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What better way to start the new year than with an exciting new role to get your teeth into?

In January, I joined the Richmond Group of Charities as the new programme director leading the We Are Undefeatable physical activity programme following a significant stint running behaviour change programmes in the active travel sector.

With Sport England funding recently confirmed up to March 2028, it was a great time to join the team and get cracking.

A busy year from the start

We Are Undefeatable is a game-changing programme, bringing together an impactful behaviour change campaign with thought-leading policy, and influencing work to support and encourage people with long-term health conditions to be active in ways that work for them.

Throw in a new strand of place-based pilot work starting later this year, plus lived experience voices underpinning all we do, and we’ve got a huge amount to offer the sector and our key audiences.

So, unsurprisingly, this year is shaping up to be an exciting one already.

To kick us off in January we launched our new place-based approach, inviting expressions of interest from a range of areas, all of whom are already connected to the Sport England place expansion work.

Our place-based work will build on our experiences so far working with Blackburn with Darwen and Lancashire on local versions of the We Are Undefeatable campaign to support places to embed systems change, increase opportunities for movement and frictionless pathways to physical activity for those with long-term health conditions. We look forward to announcing our new partnerships in the spring.

Earlier in February, we held our inaugural Lived Experience Network session.

This group will be pivotal as we move into the next phases of the programme, ensuring we are keeping the experiences and perspectives of our key audiences at the heart of our deliverables.

It’s also already proving valuable to our partners (including the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine and the Active Partnerships National Organisation on the Moving Together programme), tapping into key expertise as meaningful contributors to work in development.

We’ll be lining up more opportunities for this collaborative working over the year and will continue to demonstrate to our network the impacts of their involvement.

From the blood‑and‑thunder drama of para ice hockey (I challenge anyone to watch a match and not feel exhausted) to the debut of mixed doubles curling, the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics Winter Games delivered far more than sporting excellence.

We’ve witnessed what human potential looks like when barriers are removed and inclusion is real, but climate change is shifting and rebuilding those barriers – making them higher, harder and, for some, insurmountable.

This is because climate change exacerbates inequality, threatening the hard-won gains made by disability activists over decades and, while progress has been huge, the extreme change in our weather and its effects on Earth are a stark reminder of how fragile that advancement is.

We even saw the impact of climate change at the Games, with some athletes voicing concerns that the March schedule for the event is now too late in the year and that competition conditions were being impacted by warm 'spring-like' weather.

The lesser known dangers of climate change 

Evidence submitted to Parliament is unequivocal: disabled people are more negatively affected by the health and social impacts of climate change than the general population – not primarily because of their impairments – but because systems already fail to meet their basic needs.

People living with disabilities – who are already twice as likely to be inactive according to our research, but who gain the most for their wellbeing from being able to take part in sport and physical activity – are disproportionately affected by rising heat, greater flooding risk and disruptions to accessible transport.

Sport England’s mission is to enable more people take part in sport and activity, but extreme weather is already making that harder.

From washed-out pitches to heatwaves that make outdoor sport unsafe, extreme weather has already prevented three in five adults in England from being active.

Climate research consistently shows why this happens and it’s simple and disheartening – disabled people are routinely excluded from climate adaptation planning.

Globally, 80% of national climate strategies fail to reference disability, leaving huge gaps in preparedness and emergency support.

And wherever disabled people are mentioned at all, they are often labelled as ‘inherently vulnerable’ – a misconception that shifts responsibility away from systems that fail to include them.
 

When torrential and constant rain hits it’s harder to manoeuvre a wheelchair outside. When a ramp floods, when accessible transport is disrupted, when a facility closes ‘for a few days’, some people lose far more than a chance to exercise. They lose independence, community and joy.

If we want to protect the magic of sport and movement – plus the hard-won progress of inclusion in sport for people with disabilities – we must protect the planet that makes sport possible.

That is why Sport England’s mission to help people get active now include helping the planet stay stable.

In May 2024, we launched Every Move, our first environmental sustainability strategy, to help the 150,000 sports clubs and 98,000 facilities across England sitting on the frontline of climate impacts.

We backed this with more than £45 million of National Lottery funding and already more than 570 interventions are underway, including solar panels on roofs, energy efficient systems in leisure centres or redesigned outdoor spaces to cope with flooding.

These changes cut carbon and also keep facilities open, safe and accessible for the communities who depend on them most.

On top of these, all of our partners must have sustainability action plans in place by March 2027 as a funding condition.

This isn’t a box-ticking exercise, but about futureproofing the places and spaces that people rely on to stay active, healthy and connected as communities, including our swimming pools, village halls, football pitches or athletics tracks, to name a few.

Community action agains climate change 

It’s great to see how sport is willing to innovate to face the disrupting weather conditions.

Football and all-weather pitches are working with us to explore transitions away from rubber infill and to increase recycling capacity, with the ambition to be the first in the world to have a fully sustainable system by 2035.

Elsewhere, leisure centres are switching to more efficient systems and community clubs are testing and implementing changes.

Be it the guys at Whalley Range Cricket & Lawn Tennis Club, who are planting trees on the outskirts of playing fields to better soak up excess water, or the river clean-ups hosted by Fulham Reach Boat Club – an organisation doing great work through Row to Rhythm, a project for individuals with visual impairments.

Actions like these collectively truly add up to major impact.

Going back to international competitions, the challenges facing the Winter Paralympics, and winter sport more widely, should not drive despair. They should galvanise us instead, because sport has always been about rising to the moment and responding to the now.

And right now, the moment demands that we confront climate change not just as an environmental issue, but as a justice matter – one that threatens to undo decades of progress in making sport accessible, inclusive and transformative.

If we want a future where Paralympians can still inspire the world from real snow and real ice, and where disabled people everywhere can access the benefits of movement, we must act together and we must do so right now.
 

International Women’s Day is almost here and while it’s always a time to celebrate progress, it should also be a moment to consider what’s still holding women back from being active.

For the This Girl Can team that means confronting the barriers that continue to drive the gender activity gap. A few years ago, one of those obstacles became impossible to ignore. 

Facing the unacceptable 

In 2021, through This Girl Can’s partnership with ukactive, I started looking more closely at women’s experiences in gyms and leisure centres. What we found was uncomfortable reading. That was the start of Safer Spaces to Move. 

A significant proportion of women told us they had experienced some form of sexual harassment in these spaces and for younger women aged 16–24, those incidences were even higher.

Gyms and leisure centres are spaces designed for health, confidence and empowerment yet, for many women, they come with an extra layer of vigilance.

That doesn’t sit comfortably with the ambition of This Girl Can, which has always been about creating environments where women feel free to move in whatever way works for them without judgement.

And while feeling judged is one thing, feeling unsafe is something entirely different and unacceptable.
 

The research forced us to confront something important: if women don’t feel safe, they won’t feel free; and if they don’t feel free, their participation will always be limited.

When we spoke to operators across the sector, there was no denial of the issue. To our delight, there was a huge amount of willingness to act, although there was also some uncertainty on how to do it.

Because how do you tackle something as serious as sexual harassment in a way that is meaningful, proportionate and practical? How do you communicate about safety without inadvertently making people feel more anxious?

That tension became the starting point for Safer Spaces to Move.

I want to make something very clear – this was never about calling out the sector, instead it was about supporting it.

We worked with organisations like CIMSPA and Women’s Aid to make sure any guidance we developed was grounded in expertise, legally robust, survivor-informed and realistic for busy gym environments.

