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What’s good for the nation and even better for you?

The answer to the riddle in the title is easy – sport and physical activity.

At Sport England we’re always talking about the benefits of being active, but for nerds like me, the past few months have provided a particular treasure trove of data about the social and economic value of sport and physical activity.

And then on 1 October 2024, DCMS published a new Sport Satellite Account for the UK.

The positive ripple effect of being active

This revealed that during 2021, the combined economic impact of sport (direct and supply chain – including the production of sports equipment and apparel, the construction and maintenance of sports facilities or their marketing services) was equivalent to £83.1 billion, or 4.1% of the UK’s productivity (gross value added).

The document also showed that every £1 invested in sport generates £1.55 as gross value added in the economy.

A few weeks later we published the results of our new research on the social value of community sport and physical activity, revealing that in 2022/23 the social value of sport and physical activity in England was £107.2b.

This value consists of the individual wellbeing benefits of sport and physical activity (both participation and volunteering) and the wider health benefits of a more active population.

However, the report also highlighted the £15.6b of social value that we are missing out on due to inequality in sport and physical activity, and how the value of being physically active is greater for some of those who are least likely to be active, like adults with a disability or living with a long-term health condition.

The past few months have provided a particular treasure trove of data about the social and economic value of sport and physical activity.

The conclusion from all this information is clear – tackling inequality is a challenge that we must address with all our energy and resources.

And it doesn't stop there.

In the past couple of weeks, we’ve also been able to provide two further reports about how the social value of adult participation in sport and physical activity is distributed between local areas, and an overall return on investment figure for the social and economic value of community sport and physical activity in England.

Local values range from £72 million in the small local authority area of Rutland, in the East Midlands, up to £1.6b in the large metropolitan area of Birmingham.

We’ve also found out that for every £1 spent on community sport and physical activity, £4.20 of social and economic value is created.

What these numbers really mean for people

But with clever economists producing all these impressive population-level figures, it’s easy to lose sight of the underlying truths they’re based on.

So here are just a few for you to think about:

  • People who are physically active are more satisfied with their lives than those who are inactive.
  • According to the brilliant guys at the State of life site and their Where’s WELLBY? poster, the individual wellbeing benefit of being physically active is nearly as high as that of being in a marriage or civil partnership. 
  • People who volunteer to support sport are more satisfied with their lives than those who don’t.
  • In 2022, more than three million cases of disease (ranging from coronary heart disease to dementia) were prevented by physical activity.
  • Being physically active reduces someone’s risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes by more than 25% and the risk of hip fractures amongst people aged 65 or over, by more than 50%.

So sure, sport and physical activity is good for our economy and society but, more importantly, it’s good for you!

And how often can you do something that’s both in the public and your own self-interest?

Unfortunately not very often, so do the right thing and get active – it’s good for the nation but it’s even better for you.

Find out more

Social value of sport and physical activity

Listening to disabled people to help them become more active

At Sport England we're lucky to have the leading voice for disabled people in sport and activity as a key strategic partner.

I'm talking about the national charity Activity Alliance, a vital organisation full of knowledge and passion that's working with us to achieve our long-term strategy - Uniting the Movement.

This month sees the release of the fourth Activity Alliance Annual Disability and Activity Survey.  

The report has warned that the rising cost of living and its wider impact are having a negative effect on disabled people’s levels of activity and wellbeing. 

It's also said there has been no improvement in the proportion of disabled people who feel they are being given the opportunity to be as active as they want. 
 

Activity Alliance has warned that the rising cost of living and its wider impact are having a negative effect on disabled people’s activity and wellbeing.

This year, Activity Alliance spoke to almost 2,000 disabled and non-disabled adults to help track disabled people’s perceptions and experiences of sport and activity.  

Their survey helps us all understand this audience better than we’ve ever done before and has proven the fact that a greater insight is needed if we are ever going to close the activity gap.

Some stats for you 

According to our Active Lives Adult Survey, disabled people are much more likely to be inactive compared to non-disabled people and they continue to remain as one of the least active groups in society.  

Before Covid-19 we saw some of the highest activity levels by disabled people ever, thanks to some great work done by partners in the sector. The pandemic destroyed those hard-fought gains.  

We've also seen that taking part in activity is less common for adults with a disability or long-term health condition (47%), than those without (68%). 

But there are some positives as well, as adults with a disability or long-term health condition have seen activity levels recover over the past 12 months. 

A group of senior men and women stretch with the help of some elastic bands on an indoor gym.

Plus, after the decline seen during the pandemic, both groups have returned to November 2018-19 levels, so there are now 3.8% more adults from this group who are active than in November 2015-16 when Active Lives started. 

What else do we know?

Interestingly, in the 2021 census, 18% of all disabled adults were aged 16-34, up from 9% in 2011 census. However, those aged 35+ still dominate the overall figures and drive the trends. 

Disabled people over 55 are responsible for the increase in activity levels and there is long-term growth. 

Our insight suggests that a key activity contributing to pre-pandemic recovery is walking for leisure.

Change is not seen across all impairment groups, however, as we have not seen increases in activity levels for people with dexterity, mental health, breathing or behavioural conditions, when compared to baseline (November 2015-16).

