

Typically excluded

Pool hire and other venue costs, local marketing spend (as opposed to the shared national marketing contribution), and day-to-day running costs such as staff wages are funded by you as the franchise partner.

These are early estimates and will be finalised in your franchise agreement.

See What Training and Support Looks Like

Ownership comes with a complete framework, not just a licence to trade. Explore what's behind the scenes.

Request the Franchise Information Pack Start Your Franchise Journey