One of the biggest lessons that we learnt along the way was that policies alone don’t change experiences. Culture does.

Helping positive change

You can have all the right procedures written down, but if the members of your staff don’t feel confident using them, or members don’t know they exist, their impact is significantly limited.

That’s why the most recent phase of the project, which we've launched earlier this week, has focused heavily on communication and culture, which made us consider questions like: how is safety talked about in our gyms, clubs and sport and physical activity centres? How are expectations set in these environments? Do members understand how to report an incident and trust that it will be taken seriously? And how are staff trained to respond?

We also tested messaging with women who use gyms and then sense-checked it with operators on the ground.

We went back and forth, refining language and practical steps so that what we produced didn’t feel alarmist or theoretical, but usable and reassuring. This is because our work isn’t about amplifying fear. It’s about building confidence.

On International Women’s Day, we often talk about breaking barriers.

Sometimes those barriers are structural; sometimes social and sometimes they’re the quiet assessment and security checks women make in their heads when entering a new physical activity space: "Is anyone watching me too closely? Are there other women around here? Can I do this exercise without feeling on display? Will staff step in if something happens?"

I think if we’re truly serious about closing the gender activity gap, we have to address all of these.

Safer Spaces to Move is part of our response to these barriers and sits alongside everything This Girl Can stands for: visibility, confidence and the right to take up space. Not just in theory, but in practice as well.

Because progress for our sector isn’t just about encouraging more women through the door.

It’s about making sure that when they walk in, they feel they belong there – fully and safely, and that’s something worth committing to this International Women’s Day and every day, before or after.
 

For more than ten years I’ve led the Sport and Safer strategy at StreetGames – a national sporting organisation committed to bringing sport to the doorsteps of young people in underserved communities.

Ten years of partnerships. Ten years of learning. Ten years of seeing what happens when sport shows up consistently where it’s needed most, and here’s what I now know: a decade of sport and youth crime prevention has changed many young people’s lives through sport, but we’re only getting started.

The policy moment is here

The conversation has changed.

Government strategies now talk about Safer Streets, Youth Matters, Child Poverty, Pride in Place, Freedom from Violence and Abuse and Fit for the Future.

And the common thread in all of these? That place matters, prevention matters and community matters.

The Government’s emerging Young Futures Programme – particularly its Prevention Partnerships and Hub model.

At StreetGames we have been doing something similar: identify vulnerable young people, focus on those in the 30% most underserved communities, connect them with trusted adults and engage them through high-quality, hyper-local sport, via a network of Community Partners.

The evidence has grown up

A decade ago, much of our work was powered by instinct and experience, but today it’s backed by robust research.

Our Theory of Change – Sport, Youth Offending and Serious Youth Violence was authored by Loughborough University, resourced by the Youth Endowment Fund and shaped with input from Sport England.

It sets out clearly how sport can reduce risk factors linked to youth offending while strengthening protective factors that keep young people safe.

That theory underpinned the Ministry of Justice’s £5m Youth Justice Sport Fund, which now informs more than a dozen place-based partnerships with Active Partnerships, Police and Crime Commissioners and Violence Reduction Units.

This isn’t theory gathering dust, but action that's shaping investment and practice, and that proves that when sport is delivered intentionally, it protects.

Why sport on the doorstep works

At StreetGames, we focus on doorstep sport – making it accessible, affordable and local. But this isn’t just about keeping young people busy. It’s about building identity.

Well-designed sport creates trusted adult relationships, safe spaces in the heart of communities, positive peer networks, emotional regulation and self-control, plus a sense of belonging.

These are protective factors – and protective factors matter.

The insights emerging from the evaluation suggest that the benefits of these roles stem from how they connect as no partner plays just one role.

The magic of collaborative work

The System Partner investment has given organisations the opportunity to think beyond their primary function, build stronger relationships and adopt more collaborative, system-focused approaches.

We are sharing this emerging learning, and our revised theory of change, so that these insights can be used as a tool for conversation.

By understanding the unique contributions and how they fit together, we hope this evaluation is helping Sport England and others to better understand its place in the system.

January is a difficult month for many of us. It’s dark, cold, wet and the glow of the festive season feels a long time ago.

But it’s also a moment when millions of people make a conscious decision to reset – to move more and invest in their health.

That’s why January matters so much for gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres. It’s consistently their busiest month of the year and not just because of New Year’s resolutions.

But beyond the first month of the year, there is a growing understanding that physical activity is preventative medicine and that a healthy population drives a healthy economy.

The places we move are of critical importance.

Earlier this week, alongside ukactive, I visited three very different facilities in one day – across both the public and private sector.

What struck me was how similar the stories were.

Operators talked about strong footfall, rising memberships and people coming through the doors for more than just exercise.

They’re coming for health, of course – but also for confidence, connection, and support.

This feels vitally important in a time that is characterised by increasing isolation, screens and polarised views.

Spaces open to everybody

Another feature which stood out was the remarkable diversity of the people there – from teenagers arriving in their uniforms after school, to the group of retirees who had originally been referred by the next door hospital and now were coming four days a week (and spending as much time over lunch as in the class).

It was also fantastic to see the level of innovation and use of technology to bring health and leisure closer together – with sophisticated health checks, devising personalised programmes for each individual, linking to 'e-gyms' and other virtual support.

This is the preventative health agenda in action. It’s getting active from the ground up and it sits at the heart of our ambition at Sport England, working with our partners to help millions more people become active.

January brings this ambition to life, but the real story is what’s happening year-round.

The scale and growth of the gym and leisure sector are significant.

The UK Health & Fitness Market Report 2025 shows a record 11.5 million people are now members of a health or fitness club – up 6.1% on the previous year – with 616 million facility visits recorded, an increase of 8.2%.

These are not short-term spikes. Participation has been growing over consecutive years, supported by a unique infrastructure of public, private, large, medium and independent operators working across the country.
 

Sport England’s Active Lives Adults survey 2023-24 reinforces this picture.

Fitness activities and swimming continue to be major drivers of physical activity behind walking, with 904,000 more adults taking part compared to the previous year.

Demand is being driven by what people value most.

Polling from ukactive shows that 77% of members join a gym or leisure facility primarily to improve their mental health and wellbeing.

People also cite better sleep, increased confidence, managing health conditions and making new friends. This is about quality of life, not just physical fitness.

We’re also seeing important shifts in who is taking part. Female participation continues to grow, particularly through group exercise and classes.

Projects like Safer Spaces to Move, delivered with This Girl Can, are helping to remove barriers and make facilities more welcoming and safer for women.

Key community assets

Our latest Moving Communities report shows participation in public leisure has increased for every age group over 45, while gym activity is rising among under-16s, over-65s and people living in the most deprived communities.

Since 2017, the number of children and young people taking part in gym and fitness activity has increased by more than 12%.

Standards matter too. Facilities are improving every year, driven by initiatives such as The Active Standard, Quest and FitCert, ensuring that quality, safety and inclusion keep pace with growing demand.

All of this sits squarely within the Government’s priorities for economic growth and improving the NHS through the 10-year plan.

Health drives wealth and the social value created by being active is immense.

The sector contributes £122.9 billion in social value each year, including £15.9 billion in healthcare savings and £106.9 billion in wellbeing value – the equivalent of £2,600 per active adult – and more than double that for people with long-term health conditions or disabilities.

We gain £6 billion in productivity, thanks to a healthier workforce that takes fewer sick days.

The sector creates £5.7 billion in revenue and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, many for young people at the start of their working lives.

These are extraordinary numbers.

