Sport England unveils four-year plan for inactivity

Sport England has announced it will triple the amount of money it invests in tackling inactivity to £250m over the next four years.

The organisation is looking to target the 28% of people who do less than 30 minutes exercise per week, with a shift in emphasis towards less active groups; typically women, the disabled and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

It sees a move away from its earlier strategy, which was set prior to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and focused on getting people to play more sport.

As part of the new strategy it will also invest up to £30m on a plan to increase the number of volunteers in grassroots sport, as well as looking to work with a wider range of partners, with less money going to governing bodies.

Currently, Sport England puts £450m of annual funding towards governing bodies over each four year cycle. However, targeting those who do no activity have now been considered a priority, under the new plans.

Sport England was asked to back successful projects run by charities and organisations, outside the governing body structure, with the main beneficiaries including Access Sport, Greenhouse Sports, parkrun, Sported, StreetGames and Street League - not for profit bodies that have had previous success in getting young people active.

Sport England chief executive, Jenny Price, said: “We are not looking at this through the lens of ring-fencing money for types of organisations. It’s not who you are, it’s what you can do.

“Some governing bodies have been brilliant at working with the mass market, starting to run, starting to play some of the more recreational sports. The policy direction is really clear that the core market needs to be funded at lower public subsidy.”

She also said that Sport England will now target its investment at children and young people from the age of five rather than its current age of 14 and would also seek lessons of the This Girl Can campaign. 

"In the next four years, we're going to dedicate more time, expertise and more than £250m to tackling inactivity,” Price said.

"We will be the single largest national investor in projects for people to whom sport and physical activity is a distant thought, or not even on their radar."