FIFO Offshore Jobs UK 2026: Rotations, £180-£1,200 Day Rates

Short answer

FIFO offshore work in the UK means the employer flies you to the installation, pays for travel, food and accommodation, and pays a day rate for every day of your rotation. The standard pattern is two weeks on, two weeks off, around 182 paid days a year. Rates run from £180 a day for entry-level deck crew to £1,200 a day for an OIM. You need an OGUK medical, BOSIET with CA-EBS and MIST before anyone will interview you.

What FIFO offshore actually means

Fly-in fly-out is how nearly all UK offshore work is structured. You do not relocate to Aberdeen and you do not commute daily. You live wherever you want, the employer books your travel to a heliport (Aberdeen Dyce, Norwich, Humberside, Sumburgh or Blackpool for wind), and you fly out to the installation by helicopter or transfer by crew boat.

The whole rotation is paid. Travel days count. While you are offshore you spend nothing: your cabin, three cooked meals a day, laundry, gym and internet are all covered. That is why offshore money goes so much further than the headline number suggests, and why people on a £58,000 offshore salary often save more than someone earning £75,000 onshore.

UK offshore rotations compared

Rotation	Paid days	Where you see it	Notes
2 on / 2 off	~182 paid days	North Sea drilling and most contractor roles	The UK default. Half the year at home.
3 on / 3 off	~182 paid days	Production platforms, some catering	Fewer flights, longer stints. Suits people travelling from abroad.
4 on / 4 off	~182 paid days	Specialists and international assignments	Common on FPSOs and overseas contracts.
14 / 14 or 21 / 21	Campaign based	Offshore wind construction and commissioning	Vessel based, often SOV or jack-up accommodation.
Ad hoc / call-out	Variable	Inspection, rope access, shutdowns	Highest rates, least predictability.

A word of warning on "equal time" rotations: 2/2 and 3/3 both pay roughly 182 days a year, so the annual figure is similar. What changes is your quality of life and your travel costs. If you live in Cornwall or overseas, 3/3 halves the number of times you make that journey.

What FIFO rotations pay in 2026

Day rates depend entirely on role and tickets, not on the rotation itself. Here is the 2026 spread across the roles people ask about most:

Roustabout — £180 to £220 a day (£33k to £42k)
Offshore scaffolder — £320 to £420 a day (£58k to £75k)
Electrical technician — £400 to £540 a day (£72k to £96k)
Wind turbine technician — £300 to £450 a day (£42k to £75k)
Driller — £720 to £950 a day (£130k to £170k)
OIM — £750 to £1,200 a day (£135k to £220k)

Full role-by-role figures, including monthly take-home and what lifts you to the top of each band, are in the offshore salary guide and the oil rig worker salary breakdown.

For the detail behind each part of fly-in fly-out work, see our FIFO offshore jobs hub, which breaks down UK offshore rotas, FIFO pay and tax, flying from Aberdeen and Teesside and starting FIFO with no experience.

Tickets you need before applying

OGUK / OEUK offshore medical — about £120, valid two years
BOSIET with CA-EBS — about £1,000, five days, valid four years (FOET to renew)
MIST — about £250, two days
GWO BST and BTT — for offshore wind instead of BOSIET
Role tickets — IRATA, IWCF, CompEx, HV AP, Rigger Stage 2/3, CISRS depending on trade

Nobody will interview you on the promise of getting certified later. Book the medical first: if you fail it, everything else is wasted money.

Who runs FIFO rotations in the UK

Operators: Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, Harbour Energy, Ithaca, Serica, Equinor
Drilling contractors: Stena Drilling, KCA Deutag, Transocean, Valaris, Noble, Odfjell
Service companies: Wood, Petrofac, Bilfinger, Sparrows, Stork, Baker Hughes, SLB
Offshore wind: Ørsted, RWE, SSE Renewables, Vattenfall, Siemens Gamesa, Vestas, Van Oord, Cadeler
Agencies: Orion Group, NES Fircroft, Airswift, Petroplan, Cammach Bryant, TRS Staffing

Applying direct to an operator and separately through two or three agencies for the same asset is normal and expected. Agencies fill the majority of contractor rotations in the North Sea.

A realistic 2-on-2-off fortnight

Day one you travel to the heliport, often the night before, in a hotel the company pays for. You check in, do the survival suit and briefing routine, and fly out. Offshore you work twelve-hour shifts, day or night, every day of your trip. There are no weekends.

There is a rhythm to it that people either love or cannot stand. Twelve hours on, food, sleep, repeat, for fourteen days, then fourteen full days at home with no work at all. Most people find the first two trips brutal and the fifth trip normal. If you have never done it, apply for a 2/2 rather than a 4/4 for your first contract.

Making your CV read as FIFO-ready

Recruiters filter for one thing before anything else: has this person done rotation before, and can they prove it? That means stating your rotation pattern next to every offshore role, naming every installation or vessel you have worked, and listing every ticket with its expiry date in a block near the top of page one.

If that information is buried on page two, the ATS scores you below people with less experience and better formatting. Our offshore CV writing service builds every CV around rotation, tickets and installations, and if you are targeting drilling specifically the oil rig CV service is the right fit. Want to test what you already have first? Run it through the free ATS CV checker.

FIFO questions people ask

What does FIFO mean in offshore work?

FIFO means fly-in fly-out. You live anywhere in the UK, the employer books and pays for your travel to the heliport, flies you to the installation, and pays a day rate for every day of the rotation including travel days. Food and accommodation offshore are free.

What is the most common offshore rotation in the UK?

Two weeks on, two weeks off (2/2) is the standard North Sea drilling rotation, which works out at around 182 paid days a year. Production platforms often run 3/3, and offshore wind construction commonly runs 14/14 or 21/21.

How much do FIFO offshore workers earn in the UK?

Between £180 and £1,200 a day in 2026. Entry-level roustabouts and stewards earn £180 to £220 a day, skilled technicians £380 to £560, and drillers, toolpushers and OIMs £720 to £1,200. Travel, food and accommodation are paid on top.

Do you get paid for travel days offshore?

Yes, on almost all UK offshore contracts. Your day rate is paid for every day of the rotation, including the day you fly out and the day you fly back, and the employer covers flights, hotels the night before check-in, and helicopter transfers.

Can you live outside the UK and work FIFO in the North Sea?

Yes. Plenty of North Sea hands live in Ireland, Spain, Poland and further afield and fly in for each rotation. You need the right to work in the UK and you usually cover your own travel to the UK point of departure, after which the employer takes over.

What tickets do you need for FIFO offshore work?

As a minimum: a valid OGUK/OEUK offshore medical, BOSIET with CA-EBS and MIST. Offshore wind requires GWO BST and BTT instead of BOSIET. Trade roles need role-specific tickets on top such as IRATA, IWCF, CompEx, HV AP or Rigger Stage 3.

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