January is important. But the real opportunity lies beyond it.

Gyms and leisure centres are not just places we go at the start of the year; they – and the people that work in them – are essential community assets, powering healthier lives, stronger communities and a more resilient economy all year round.
 

He wasn’t lazy. He was bright, funny and desperate to be out in the world. But his local park felt unsafe, the youth club had closed and the nearest sport sessions cost more than his family could spare.

By the time he came to my paediatric clinic, what looked like a 'health problem' – low mood, poor sleep, weight gain – was really a place problem.

Why local spaces are key

We often talk about children’s health as if it starts in the hospital or the GP surgery, but as I explored in my recent BBC Radio 4 series, Three Ages of Child, the real foundations of health are laid much earlier and elsewhere: in homes, schools, streets and parks – places where children feel they belong in their own areas.

Sport England’s latest place work and research puts into numbers what many of us see every day – like the fact that over half a million children, one in ten 12-17-year-olds, say they don’t feel they belong in their community.

This means that almost one in five don’t feel proud of where they live, often because there’s nowhere for young people to go to, and because of the worries about crime and antisocial behaviour.

Take a step back and look at how this paints a stark picture of children growing up in places that feel unsafe, unwelcoming and not really 'for them', so it’s no surprise that in those conditions activity levels are low and health problems multiply.

The same research also points to part of the answer.
 

When asked what gives them a sense of community – beyond friends and family – the top answer from young people was sports clubs and activity groups.

Anyone who has ever watched a child beam with pride after football training or a dance class knows why: a club is not just about exercise; it’s about belonging.

It offers a safe place to go with people who know your name and that offers the chance to be part of a team.

Dangers of the postcode lottery

But access to those opportunities is deeply unequal.

In England’s most deprived places, over a third of people are inactive, compared to around a fifth in the least deprived areas – a postcode lottery for physical activity that deepens health inequalities.

As a paediatrician, I see every day that a child’s postcode can be a stronger predictor of their health than their genetic code.

When local streets feel unsafe, there’s nowhere affordable to go and young people don’t feel they belong, it shows up in their bodies and in their minds.

If we care about the future of public health, we have to turn our thinking on its head, because health isn’t built in hospitals. It’s built in communities.

Exercise and sport are a kind of miracle cure – for health, wealth and happiness – but only if everyone can actually take part.

According to research by Sport England, every pound spent on community sport and activity brings multiple pounds back in benefits to health, wellbeing and the wider economy.

That’s why I welcome efforts to work in a genuinely place-based way – including Sport England’s commitment to invest in the areas facing the greatest challenges.

But beyond the work of any single organisation, the principle stays: you can’t fix place-based problems with purely top-down solutions.

Making children proud

For me, this is what it looks like to move from treating symptoms to changing systems.

You can’t lecture a child into feeling proud of their area or prescribe their way out of a broken play park.

But you can bring together the people who know that place best – including children and young people themselves – and invest in the spaces, clubs and connections that allow them to move, play and belong.

That means co-production, not just consultation: listening to what families say they need, backing trusted local organisations, designing activities that reflect different cultures, bodies and lives and being in it for the long haul.

Our children are telling us they want to feel proud of where they live and that they want to be part of something bigger.

Working locally, listening deeply and backing places over the long term is how we start to make that real – street by street, pitch by pitch, park by park.
 

Two years ago I shared my first blog for World Children’s Day to raise awareness of children’s rights.

Whilst progress has been made in our sector, the words of a member of a newly formed Youth Advisory Group (YAG) on behalf of the Children’s Coaching Collaborative (CCC), proves there is still work to do.

He said that children’s rights are something that he heard about in primary school, but that he now only finds “in random news articles". This young man is now 16!

However, ensuring that young people have positive experiences of being active that are safe and fun, and that also respect their rights, is one of the areas we at Sport England, and a number of partners across the sector, have been advocating for in the past few years.

And there’s an article about children’s rights in sport by Liz Twyford, from UNICEF UK, that I think is key because it highlights the subtle but important change that means putting the child first to make a difference, and the impact that coaches have on those they work with.

Supporting young people to Play Their Way

Play Their Way exists precisely to champion children’s rights in sport and physical activity.

The campaign was launched in 2023 with the idea of taking a child-first approach to coaching, to ensure that their rights, needs and enjoyment are always prioritised, so they can have a positive experience of being active.

The campaign has been gaining supporters non-stop and in September this year we celebrated reaching a milestone of 10,000 registered members.
 

In a recent blog by our head of children and young people, a survey was shared to understand the range of youth voice and resources used across the sector.

Thanks to those who contributed, it has confirmed that listening to children and young people is an established priority with many brilliant examples.

However, for some, more support is needed to ensure a meaningful and sustainable youth voice practice to ensure children and young people feel included and supported to shape decisions affecting them through ongoing opportunities.   

Welcoming the Youth Advisory Group

To keep engaging and embedding the voice of young people in a meaningful way into the work of the CCC, earlier this year young people were invited to apply to join a YAG for our sector.

The initiative was led by Streetgames and saw 12 young people aged 14-19 with a range of experiences and backgrounds being 'recruited'.

Over the summer they spent time getting to know each other and understanding the role they would play as part of the group.

Within their applications, they were asked why they felt young people participating in shaping sport and physical activity opportunities was so important.

I was impressed by their thoughtful, positive and passionate responses that took into consideration not just themselves, but their peers too.

Some comments that I found particularly insightful mentioned that hearing what young people had to say is important as it “ultimately allows more young people to be able to access sport” (Poppy, 18).

That being listened to, allowed young people to have “a sense of empowerment” that made them see they’re “in control of the future” (Tasnuva, 16).

And, ultimately, that speaking out allows them to shape their own opportunities by
“influencing the accessibility and culture of sport for years to come” (Isobel, 18).

The group will be encouraged to share their experiences, views and opinions on coaching to inform the ongoing work of the CCC and will receive support to develop their own understanding of their rights. 

There are also other organisations with great initiatives to put children and young people’s views first in the sector.

For instance, the Positive Experiences Collective are hosting a range of resources and support connections to inspire advocacy for physical literacy, to help children and young people develop a positive and meaningful relationship with being active.

And the Centre for Youth Voice recently relaunched to continue to amplify the voices of young people and their impact. I recommend you check out their free online training and events on their website.

The future is young

Next month we’ll be releasing the Active Lives Children and Young People survey, covering the 2024-25 academic year.

This time we’ve introduced a new question to help us understand to what extent young people are heard by the adults delivering activity to them, which will provide a baseline to shape our work moving forwards.

This has only been a snapshot of the work we know is happening within the sector for children and young people, but we will continue to raise awareness of their rights.

For now we can all do this by listening to their voices and working with them to design and provide more opportunities to support all children and young people to be active, so they can enjoy it and gain the benefits that movement can bring into their lives both now, and as they grow into adults.
 

On 26 November the Chancellor will deliver a much-anticipated budget.

In her pre-budget video message, the Chancellor has described the pressure on the NHS and the challenge of increasing growth, but among all the uncertainty, one thing is clear – finding the right package of measures will not be easy.

Against this backdrop, it feels timely to be publishing an update to our social value of sport and physical activity work. 

The new and expanded information shows what a positive force community sport and physical activity are.

A great cure with many benefits

The health and wellbeing benefits of sport and physical activity are well rehearsed and the UK Chief Medical Officers have previously described physical activity as the closest thing to a “miracle cure”, but based on the information we’ve published today, even that high praise seems to sell its value short.

