The video consists of a series of animated infographics. This description explains the text on screen and the animated sequences linking them.
A white box appears on a blue screen, with £122.9 billion written in it. Surrounding the box are a running shoe, a whistle and a tennis racket, with a tennis ball flying in from the left hand side of the screen and bouncing off the racket.
Beneath the box, text appears reading:
Total annual social value of sport and physical activity in England for 2023/24.
The blue background glides in from the edges of the screen, replaced by a white background, with the white box in the centre changing to blue and the sports equipment disappearing.
A blue line draws down from the blue box, splitting in half, side to side, and transforms into two blue arrows, pointing down at graphic beneath them.
On the left is a green circle with a head and shoulders with a heart inside the head, beneath it is a green box with £106.9 billion in, beneath which is written:
Primary value of sport and physical activity: individual wellbeing.
On the right is an orange circle with three figures depicted in it, beneath it is an orange box with £15.9 billion in, beneath which is written:
Secondary value of sport and physical activity: wider health value to society.
The arrows are connected by a part green, part orange line, with the proportion of the line in green matching the proportion of the total social value made up of the primary value, and the orange part corresponding to the proportion made up of the secondary value.
We focus on the green box, which changes colour to white, as the background turns green and a canoe and target appear on the screen, with three arrow hitting the target.
The screen transitions to a white background with a heading of £106.9 billion in primary value.
Three arrows point down from the heading to highlight:
£8.6 billion in adult volunteering to support sport and physical activity
£84.2 billion in adult participation
£14.1 billion in children and young people participation (ages 7-16)
The screen turns orange with a white box appearing in the middle with £15.9b billion in it, beneath it reads:
Secondary value of sport and physical activity: wider health value to society.
Around the white box, a head, a stethoscope, a heart and an icon representing a family appear.
The screen transitions to white, with an orange heading reading:
£15.9 billion in secondary value.
Two arrows point down from the heading to highlight:
- £8.0 billion or direct healthcare savings, which is made up of:
- £6.7 billion in direct healthcare savings from the prevention of 14 diseases and chronic health conditions.
- £1.4 billion from reduced GP visits and mental health service usage
- -£0.15 billion in healthcare for sports injuries
- £7.9 billion of indirect cost savings relating to social care, informal care and productivity losses avoided
The blue line reappears as the screen turns white again and we return to the blue box of £122.9 billion and the values for both primary and secondary value beneath it.
A purple background sweeps across the screen, with a white box in the middle containing £19.6 billion, beneath it reads:
Annual social cost of inequality in adult, children and young people physical activity levels (calculated from primary and secondary value for adults, but only primary value for children and young people.)
Around the white box are an uneven weighing scale, a ‘does not equal’ symbol and another scale with heads on each side, one side being higher than the other.
The purple background changes to white and the box in the middle to dark blue.
The box contains ‘4.38’ and beneath it reads:
The combined economic and social return on investment (RoI) for sport and physical activity.
The graphic disappear and the Sport England logo appears, beneath which reads:
To find out more, please see our report: sportengland.org/socialvalue, special thanks to our partners.
Beneath this, the logos for Manchester Metropolitan University, Sheffield Halla University and State of Life, appear.
The video ends.
Sport and physical activity contribute significantly to the health and wellbeing of England.
The first results from our updated model, which highlights the social value created by community sports, were published in 2024.
The latest figure, published in November 2025, was an estimated £122.9 billion in social value generated in 2023/24 alone.
This figure represents both primary value - the wellbeing benefits that individuals experience from being active - and secondary value, which reflects the cost savings to public services like healthcare.
Social value calculations are particularly important for community sport and physical activity, where lots of activity is self-organised or volunteer-led and much of its value to society comes in the form of improved wellbeing and better physical and mental health.
You can explore the findings of this model in detail through the reports outlined below - these consist of a summary report, as well as both primary and secondary value reports.
Social value broken down
The video consists of a series of animated infographics. This description explains the text on screen and the animated sequences linking them.
A white box appears on a blue screen, with £122.9 billion written in it. Surrounding the box are a running shoe, a whistle and a tennis racket, with a tennis ball flying in from the left hand side of the screen and bouncing off the racket.
Beneath the box, text appears reading:
Total annual social value of sport and physical activity in England for 2023/24.
The blue background glides in from the edges of the screen, replaced by a white background, with the white box in the centre changing to blue and the sports equipment disappearing.
A blue line draws down from the blue box, splitting in half, side to side, and transforms into two blue arrows, pointing down at graphic beneath them.
On the left is a green circle with a head and shoulders with a heart inside the head, beneath it is a green box with £106.9 billion in, beneath which is written:
Primary value of sport and physical activity: individual wellbeing.
On the right is an orange circle with three figures depicted in it, beneath it is an orange box with £15.9 billion in, beneath which is written:
Secondary value of sport and physical activity: wider health value to society.
The arrows are connected by a part green, part orange line, with the proportion of the line in green matching the proportion of the total social value made up of the primary value, and the orange part corresponding to the proportion made up of the secondary value.
