Taxonomy term

Children and young people today are creative, passionate, and full of potential.

Their energy and ambition feel hopeful in a world that often feels uncertain and unstable.

But they’re also facing new challenges: social media addiction, rising mental health concerns, climate anxiety.

In 2025, parents, teachers, and leaders across the country voiced concerns about a growing disconnect between online and offline life.

School absence is rising; wellbeing is worsening. And physical inactivity remains a stubborn problem: more than half of children aren’t active enough.

The inequalities are stark. Children from less affluent families are far less likely to be active than wealthier peers.

Girls remain less active than boys, and Black and Asian children are less likely to be active than White children.

If these trends continue at pace, we could be heading for a children’s health crisis within a decade.

The Youth Sport Trust’s (YST) Class of 2035 report warns that without robust action, we’ll see soaring screen time, rising obesity, disengagement from education, and more children diagnosed with diseases like Type 2 diabetes – a condition once almost exclusive to adulthood.

But this isn’t a story of despair, it’s a call to action.

And the good news? We are making progress - and 2025 was testament to this.

Promising Signs of Progress

In December 2025, Sport England data shows children’s activity levels are now at their highest since the first Active Lives Survey in 2018.

Half a million more children are meeting the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guideline of 60 minutes of activity a day compared to seven years ago.

That’s thanks to the incredible work of schools, clubs, and community organisations and the people that run them.

Government action has also been integral.

The National Youth Strategy can be a landmark moment, creating more opportunities for young people to connect offline - and sport has a huge role to play.

Its emphasis on being shaped by young people is vital: policy done with young people, not to them.

The commitment to halt the decline in PE and ensure at least two hours of reimagined PE each week is another big step forward, as is the ambition to increase access to enrichment activities.
 

The new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network can build on past progress.

Campaigns like Let’s Move from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and YST’s Inclusion 2028 programme (funded by the Department for Education) show what’s possible when national leadership meets local delivery.

Let’s Move is inspiring families to get active together.

Inclusion 2028 is empowering children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to thrive through PE, school sport, and physical activity.

These initiatives prove that inclusive change is possible - and it’s already happening.

All this is happening against the backdrop Sport England’s £250m investment in place-based partnerships across more than 90 communities.

Why Movement Matters and Our Vision for 2026

Physical activity is often called the 'miracle cure' by medical experts - and for excellent reason.

It boosts physical and mental health, reduces stress and improves mood. And it’s a social salve too, helping to forge friendships and build connection across communities in the face of the polarising online world.

It’s also fantastic for people and the public purse; every £1 invested in community sport and activity generates over £4 for the economy and society.

School and community sport aren’t 'nice to have'; they’re essential for healthy development.

Research consistently shows us that active children are happier, more resilient and perform better at school.

And building good activity habits young is key for our country’s future health and wealth: active children are more likely to become active adults who enjoy better health, greater productivity and place less strain on the NHS.

That’s why we need to make movement easy and normal everywhere: in schools, communities, families, parks, and urban spaces.

This means working with partners beyond education, like UK Youth and community sport organisations, to embed activity into where young people live and socialise.

Sport England’s place partnerships have some fantastic examples of this happening from the ground up – from JU:MP in Braford to Move Together Blackpool.

Young people must be at the heart of this change. They want experiences that are fun and engaging; not just minutes of activity to be ticked off to hit targets.

Here’s what we think just some of the opportunities to achieve getting every child active in 2026 are:

• a return to longer school breaks to give children more time to move and play.
• increasing uptake of Always Active Uniform, building on new national guidance and making being active easier and more comfortable – particularly for girls and children with SEND.
• greater restrictions on social media use for children, to free up time and attention for real-world play.
• protecting the real-world places and spaces that children get active and play in
• advocate for child-first coaching: supporting coaches to give children and young people voice and choice in physical activity. The Play their Way campaign is a fantastic example of child-first coaching in action.  

By rethinking existing policy and being bold, we can create system-wide changes that deliver a healthier, happier future for every child.

Our Mission and Call to Action

Our mission is clear: to inspire a generation that loves to move by making physical activity and everyday movement a normal part of life - giving every child 60 minutes of PE, sport, and play every day.

This is a cornerstone of Youth Sport Trust’s Inspiring Changemakers, Building Belonging strategy and Sport England’s next phase of Uniting the Movement. Working with schools, communities and families, we will redouble our efforts to create experiences that build the foundations for an active life.

Together, we can create a future where every child and young person has the opportunity to move, connect and thrive through sport and physical activity.
 

The publication of Youth Matters, the Government’s first national youth strategy in 15 years, sets an important direction for how we support young people over the next decade.

For us at Sport England, it also reinforces a clear message: if we are serious about improving young people’s wellbeing, connection and opportunities, sport and physical activity must be central to that ambition.

This response is not simply a welcome of the strategy, but a statement of intent.

It sets out why Youth Matters is important to our work, what young people have told us they need, and how our sector can help turn the strategy’s ambitions into meaningful change in places and communities across the country.

What young people are telling us

The strategy reflects what young people themselves have been saying for some time.

Many feel increasingly socially isolated, are worried about their mental wellbeing and financial security, and want to feel safer and more connected in their communities.

Crucially, they are also clear about what would most improve their daily lives: access to affordable, welcoming recreational and leisure opportunities, and the support of trusted adults.

These insights matter.

They underline the importance of spaces where young people can come together in person, build confidence, develop relationships and feel a sense of belonging – particularly at a time when pressures on services, families and communities are growing.

Why sport and physical activity matter

Sport and physical activity are not a 'nice to have' in responding to these challenges.

They provide proven, evidence-backed ways to support young people’s physical and mental wellbeing, create positive relationships with trusted adults, and strengthen connection to community and place.
 

Our sector already delivers experiences that young people value: inclusive activities, strong role models through coaches and volunteers, and environments where young people can feel safe, welcomed and supported to be themselves.

When done well, sport and physical activity can be a powerful protective factor in helping young people thrive, not just cope.

Inequality remains a barrier

Youth Matters rightly highlights the need to halve the participation gap between disadvantaged young people and their peers when it comes to enriching activities.

This is an area where urgency is needed.

Our latest Active Lives Children and Young People survey shows that while overall activity levels are rising, stubborn inequalities remain.

Young people from the least affluent families are still the least likely to be active, and too often face barriers related to cost, access, safety and whether opportunities feel designed for 'people like them'.

Less than half of young people say they are happy with the activities and services in their local area, and even fewer feel those opportunities reflect their needs and expectations.

Addressing this must be a priority if the ambitions of the strategy are to be realised.

Alignment with Uniting the Movement

The emphasis in Youth Matters on putting young people and communities at the heart of decisions, shifting from fragmented to collaborative working, and empowering local delivery strongly aligns with our long-term Uniting the Movement strategy.

Our Place Partnership approach is already focused on tackling inequalities, working alongside local partners and investing in long-term, community-led solutions.

Youth Matters validates this direction and reinforces the importance of sustained, place-based action rather than short-term interventions.

Our commitment

Delivering the ambitions of Youth Matters will require coordinated action across Government, sectors and communities.

Sport England is committed to playing our part: working with partners nationally and locally to ensure sport and physical activity are accessible, affordable, welcoming and shaped by young people themselves.

By listening to young people’s voices, focusing on the places facing the greatest challenges and continuing to address inequality head-on, we can help ensure this strategy delivers lasting impact over the next decade.

We look forward to continuing to work with Government, the youth sector and partners across sport and physical activity to turn this ambition into action for young people.
 

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.”

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.