Here are a few of the headlines from our latest data:

• Sport and physical activity are good for the nation’s wellbeing and health. In 2023/24, the wellbeing value of sport and physical activity was estimated at £107 billion, and it prevented over 3.3 million cases of non-communicable diseases or chronic health conditions ranging from depression to heart disease. 
• A more active nation means a more productive workforce. In 2023/24, £5.8bn of productivity losses due to morbidity were avoided due to sport and physical activity. 
• A more active nation saves the health care system money. In 2023/24, sport and physical activity saved £8bn in direct healthcare costs through disease prevention and reduced use of health services. 
• Community sport and physical activity is a net contributor to the public finances. In 2023, our sector generated tax revenue of £14bn for central government, compared with £2bn of public sector funding. This means community sport and physical made a net fiscal contribution of £12bn.

Furthermore, we know that sport and physical activity is a significant part of the economy. In fact, the Department for Culture Media and Sport’s 2024 Sport Satellite Account for the UK show that the direct contribution of sport and physical activity the English economy was £47 billion of gross value added and supports one million jobs.

So, from a public policy perspective, what’s not to like?!
 

The value of sport and physical activity is significant and wide-ranging but with the right support it could be even greater.

The information published today also includes our estimate of the social cost of inequality in sport and physical activity, that is the amount of social value we miss out on because some groups of people are less likely to be active than others.  

We estimate this to be £19.6bn a year.

Tackling inequality in sport and physical activity, and realising this value, is at the core of our long-term strategy, Uniting the Movement, so I’d like to end by paraphrasing the Chancellor: “I commend the value of sport and physical activity to the House.”

Imagine you’re missing out on talent, innovation and fresh perspectives, but not because they don’t exist, but because your systems weren’t built with them in mind.

That’s the quiet cost of inaccessibility in the workplace.

But with any challenge comes an opportunity and, in this case, it’s to realise that inclusive organisations perform better because they’re more adaptable, more trusted and more representative of the communities they serve.  

And with nearly one in four people in the UK identifying as disabled, this isn’t a niche issue – it’s a mainstream one.

So, just as the EmployAbility Guide highlights: “Inclusion isn’t just the right thing to do;  it’s a smart business decision.”

Our mission now goes further and we promote sector-wide change by highlighting career pathways for disabled people, supporting inclusive education and recruitment and creating accessible cultures – physically and digitally.

From curiosity to commitment: my journey

As a partially blind person, I was excited – and curious – about training as a fitness instructor through the InstructAbility programme.

In 2014, I became the YMCA Fit’s first visually-impaired Exercise to Music trainee.

That milestone launched a career delivering audio-described dance fitness for blind groups, accessible fitness sessions for diverse audiences across the sector, and corporate energisers and team-building services.

I’m now an Exercise referral specialist and a member of the EmployAbility Strategic Partners Group.  

Why digital accessibility matters

I believe that inclusion must go beyond access to physical spaces and it must include the digital world, too, because we’re living in a digital age and accessibility is vital across the entire journey – from recruitment to training, development and as a constant on daily tasks in the workplace.

Accessible formats for blind and visually impaired people include Word documents and websites built to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), enabling screen-reading software to convert text into speech.

While I’ve had great support from training providers, some newer online platforms introduced unintended barriers, such as being incompatible with screen-reading software.

The good news? These issues are easily addressed through accessibility audits and expert scripting, making the platforms usable again.

You don’t need to scrap your systems but you do need to review them, so start where you are, get an audit, plan for access in your budgets and keep moving forward.

Why this work matters

In the UK, 16.1 million people, that is 24% of the population, are disabled yet only 54.2% of working-age disabled adults are employed, compared to 82% of non-disabled people, causing a 27.9 percentage point gap.

In our own sector, the gap is more acute with just 9% of disabled people saying they’ve had the opportunity to coach or deliver sport and physical activity, compared to 24% of non-disabled people.

At the same time, disabled adults are almost twice as likely to be physically inactive as non-disabled adults (39.5% vs. 20.2%).  

Good work is already happening, will you join in?

I’ve experienced inspiring commitment from training providers like YMCA Fit and dance fitness brands like Clubbercise and SOSA Dance Fitness, who’ve trained and certified instructors with a wide range of disabilities.

Employers using Guide C have already improved our sector through an increased level of confidence among the staff, made recruitment more inclusive and enhanced feedback and onboarding processes.

Let’s connect!

Our free guides are here to support you, your team and your workplace. You don’t need to get it all right immediately, but taking steps forward is what matters.

We also want to say that we’re here for you and since Activity Alliance is currently acting as secretariat for the group, you can contact Dawn Hughes, their strategic partnerships advisor, and/or their workforce lead, Helen Newberry if you’ve got any questions, want to highlight any barriers or give us your feedback.

Let’s have a conversation, swap ideas, compare notes, celebrate your wins, tackle the challenges and keep learning together.
 

The concentrated focus of Black History Month provides an opportunity to gain new perspectives through events, articles and media programming that might otherwise be overlooked.

At its best, this month should stir our curiosity and resolve as we look back at the achievements and struggles of Black people, helping us gain a fuller understanding of Black histories to strengthen our grasp of the present.

This celebration (and the round-the-clock efforts by many through the year) should move us to action, reminding us that we don't have to accept the erasure of some people and communities as normal.

Bristol Stepping Sistas is more than a walking group – it’s my walking group. Mine and that of the amazing women who've walked with me since 2021.

Together we are an award-winning walking group that enables us to reach out to other women in the Bristol area and encourage them to thrive in open spaces through the simple (yet powerful) activity of walking.

At the core, we are a grassroots group of Black women and women of colour who are passionate about walking and who want to share their identity and their lived experience.

We started to apply for funding so the group could carry on as it offers a well-needed support and it was great when Sport England was able to help us.

We regularly organise walks and we aim to cover different distances to keep our activities interesting for everybody, whether you want to stay close to home or you fancy venturing further. 

In any case, our aim is to help motivate women of colour to visit places they would not have ventured to otherwise, including rural areas around Bristol and further afield in the South-West; routes, all of them, that can be of interest for our women beyond the city borders.

Why we do what we do

Historically, women of colour have not always been up for exploring new, unfamiliar spaces where they feel they could be exposed, judged and/or remarked upon.

This has led to the feeling that we have to 'stay within our lanes', but at Bristol Stepping Sistas we want our women to break any limitation and stay out any of those lanes, so we can all thrive in the new experiences that come with that change of scenery.

We want to encourage women to step across these boundaries (physical and non-physical) and push their limits but, at the same time, to do so in the safety and the company of others who may have had similar experiences of discrimination and disadvantage.
 

Ultimately, we want to enable the activity of walking to be fun, uplifting and enriching to the lives of women of colour, regardless of their walking experience.

Because, for us, walking is more than putting a foot in front of the other and we're definitely not here to cover distances within a set time.

We couldn't care less about that!

At its core, the group is about walking but we use it as an excuse and an opportunity to chat, to reflect and to thrive in nature.

We use the enjoyment and appreciation of open spaces and environments to help address issues of mental health, which I can see have been on the increase in the last few years.

More than walking

So when we meet, we walk and talk about ourselves, our cultures, our favourite dishes and ingredients.

We mention recommendations of new places to go on holidays, other groups we may know and love, and we do all of that while enjoying the fresh perspective that only nature can give us.

So, basically, we talk and we walk, and then we walk and we talk some more. It’s brilliant!

There’s been some excellent feedback from the members that mention how Bristol Stepping Sistas has been a positive, life-changing experience for them.