We focus on the green box, which changes colour to white, as the background turns green and a canoe and target appear on the screen, with three arrow hitting the target.
The screen transitions to a white background with a heading of £106.9 billion in primary value.
Three arrows point down from the heading to highlight:
£8.6 billion in adult volunteering to support sport and physical activity
£84.2 billion in adult participation
£14.1 billion in children and young people participation (ages 7-16)
The screen turns orange with a white box appearing in the middle with £15.9b billion in it, beneath it reads:
Secondary value of sport and physical activity: wider health value to society.
Around the white box, a head, a stethoscope, a heart and an icon representing a family appear.
The screen transitions to white, with an orange heading reading:
£15.9 billion in secondary value.
Two arrows point down from the heading to highlight:
The blue line reappears as the screen turns white again and we return to the blue box of £122.9 billion and the values for both primary and secondary value beneath it.
A purple background sweeps across the screen, with a white box in the middle containing £19.6 billion, beneath it reads:
Annual social cost of inequality in adult, children and young people physical activity levels (calculated from primary and secondary value for adults, but only primary value for children and young people.)
Around the white box are an uneven weighing scale, a ‘does not equal’ symbol and another scale with heads on each side, one side being higher than the other.
The purple background changes to white and the box in the middle to dark blue.
The box contains ‘4.38’ and beneath it reads:
The combined economic and social return on investment (RoI) for sport and physical activity.
The graphic disappear and the Sport England logo appears, beneath which reads:
To find out more, please see our report: sportengland.org/socialvalue, special thanks to our partners.
Beneath this, the logos for Manchester Metropolitan University, Sheffield Halla University and State of Life, appear.
The video ends.
See the research
Summary report
A high-level overview of the key findings from Sport England’s updated model of social value.
See the reportPrimary value report
Explore the wellbeing benefits generated from participating and volunteering in sport and physical activity.
This report breaks down the £106.9bn of primary value produced in 2023/24, highlighting its significance for different demographic groups.
See the reportSecondary value report
Discover the £15.9bn of secondary value created through reduced disease cases and lower demands on health and social care services.
This report explains how physical activity prevents millions of cases of diseases like depression and Type 2 diabetes a year, generating substantial savings for the public sector.
See the reportSocial value where you are
Tax revenue generated
Technical note detailing how we estimate the government tax revenues generated by grassroots sport in England in 2023 - the most recent year for which such a calculation is possible.
See the technical noteEconomic impact: Sport Satellite Account for the UK
In addition to the social benefits, sport and physical activity makes a substantial contribution to the UK economy.
The latest Sport Satellite Account for the UK - with breakdowns for each home nation including England - presents the economic value of the sport sector for the year 2021.
This release, provided by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) in October 2024, examines the annual economic output, gross value added (GVA), and sport-related employment for the sector.
The overall value for the UK of £99.6bn, with the figure for England calculated to be £87bn, with a GVA of £46.7bn.
This analysis and insight into sport-related economic activity is complementary to our social value research, with both important to making informed and effective policy decisions.
Overall picture
Together, ours and the Government's models provide a robust and detailed understanding of how community sport and physical activity improves lives, delivers wider value to society and contributes to the nation's economy.
This evidence is crucial for making the case for continued investment in sport and physical activity, ensuring these benefits reach those who need them most.
Social value Q&As
What’s new in the Year 2 model compared with Year 1?
The Year 2 model refreshes and extends the previous model and includes several important developments and updates, including:
Read more about What’s new in the Year 2 model compared with Year 1?- updated figures to reflect the price year and updated participation/volunteering levels
- expanded wellbeing analysis for children and young people, including additional values for ages 7–11 using a child wellbeing measure (C-WELLBY), and further breakdowns for 11–16 years
- extended calculations around the social cost of inequality for children and young people
- updated health values using the most recent evidence, plus extensions including productivity gains linked to reduced morbidity for working-age adults
- updated local breakdowns (for example by region, Active Partnership and local authority).
Read less about What’s new in the Year 2 model compared with Year 1?How robust are the subgroup estimates?
The technical report for the primary value work includes a dedicated section on data considerations and potential limitations (for example survey/data constraints and robustness checks).
Why is some exploratory analysis not included in the Year 2 headline results?
The Year 2 model included exploratory work on the potential wellbeing value associated with adults taking part in different types of sports/activities and volunteering among children aged 9–16.
Read more about Why is some exploratory analysis not included in the Year 2 headline results?The reporting explains these areas need deeper interrogation than was feasible for Year 2 and are flagged as topics for future development.
Read less about Why is some exploratory analysis not included in the Year 2 headline results?Can I compare Year 2 figures directly with Year 1?
The Year 2 work includes a change in price year and an expanded scope, so the Year 2 figures are not directly comparable to the Year 1 figures.
How should organisations use these findings in practice?
Sport England sees the main value of this evidence as strengthening the case for continued investment in sport and physical activity and helping stakeholders communicate the significant benefits it generates in terms of people’s wellbeing and other benefits to society (e.g. reduced pressure on health systems, productivity losses avoided) due to a healthier population.
