Column: ukactive

Shifting the dial on inequalities in physical activity

Head of Partnerships & Strategic Lead Infrastructure ukactive

Ukactive and Sport England have enjoyed a productive working relationship for many years – one that has been built upon a common purpose and shared values. The announcement this month, of ukactive’s role as a System Partner of Sport England, cements the impact that both organisations believe working together can have on tackling inequalities and to level up access to sport and physical activity across the country.

The partnership will focus on supporting the structure around local leisure facilities, so that every local leisure facility can provide an opportunity for everybody to be active, regardless of your background, gender, bank balance or postcode. While we have worked collaboratively for many years, we are extremely proud of how our partnership has strengthened over the past two years, despite the disruption and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are making significant in-roads to enabling the sector to address inequalities and be more inclusive and accessible than

© SPORT ENGLAND

Sport England and ukactive will work together to tackle inequalities

WE HAVE BIG AMBITIONS FOR WHAT WE CAN ACHIEVE THROUGH THIS PARTNERSHIP AND WILL NOT REST UNTIL WE HAVE BUILT BACK FITTER

ever before. Our partnership projects include the publication of the This Girl Can guide for gyms – which helps the sector to better support women and girls – and the launch of Everyone Can, a joint agenda for disability inclusion and accessibility. This partnership and investment provide the opportunity for us to listen, engage and utilise insight and data to identify the key areas that we can continue to support the sector with to enable it to recover, reinvent and grow so that it can become more sustainable and resilient. If we can achieve this, the sector will be empowered to tackle inequalities and achieve our shared ambition to unite the movement and reach many more people, across every community.

As we enter the first year of this five-year partnership, we do so with a forensic focus on these priority areas for the development of the sector: campaigns; children, young people and families; digital transformation; health and wellbeing; inclusion; infrastructure; and quality standards. Running parallel to these crucial developmental areas, we commit to working collaboratively across our workforce and with local, national and devolved governments and the wider sport and physical activity eco-system to support and drive progress within the sector.

We have big ambitions for what we can achieve through this partnership and will not rest until we have built back fitter. ●