Our typical walking day is always about fun and there are so many smiles and so much laughter coming from our women, plus our sessions also allow us to meet new members in the group.

There has been a lot to learn in the last four years, but organising the walks is super exciting and every time we go out I look forward to seeing our walkers enjoying and embracing the environment and, of course, improving their wellbeing.

At the end of the day we may end up in a cosy country pub for a well-deserved recovery lunch to get some energy back. It really is great!

As well as creating Bristol Stepping Sisters, I have also provided the first aid outdoor training for 24 women from the group, from which I’m happy to say we’ve all passed!

I’ve also provided the walk leader training for six other women from the group.

My dream is that, together, we keep walking and enjoying every step we take, breaking any fear or boundaries that dare stay in our way.
 

Today, on World Mental Health Day, I find myself reflecting not just as the new Head of the NSPCC’s Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU), but as a parent, a colleague and a lifelong advocate for the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.

Mental health is not a standalone issue. It's woven into the fabric of everything we do – how we parent, how we coach, how we educate and how we safeguard.

And in my new role at CPSU, I’m committed to making sure children’s wellbeing, their mental health and voices are instrumental in our work.

One of the most impactful ways we can help with mental health is through sport and physical activity as their benefits are well-documented and include movement boosting our mood, building resilience and fostering connection.

But sport and physical activity also offer something deeply human – it gives children a sense of belonging, a place to express themselves and a safe space to grow.

The power of communication

Whether it’s a kickabout in the park or through more structured team-training, movement can be a lifeline for young people – helping them navigate the complexities of growing up and it can also help them to cope with the world’s pressures.

But the act of playing sport or being physically active alone isn’t enough.

This week we are also celebrating Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport Week, and we think that sport and physical activity are key in highlighting that parents and carers play a crucial role in safeguarding their mental wellbeing.

This safeguarding starts with a conversation, because when we talk openly with our children about emotions, stress and support, we create a culture of trust and a safety net.

These conversations don’t have to be perfect – they just have to be real and, as parents, we have to listen.
 

When children feel safe to open up, we strengthen the parent-child bond, we build relationships rooted in empathy and understanding and, in doing so, we lay the foundation for lifelong mental wellness.

So today I encourage every parent, coach and caregiver to take a moment and ask your child how they’re feeling, what support means to them, and what actions we can do as parents and carers to help them.

We also think that as well as listening, it’s important that you share your own experiences too and that you let them know they’re not alone.

At the CPSU we have new videos and conversations starters for parents, plus resources for sports organisations to help promote a culture of listening within their organisations.

Because safeguarding isn’t just about protection – it’s about connection.

Together, let’s make mental health a part of keeping our children safe. Not just today, but every day.
 

When most people picture senior Black men, they don’t immediately see us smashing forehand drives, diving for edge-of-the-table shots or celebrating doubles-wins with a triumphant chest bump (yes, it happens!).

But step inside an Over 50s Black Men Forum Table Tennis Centre and you’ll quickly realise that the sport is not just a pastime – it is medicine. It is therapy. And it is comedy.

A ping-pong ball, we often say, can travel faster than a GP appointment letter, making these centres our hidden health clubs.

But behind the rallies and the laughter, there is serious work underway.

A man that had survived a stroke mentioned that, as well as camaraderie and encouragement, table tennis had helped him physically by helping him improve hand-eye coordination, building his confidence and combating post-stroke fatigue.

These voices remind us that this forum is more than sport. It is hope, dignity, recovery and community.

Rewriting the narrative

Black History Month is here and the importance of rewriting health inequality narratives becomes even clearer.

Too often older Black men are described as "hard to reach”, but our response is simple: “we are not hard to reach; we are not being seen”.

The reality is stark – Black men in the UK shoulder a disproportionate burden of chronic disease.

Rates of hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes remain consistently higher than those of their White counterparts.

And we can’t forget that Black men are also more at risk of prostate cancer, so it's always a good idea to use Prostate Cancer UK’s risk-checker.

These inequalities are deeply rooted and cannot be resolved overnight, yet the work of the Over 50s Black Men Forum shows what is possible when solutions are shaped by, and for, the community.

By creating culturally-relevant, community-led, spaces we have not only encouraged men to take part in sport, but also to engage in their own health and wellbeing.

They arrive for the table tennis, but they return with their friends and, together, they build something far greater than the game itself: a hidden health club where camaraderie, wellness and dignity thrive.

Our first regional competition

This September, we hosted the UK’s first Older Black Men Community Table Tennis Competition, bringing nearly 70 men together from Essex and Bedfordshire. The atmosphere was electric!

Chelmsford proudly lifted the singles trophy, while Luton triumphed in the doubles. There were cheers, groans and more than one disputed line call.

Even Westminster took notice and Sarah Owen, MP for Luton North, celebrated her local players with a shout-out in Parliament.

Table Tennis England joined us in the hall, the Mayor of Luton presented trophies and the Sport England logo stood proudly across the venue.

It was more than a competition; it was a statement that older Black men belong in the story of sport, health and community.

Serving the future

We are proud of what has been built so far, with seven hubs running and more on the way. But this is just the beginning.

Our vision is to embed these centres nationwide, creating a network where sport and health go hand-in-hand for older Black men.

And the best part? The model is replicable!

What works in Luton can work in Leeds and what works in Southend can work in Sheffield, because at its core, this is not just about table tennis.

It is about dignity, community and the belief that everyone deserves the chance to live longer, healthier and happier lives.
 

This week is National Inclusion Week, an initiative started by our friends at Inclusive Employers to celebrate inclusion and to make changes that build workplaces where everyone can thrive.

This year the theme is 'Now is the time', but what does this mean exactly?

Basically, that there’s no moment like the present to take action and to make those practical steps in your organisations that embed inclusion and create a sense of belonging.

This really is one of my favourite weeks of the year!

‘Being inclusive’ is one of the guiding values for the work we do at Sport England and it highlights a collective commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in sport and physical activity.

But we don't approach our commitment to EDI alone, because Moving to Inclusion is an initiative by all the home nations sports councils.

Its purpose is to provide resources and support for physical activity and sport organisations moving towards a more diverse, inclusive and socially responsible sector.

These commitments include an opportunity for self-reflection and continual improvement, which is key in our compromise to keep progressing and living by the values we want to promote.

A bit of history

The Moving to inclusion Framework was created to replace the former ‘Equality Standard - A Framework for Sport’ following a review and consultation with the sport and physical activity sector back in 2021, and it was later soft-launched in Autumn 2023.
 

The Framework guides organisations on developing inclusive practice through self-reflection and continuous improvement using the Moving to Inclusion Diagnostic Toolkit.

Through this self-reflection tool, our aim is simple: to embed equality, diversity and inclusion through incorporating action planning, implementation and review into an organisation’s everyday work.

It is important to note that the diagnostic tool is not mandatory to complete, or part of any performance management for partner-organisations' funding conditions in England. 

Benefits for everybody

In any case, and whichever way you choose to start your inclusivity journey, we believe there are benefits to joining our Moving to Inclusion community:

• This framework enables your organisation to break down the areas around inclusion to make it more manageable and realistically achievable to embed change.
• The process is broken down into five pillars: Culture, Leadership, Experience, Relationship and Communication.
• The self-diagnostic tool within the Moving to Inclusion Framework will help you assess where your organisation is now on its EDI journey and consider where you might need to focus effort and make further improvements.
• The Framework provides practical suggestions and resources to help you drive continuous improvement in your organisation. The reason for this is that a greater focus on EDI will benefit the whole business, including staff satisfaction and retention, reputation, diversity of workforce and thought, growth in participation and membership, innovation, better resilience and increased business opportunities.
• Partners who are funded by Sport England may be able to access mentor support upon completing their diagnostic.  
• As Moving to Inclusion evolves, it will create a learning culture and community to be part of.