Read more about How should organisations use these findings in practice?Suggested uses include strengthening strategic cases for investment into sport and physical activity and tackling inequalities, supporting place-based planning, and demonstrating the wider benefits of activity beyond participation counts.
Read less about How should organisations use these findings in practice?Is there any guidance for organisations looking to generate WELLBY-based wellbeing values?
We don’t currently have tailored guidance or tools to directly support individual projects seeking to generate their own before and after WELLBY estimates.
Read more about Is there any guidance for organisations looking to generate WELLBY-based wellbeing values?The WELLBY values used in the social value research are derived from Active Lives life satisfaction data for adults and happiness data for children and young people, so are based on a top-down approach using large-scale, population-level datasets to estimate national wellbeing figures and value.
Read less about Is there any guidance for organisations looking to generate WELLBY-based wellbeing values?Are the social and economic value outputs from the national model suitable for assessing individual projects?
While we encourage partners to think about measuring and evidencing the economic and social value of their work, the current outputs from the national model would need bespoke adaptation and tailoring to meet the evaluation needs of a project or programme.
Read more about Are the social and economic value outputs from the national model suitable for assessing individual projects?It’s important that work to calculate social and economic value is shaped by the scope, objectives and stakeholders of each individual project and follow good practice principles. This helps to ensure any calculations are robust and credible and avoid risks such as overclaiming impact.
However, we are keen to ensure the work and outputs we produce on social and economic value are as useful as they can be for stakeholders, so we are actively considering how we might develop the sort of information, guidance or resources that would be helpful to colleagues and partners asking these types of questions.
Read less about Are the social and economic value outputs from the national model suitable for assessing individual projects?How are the local breakdowns calculated and what can I use them for?
Local breakdowns are calculated using national average values applied to local levels of participation and volunteering taken from the Active Lives surveys.
Read more about How are the local breakdowns calculated and what can I use them for?The availability of relevant Active Lives data means it’s not possible to provide a breakdown of every element of value included in the national model at local authority level.
Local-level data can be used to provide a reasonable estimate of social value in a place, but users should clear about the assumptions and limitations upon values are based.
Read less about How are the local breakdowns calculated and what can I use them for?What is the Moving Communities Social Value Calculator, and how can it be used?
Organisations can use the Social Value Calculator within the Moving Communities platform to estimate the social value generated through participation in sport and physical activity at a leisure facility, community club or similar setting (where available within the platform).
Read more about What is the Moving Communities Social Value Calculator, and how can it be used?Using participation data, the calculator applies Sport England’s social value model and wellbeing valuation methodology to estimate the social value associated with increased activity levels.
This can help organisations demonstrate the wider impact of their programmes, facilities or investments, support funding applications, and evidence how participation contributes to improved health and wellbeing outcomes within local communities.
A predictive version of the calculator is also currently in development and is intended to enable organisations to forecast the potential social value of planned investments, facility developments, programmes or participation growth.
This would allow users to model different scenarios and estimate potential future social value before implementation, helping to inform business cases, investment decisions and strategic planning.
Read less about What is the Moving Communities Social Value Calculator, and how can it be used?What are the future plans to update the social value research?
Sport England plans to publish a further update to the social value model in 2026. We will continue working with a range of expert and academic partners to help guide and shape the research.
Read more about What are the future plans to update the social value research?Updates will focus on refreshing the model with the latest data and evidence and developing areas that were exploratory in Year 2, where deeper analysis was not feasible at the time.
As with previous updates, any changes to the model will be published alongside clear technical documentation, setting out what has changed and how new evidence has been incorporated.
Read less about What are the future plans to update the social value research?Previous research
This model, first published in October 2024 and updated in November 2025, builds on previous research from 2000 that calculated for every £1 spent on community sport and physical activity, a return on onvestment (RoI) of £3.91 was created for individuals and society.
It also found the combined economic and social value (SROI) of taking part in community sport and physical activity in England in 2017/2018 was £85.5 billion.
Social and economic value of community sport and physical activity
The research showed that £42bn worth of value was created from improved life satisfaction for 24m participants and 3.9m volunteers through their involvement in sport and physical activity.
Read more about Social and economic value of community sport and physical activityThe findings also demonstrated how physical activity plays an important role in preventing a number of serious physical and mental health conditions, with the research showing this had a value of £9.5bn.
Of this amount, £5.2bn was in healthcare savings, while £1.7bn was in social care savings.
More than £3.6bn worth of savings were generated by the prevention of 900,000 cases of diabetes, while a further £3.5bn of value was generated through avoided dementia cases and the related care.
A total of £450 million was saved by preventing 30 million additional GP visits.
A further £20bn of value came from stronger and safer communities, including:
As with the new model, there were three reports produced for the 2000 publication.
A summary report, one on the SROI and one on the economic importance of sport and physical activity.
The reports were produced by the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, but we also published simple breakdowns of the social value figure for each local authority and Active Partnership area.
The spreadsheet, which consisted of three tabs of information:
Read less about Social and economic value of community sport and physical activity