We can see, as always, that inactivity sharply increases after 75 and the more impairments a person has, the less likely they are to be active.   

Back to the story…

We all know that the past few years have proven to be hugely difficult for everyone, but they have been significantly worse and disproportionately more impactful for disabled people. 

The findings from this year’s Activity Alliance survey support this.

We’ve learned that:

  • the cost-of-living crisis is reducing the chance of being active
  • the levels of loneliness felt among disabled people are increasing but that being active could help them feel less lonely
  • disabled people are less likely to have positive attitudes and tend to see less improvement in their view of things, which considerably affects their mental health and wellbeing. 

Crucially, we also now know there is still an ongoing unmet need: disabled people were more likely to say they wanted to be more active compared to non-disabled people (77% vs 54%).

This 'activity gap' has remained consistent with previous years.

What can the sector do?

Activity Alliance’s report helpfully details some actions that we, in the sector, can take to support disabled people, which are based around the seven themes explored in the survey.

We also need to think about what we might put in place to combat the major challenges identified around cost of living and tackling loneliness.

And so it urges leaders and organisations to look at what changes they can make - both short and long term - and explores the ways we can build on some of the great practice already seen in the sector. 

One important element to bear in mind is that too often the people with the most to gain from being active are the least able to take part. 

That’s why we’re on a mission to address this injustice and work with an array of partners to ensure disabled people are heard, understood and included. 

We have seen great progress recently from organisations who are determined to make a difference for disabled people’s inclusion in sport and activity.

Therefore, we need to harness that enthusiasm and understand that together we all have a role to play to continuously shape and adapt our activity offers to disabled people.

Only by working together, collaboratively and collectively, will we ever be able to effectively unite the movement and close the disability activity gap.
 

Find out more

The 'wonder drug' to improve your mental health

Our mental health is our most valuable asset and moving regularly is proven to help us to look after it as well as our general wellbeing, which is key to leading a happy, healthy and fulfilling life.

The benefits of physical activity are well evidenced, playing a role in both protecting us from ill-health and in managing and alleviating mental health struggles and, for this reason, physical activity is often described as a ‘wonder drug’.

However, it remains as one of the most under-utilised public health interventions.

Whilst anyone can experience a mental health challenge at any point in their life, we know some are more at risk than others, and challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis are also contributing negatively.

Being active can significantly support those with mental health conditions but the symptoms associated with mental health problems such as low mood, fatigue, lack of motivation and anxiety – the focus of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week – make it even harder to do so.

It really can be a vicious circle that many people find difficult to break, and that’s because it’s not as easy as ‘just doing it’ or ‘telling’ someone to move more. If only!
 

Our mental health is our most valuable asset and moving regularly is proven to help us to look after it as well as our general wellbeing.

We don’t always consider how the various barriers towards being active can be too significant to overcome for some, and that these many need greater support to get started.

For this reason, Uniting the Movement focuses on supporting people on their journey to living a healthier and more active lifestyle by helping remove barriers and scaling up the enablers that will address these inequalities.

What we'll do

We know that mental health challenges start young – half are established by the age of 14 and three quarters by the age of 24 – and that’s why, as a foundational step into children and young people’s mental health we will be conducting an evidence review.

The aim is to establish the evidence for the role of sport and physical activity in the treatment of diagnosed mental health challenges for this segment of the population, and to identify what works and where the gaps are to inform future investment.

Through our adult funds, we will continue to explore how we can better connect sport and physical activity provision with local NHS Talking Therapy services so more people have the opportunity and support to access physical activity as a treatment.

Plus we will be exploring the impact this has on clinical outcomes and comparing against standard talking therapy.

We will also work with partners to develop a series of support resources to make it easier for mental health services to understand how to go about embedding physical activity into routine care, plus we will keep building on our existing work with Rethink Mental Illness.

There's currently a lack of studies that focus on the role of physical activity on those affected by severe mental illness, so in order to tackle this shortage of knowledge we'll explore how physical activity can play a major role in improving physical and mental health, as well as social and overall wellbeing in Tower Hamlets and North East Lancashire

Working in local health systems, these trailblazing projects will aim to improve the support to those from culturally diverse communities and deprived communities.

This will require understanding the determinants (barriers and enablers) to physical activity for people severely affected by mental illness, while specifically exploring how local systems can better support people living with severe mental illness.

But that’s not it!

Our long-term relationship with mental health charity Mind, will focus on helping community-based sport and physical activity organisations to support the mental health of people experiencing inequalities, with a focus on young people aged 11+ (especially those experiencing trauma), people from ethnic minority groups (who are both disproportionately impacted by mental health problems and inactivity) and people from the most deprived socio-economic groups.

We'll also continue to advocate to national and local policy makers the role of physical activity as a helpful population health tool and a driver for supporting the nation's mental health and wellbeing.

While we know the coming months and years won't be without their challenges, we have one simple ask of you today (and every day, actually) - when things get a little difficult or stressful, get up and move.

Keep moving while you make that cuppa.

Get yourself outdoors and take notice of nature.

Turn that Teams meeting into a walking meeting.

Your mind and your body will thank you for it.
 

Find out more

Mental Health Awareness Week 2023

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