Any organisation (either inside the sport sector or outside) can undertake the self-reflection process and benefit from the online resources that support it.

To get an idea of the impact it is currently having, check out this infographic for April 2024-March 2025.

Leading change on EDI in our sector

Sport England (and UK Sport) have introduced Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans (DIAPs) as a mandatory requirement of the Code for Sports Governance.

DIAPs set out the ambitions and practical steps that organisations in the sport and physical activity sector will take to achieve greater diversity and create inclusive cultures.  

The plans are applicable to Tier 3 organisations, with the aim to improve representation and inclusion on boards, in senior leadership teams and throughout the wider organisation. 

To date, Sport England and UK Sport have signed off 116 DIAPs that are now with partners to deliver on the actions within their plans and to improve diversity within their organisations and beyond.  

Organisations funded by Sport England will find that Moving to Inclusion provides additional, complementary and enduring support for their DIAP processes.

The themed pillars within Moving to Inclusion will help those organisations refresh their DIAPs and they may choose to incorporate the actions arising from their self-assessment within their own plans.

This National Inclusion Week (and every other week in the calendar, if you ask me) we all have a role to play in changing our behaviour, championing inclusive practices and challenging discrimination.

Collectively, we can create the conditions that support a kind, welcoming and nurturing environment for everyone to lead healthier and happier lives and we hope Moving to Inclusion can help you in that journey.
 

We've recently published our Sport England Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) that set out the key topic areas where we feel more evidence is needed to help us achieve our mission of tackling inequalities so everyone can enjoy the benefits of sport and physical activity.

One of these ARIs refers to the impacts of the changing climate on people, places and sport and physical activity, that's the one called ARI8.

We know that with greater knowledge of the implications of climate change for the sector we will be able to better develop evidence-based policy, practice and strategies for the future.

Help build our evidence base to inform policy and practice

For this reason we are now also looking to collate existing insight and evidence on how climate change impacts participation in sport and physical activity at grassroots level. Specifically, the impact on:

• participants
• those providing sport and physical activity opportunities (i.e. the workforce)
• the places and spaces where people are active.

We are particularly keen on understanding how people may change their behaviours and how providers are adapting their activity offers in response to the changing climate.

So if you have insight and evidence that can help fill this gap, please get in touch and share it with us by Friday 3 October.

We aim to produce a summary of the existing insight and evidence, as well as identifying where there are research gaps. This knowledge will help to guide policy, practice and future research.

What we’d love to hear about

To help us in understanding ARI8, we invite you to share any evidence and insight you have that addresses the following:

• How climate change (e.g. more frequent and intense weather events) affects attitudes, behaviours and participation in sport and physical activity, for both the workforce and its participants.
• How climate change is impacting facilities, infrastructure and the availability of opportunities to be active.
• How the impacts of climate change and the ability to adapt vary across different audiences (including under-represented groups and those with higher health risks), places, sports and activities.
• How the impacts of climate change on sport and physical activity are likely to evolve over the next five to 10+ years, and how the sector can adapt to these challenges, drawing on lessons from other countries and sectors.
• Additional considerations and emerging areas of research that could enhance our understanding of the relationship between climate change, sport and physical activity.

What types of information are we looking for?

We’re looking for any research produced by our partners, researchers/academics, wider organisations or community groups.

Submitted insight should meet all of the following criteria:

• It must address any of the five research questions outlined above.
• Be predominantly focussed on grassroots (rather than elite) level sport and physical activity.
• Be written in English or expressed visually.

How to share your evidence and insight 

Please share any evidence via the ARI contact form. 

As a reminder, the specific ARI relating to this is ARI8: Understanding the impacts of a changing climate on people, places and sport and physical activity.

By sharing evidence with us, you’ll become part of our ARI network as you'll have helped to build the evidence base and you’ll also be able to select, through the form, whether you’d like to hear about opportunities to connect with others on this area of interest.

In February I wrote a blog sharing our first Learning Synthesis Report, which gave a snapshot of how Sport England's System Partner investment is helping organisations across the country tackle inequalities and transform how people access sport and physical activity.

That initial report, produced by Ipsos, NPC and Sheffield Hallam University, highlighted different aspects within the sector and Sport England:

• There is an ongoing shift from transactional relationships to more open, trusting partnerships with a more diverse range of stakeholders.
• Identifying and engaging local champions can accelerate system change as these often hold the keys to unlocking new opportunities and relationships.
• There are ongoing challenges where qualitative data is not valued as it is difficult to track and evaluate over time.
• It is challenging to embed evaluation and learning into our work, and barriers like language, staff turnover, strategic planning and the complexity of demonstrating impact are very real.

Why this matters

As we reach the half-way point of our long-term strategy, Uniting the Movement, it’s vital that we reflect honestly on what’s working, where progress is happening and what barriers still stand in our way.

That’s why we’re sharing this second round of learning, which is based on extensive interviews, workshops and feedback from more than 130 system partners.

How this new report builds on the first

The original synthesis captured the foundations: diverse partners, new ways of working and the initial cultural shift towards greater collaboration and shared purpose.

This new report, which you can download below, shows how those ideas are taking root and where more focus is needed.

It also provides a clearer picture of how different organisations are playing unique roles – as connectors, deliverers, influencers or governance improvers – all contributing to system change.

What are we learning?

There are different lessons that have come up from our research:

• A diverse portfolio of partners playing different roles: No single organisation can change the system alone. System Partners are taking on roles such as improving governance and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), influencing policy and local decisions, delivering programmes to underrepresented communities and connecting local networks – all working together to drive system-wide change.
• Capacity remains a key challenge: many System Partners, especially smaller organisations, are telling us that their staff and volunteers' capacity is stretched. This can limit their ability to collaborate, deliver on compliance requirements and influence wider system change. Building stronger partnerships and investing in people is helping tackle this but it will need ongoing focus.
• Delivery funding pressures are real: even with Sport England’s investment, partners face funding constraints that limit their ability to deliver activities in communities. Rising costs, limited local authority budgets and competing priorities mean that generating strong evidence and insights to influence other funders is becoming increasingly important.
• Culture change takes time: shifting mindsets and ways of working to fully realise the vision of Uniting the Movement isn’t quick. System Partners are seeing the benefits of having time and space to innovate and build the right skills but changes in politics and performance expectations can slow their progress. That’s why ongoing support for organisations to recruit, develop and embed new ways of working is vital.
• Consistency and coordination matter: partners report that inconsistent ways of working across Sport England teams can lead to duplication, extra workload and missed opportunities for collaboration. Clearer, more joined-up processes will help everyone work better together and make the most of Sport England investments.

Looking ahead and building on our learnings

The report contains recommendations for Sport England and questions for System Partners (overall and with different roles – influencing, delivery, connector).

Sport England should commit to improving consistency, supporting partners in their distinct roles and keeping the focus on long-term, systemic change.

Over three years into our five-year, more than £600million investment in System Partners, we’re seeing the difference this collective effort can make across the system.

And here’s what we’ll do next:

• Keep listening and adapting by using insight from the evaluation to refine how we support, fund and connect partners.
• Back system enablers by investing in people and organisations that help others collaborate, learn and grow.
• Improve how we convene by making our events, communications and shared spaces more purposeful and coordinated.
• Act on feedback by being open about where we can do better and using your insights to improve our role.
• Stay focused on system-wide impact by keeping the long-term view in mind as we plan for the next funding cycle and beyond.

Some considerations for partners are:

• We ask all partners to continue sharing evidence of impact – especially where it aligns with Uniting the Movement through their evaluation and reporting. This will be vital as our ability to demonstrate the value of working in this way and having compelling evidence and insight to support our shared mission and vision continues to be key.
• Encourage partner-led collaboration​ – we ask all partners to create new, and continue existing, collaboration and to deepen the way they work with others, creating shared spaces and goals on the things that matter most and sharing their learnings around with other partners.​

Why this matters to us all

Together, these insights reinforce the belief that transforming access to sport and physical activity isn’t just about delivery – it’s about culture, partnerships and everyone playing their part in the system.

We hope this report prompts reflection, sparks ideas and encourages all of us to keep challenging ourselves to do better for the communities we serve.

If you’d like to read more or share your thoughts, please get in touch.

We’d love to hear from you.
 

We want to work with researchers to build evidence that drives real change.

While we have a lot of great data on what’s happening in sport and physical activity, we often know less about why and about what works to help reduce inequalities in sport and physical activity.

That’s where our new Areas of Research Interest (ARI) come in.

They’re now live, and we’d love you to take a look and share your thoughts and any research evidence you have with us.

Why we’ve created the ARIs

In order to help us build our evidence-base, we’ve pulled together the key research questions we think need answering to help tackle inequalities in sport and physical activity.

They cover everything from how people think and feel about being active, to how we build more inclusive systems or how climate change is already reshaping sport and activity in people’s lives.

We’ve launched them to help steer research efforts and collaboration towards the areas where new evidence could make the biggest difference, not just to policy and strategy, but to people’s lives.

Why we’re looking for collaborators

We want to make an open invite to anyone in the research community, so if you’re working on any of the above topics – or want to – we want to hear from you.

Our goal is to build a growing network of people and organisations interested in these areas.
 

We want to create a space where researchers, practitioners and policymakers can come together to better understand what works, for whom and in what context.

We’re especially keen to hear from people looking at under-researched groups, where the evidence-base is often thinner – like older adults with a disability or long-term health condition, or girls from lower affluence families, to name but just a couple.

What you’ll find in the ARIs

There are currently 20 ARIs, which are grouped into four themes:

• How people think, feel and behave in relation to sport and physical activity.
• What influences those thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
• The people and organisations that make sport and activity possible.
• The value of sport and physical activity to individuals and society.

We’ve also included Sport England’s definition of under-represented groups – shaped by our Inequalities Metric, which identifies who is least likely to be active.

But it's key to highlight that this isn’t a one-off publication.

Our ARIs will evolve through continued engagement, collaboration and learning with partners as new evidence emerges and priorities change.

How the ARIs can help you

If you're an academic, practitioner or policymaker, the ARIs can help you:

• align your research with real-world priorities
• identify gaps in the existing evidence
• connect with others working in similar areas
• strengthen funding bids (we can offer letters of support)
• share your insight and help shape future decisions.

Ready to explore the ARIs?

Visit our ARIs page to explore the full list of topics, download version 1.0, and access our contact form to sign up to the network and share your ideas, research or feedback. We’d love to hear from you.

To end this piece, I have to say that I’m proud that Sport England is one of the first arm's-length bodies to publish ARIs alongside government departments.

This reflects the scale of the challenge – and the importance of building stronger, more inclusive evidence to meet it.
 

It’s been just over a month since the 10 Year Health Plan was published – a key milestone in the government’s commitment to create an NHS fit for the future.  

It’s taken me time to navigate the headline ambitions, shifts in language, structural implications and, critically, what this all means for physical activity. There are 160 pages to get through, after all… 

There’s lots to unpick and this post from the Medical Consulting Group includes a visual that usefully summarises the key points.

For patients, it’s a positive and empowering tone, underpinned by a digital revolution and receiving care closer to home.  

With Neighbourhood Health a cornerstone of the Plan and elected mayors playing a greater role in prevention, combined with Local Government Reorganisation and Devolution, this all presents big opportunities to align with Sport England’s investment into communities that need it most.
 

Since publication, much commentary has reflected that the Plan could have gone further in utilising physical activity’s preventative powers.

It’s true: the evidence and opportunity for impact at scale are significant. I have two glass-half-full thoughts on this:

1. This Plan feels like it goes further on physical activity than any previous national NHS/health strategy. Whilst we can go (much) further, this is progress to build upon.
    
2. Rather than considering ‘potential’ purely through physical activity’s reference, there are numerous levers throughout the Plan to capitalise upon. We’ve learned that framing physical activity’s role in supporting wider, shared outcomes is key – whether that be tackling health inequalities, preventing and managing multi-morbidity, falls/frailty or social isolation… the list goes on.
    

People might not expect Hazel, who is blind and living with complex disabilities, to enjoy skiing – but it’s an activity she absolutely loves! 

Hazel is a lot of fun – she’s got an amazing imagination and the warmest smile. However, because she’s blind and disabled, there have been times in her life when Hazel has been isolated and hasn’t had any opportunities to join in activities.

Amongst the many barriers preventing people like Hazel from being active is the lack of knowledge within the sports workforce to ensure disabled people feel included in activities.

A key figure for disabled people 

The 2023-24 Annual Disability and Activity Survey by Activity Alliance shows that the number of disabled people agreeing that ‘The activity leader met my needs’ has continually decreased over the past four years.

The role of the coach is crucial to the experience that a participant has in sport and physical activity.

We know it’s challenging for any coach to ensure their session is engaging for everyone in their group, so imagine working with a group of participants with complex disabilities, like Hazel.

In addition to adapting to their skill level, a coach must also consider their level of vision and hearing, their mobility and their understanding of the task.

They must ensure that both the environment and their own approach are tailored so that each participant can actively participate in the activity.

This requires changes to how a coach prepares, communicates and interacts.
 

It's also important to reflect on the idea of ‘active participation’.

Any coach can deliver an ‘off-the-shelf’ session but it takes real commitment, care and creativity to develop opportunities which ensure people with complex disabilities can engage meaningfully and appropriately – in a way which supports them to achieve all the outcomes they want to achieve by being active.

Whether it’s their physical, mental or social wellbeing they are trying to improve, it’s never been more important for a coach to ensure they are meeting their participant’s desired outcomes.

Sense’s Potential and Possibility research found that 26% of people with complex disabilities report their health as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’, compared with 9% of the general population.

In response to this data, we are determined to ensure that no-one is left on the sidelines.

We believe that everyone, no matter how complex their disabilities, should have access to high-quality opportunities that help them achieve the outcomes they desire.

Our 'person-centred' approach

That’s why our recently launched Complex Disabilities in Sport training has been designed to help coaches understand the outcomes people want to achieve from sport and physical activity and design their sessions in a way which supports them to do so.

The training was developed following consultation with Sense’s own coaching networks, as well as the wider sport and physical activity sector, who identified training on ‘How to plan sessions which are person-centred’ and in a face-to-face format, as the most desirable learning scenario.

Following plenty of piloting and tweaking, we’re now in the process of delivering these three-hour, practical and theory-based workshops across the country, targeting sport and physical activity providers who have a real commitment to utilising their newly learnt skills with a complex disabilities audience.

And we’re really pleased with the results so far, with coaches reporting on average a 30% increase in their confidence in coaching people with complex disabilities, post-workshop.

It’s safe to say that Hazel’s positive experience with skiing would not have been possible, had instructor James not taken a person-centred approach to delivery.

By understanding Hazel’s need to take things slowly, allowing her to explore her surroundings and feel supported, James created an environment in which Hazel slowly started to feel more comfortable.

We hope that over the remainder of our Sport England funded ‘Active Lifestyles’ programme and beyond, we can continue to build the confidence of the coaching workforce, allowing more people, like Hazel, experience what her key worker Tracey describes as ‘a real sensory explosion’.
 

We’re pleased to announce the launch of our latest Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP), which sets out our renewed commitment to creating a more diverse, inclusive and supportive workplace.

The new plan builds on the progress we’ve already made and reflects feedback from colleagues across the organisation, while setting out the priorities and the practical steps we’ll be taking over the short, medium and long term too. 

The DIAP meets the standards of our own Code for Sports Governance and our Public Sector Equality Duties, which require us to publish our equality objectives and report on progress.

Our vision

Sport England’s vision for sport and physical activity is at the front and centre of Uniting the Movement, our 10-year strategy.

Through it and our day-to-day actions, we’re determined to help people in England live happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives, and we are deeply committed to delivering the real and lasting change needed to achieve that. 

Our approach to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) (or to Equality Objectives, using the terminology of the Public Sector Equality Duties) is embedded in all areas of our work, both nationally and locally, because everyone deserves a positive experience when they are playing sport or being physically active, although this is not always what they feel.

How we will work

‘We are Inclusive’ is one of Sport England’s core values and because we have to practice what we preach, we firmly believe that we are at our best when everyone feels included.

We encourage every colleague to set an individual goal for themselves about being inclusive and we also want our teams to model inclusive behaviours in every interaction and decision.

These need to be everyday actions like respectful conversations, fair decision-making or real opportunities for development and progression.
 

Plus, we try to always to speak up, challenge non-inclusive behaviours and celebrate the diversity and strengths of our people.

But this plan goes well beyond any individual, internal goals for Sport England.

Uniting the Movement means we need to lead the sport and activity industry with intent and create national impact in a way that surpasses positive changes within our own organisation.

Our Tackling Inequalities Roadmap and Inclusion by Design work are examples of our leading from the front.

We’re committed to sharing our learnings with partners, in order to help spread good practice, and to deliver meaningful change.

A focus on equality, inclusion and belonging is our standard, and not as an added extra because, particularly when all the people taking part feel valued and supported, sport and activity have the ability to change lives.

Our equality objectives

Our latest Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan highlights four new equality objectives that have been developed in partnership with colleagues and are based on evidence and insight. 

These equality objectives are:

• To take proactive steps to build and sustain a workforce that reflects the diversity of wider society and the communities that we work with.
• To develop the awareness, confidence and skills of the Sport England workforce to drive forward our ambition to provide leadership to the sporting sector on inclusion.
• To promote a culture of inclusivity across Sport England by prioritising actions that create meaningful engagement with the ambitions and actions in the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan at every level across the organisation.
• To act on new upcoming legislation, ensuring all our policies and practices align with evolving equality and inclusion legislation.

These goals will guide our actions over the next four years and everyone in our organisation has a role to play in our success.

Together we will remove barriers, measure progress with published targets and build a culture that supports equality at every level.
 

I’ve lost count of the times people assume better inclusion means compromise or something that’s expensive, difficult or time-consuming. It doesn’t.

What it really means is changing how we think and design spaces, activities and experiences so they are built with everybody in mind.

It also means not asking large parts of society to work around barriers that shouldn't be there in the first place, because 24% of the population are part of the disabled community and, what many don’t realise, is that any one of us could join them at any point in our lives.

At the heart of Accessible Outdoors Month is a simple message: being active outdoors should be for everybody, in whatever way works for each person.

That could mean simply stretching in a quiet garden and moving through a local park, or taking on something more high-energy like skateboarding or climbing.

The campaign returns this July for its second year as part of ParalympicsGB’s Every Body Moves, powered by Toyota.

Closing the gap for an accessible outdoors

Too often disabled people are left out of the picture when it comes to getting active, particularly outdoors.

There are different reasons for this: the terrain’s wrong, the facilities don’t meet the community’s needs, signposting isn’t accessible or access just wasn’t a consideration. 

When access isn’t considered, people are excluded. Not because of their ability, but because the environment wasn’t built with them in mind.

According to Activity Alliance's research, only 44% of disabled people say it’s easy to access outdoor spaces, compared with 78% of non-disabled people.

And yet, around three-quarters of disabled people want to be more active and many of them want to do that outdoors: on beaches, in parks or through forests or towpaths, to name just a few.

So the demand is real but it’s not always being met.

Accessible Outdoors Month is our way of showing how, together, we can start to close that gap between demand, provision and uptake.

It’s a social media-led campaign platforming real people and real experiences that launched in 2024 with community-led content showing accessible beach days, inland water sports, inclusive cycling, adaptive mountain biking and all-terrain wheelchair walks.

We didn't use glossy ads on our campaign, but simply honest, joyful stories rooted in lived experience.

Given the strong link between physical activity and improved whole-school outcomes – from embedding essential life skills to broadening horizons and helping young people build a positive, lifelong relationship with movement – we support plans for this more concerted effort around the school sport agenda.

The announcement builds on the work the government is already doing with partners including the Youth Sport Trust and ourselves to boost participation, having already invested £100m to upgrade sports facilities back in March this year.

We strongly believe that this new approach to school sport should build on the existing strengths, assets, and resources of the current school sport system.

We look forward to working with government to bring this new approach to life, sharing the insights from the recent School Games Organisers Network Review (whose Objective A report will be published towards the end of the month), shaped by the contributions and time of many colleagues across the school sport landscape.

For many, the beginning of June is the unofficial start of the summer.

Holidays are on the horizon, Wimbledon and the Tour de France are getting closer and we get to celebrate volunteers in the best week of the year – Volunteers Week!

The latest data from our Active Lives Adult Survey Report shows that almost 10.5 million adults volunteered to support sport and physical activity across the 12-month period from mid-November 2023 to mid-November 2024.

This is an increase of 488,000 over the last 12 months and it shows a continued recovery of volunteering since the pandemic in 2020.

This huge contribution of people’s time, energy and skills in sport and physical activity is really something to celebrate, and everybody in Sport England wants to say a massive thank you to everyone who volunteers to keep the nation active. 

Volunteering not only enables participation opportunities for others, but it significantly boosts the wellbeing of volunteers themselves.

Our research into the social value of sport and physical activity demonstrated that adult volunteering in England is worth £8.2 billion annually in social value and these benefits to wellbeing are in addition to any value that comes from being physically active.

The present of volunteering

The recovery we’re seeing post-pandemic is positive and it demonstrates the resilience of sport volunteering, and that millions of people are still motivated to give their time.

However, there are also some more worrying trends that we need to take note of.

It’s undeniable that the Lionesses’ recent triumphs and the professionalisation of the women’s game, the strong performance of the men’s team and the fact that the number of girls watching and playing football has doubled in recent years, has made the country proud.

We know that the scale of grassroots football in England means that the sport is well positioned to influence people and communities in tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity.

So because of all of these reasons, we thought that our case study with The Football Association (FA) would be a great way to close our series of blogs.

The FA is the National Governing Body for one of the country’s most popular sports and receives significant funding through Sport England’s system partner investment.