08th December 2021

Sport England have published the plan for how they’re going to implement the next three years of our 10-year Uniting the Movement strategy.
The 2022-25 plan details how they’ll work towards the mission of transforming lives and communities through sport and physical activity.
Building on the lessons learned from their work throughout the pandemic, they’ll target investment, resources and energy where it’s needed most and will have greatest impact.
To create a more level playing field and tackle the inequalities that exist for people and groups, they’ll introduce new and innovative ways to increase participation by listening to local communities, grassroots networks, sports clubs, their volunteers and our expert partners.
But they must first understand what people’s and their communities’ priorities are locally, what works best and where investment is most needed.
The publication of the three-year plan follows an extensive consultation with thousands of partners that are passionate about making sport and physical activity a normal part of life for everyone in England.
Each piece of work they’re committing to will drive forward the five big issues and the catalysts for change at the heart of Uniting the Movement, which they identified as the biggest opportunities to make an impact over the course of the ten years.
Find out more about the implementation plan
What Sport England will do
They plan to disproportionately target their effort and investment to level up places and improve accessibility and opportunities for the communities and people that need it the most to be active.
Specifically this means:
- Expand place partnerships to focus investment and resources on communities most in need.
- Continue to deliver the coronavirus (Covid-19) recovery and reinvention package, including the government’s Sport Survival Package, initially focused on rebuilding the collective of people who make sport and physical activity happen in communities and working closely with local authorities to protect provision where it can have the most impact.
- Work with national and local partners to target the government’s investment into community football, tennis and multi-sport facilities in places with greatest need.
- Invest around the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games to improve facilities and level up access to community sport.
- Create simplified access to our open funding with a single point of entry – with ease of use and flexibility being key priorities.
- Convene and collaborate with the sports sector to join up and advocate around the big issues, such as supporting children and young people, connecting communities and integrating into health.
- Develop the sector’s presence across government to embed sport and activity as a key contributor to local and national policy priorities and champion the critical role that we and our partners can play.
- Ensure good governance, safeguarding, integrity and inclusion is embedded in all we do, including through our revised Code for Sports Governance.
Sport England’s Ambitions
Within their three-year plan, Sport England have outlined the collective action and outcomes needed by 2025 in order to make progress against the big issues and catalysts for change.
Sport England identified these by working with partners and stakeholders to understand the current context we’re all operating in, as well as conducting analysis of trends to identify what the external landscape might look like in 2025.
They have now have a set of ambitions for 2025 to help the movement make progress together. These are:
- More investment and resources for communities with the greatest need. With the public, private and third sectors working better together at a local level to help people be active.
- Inclusive, safe and accessible experiences as standard. With all of us using research to inform how we deliver experiences designed around people’s needs.
- Supporting, recognising and celebrating success of organisations providing under-represented groups with great experiences and opportunities, in order to inspire and support others.
- Adapting to people’s changing needs and expectations by using a people-first approach to the design of sport and physical activity, driven by innovation and digital.
- Listening to and involving people less likely to be active in decisions and co-creating opportunities to get active.
- A more diverse network of leaders, volunteers and professionals across sport and key related sectors that ‘think’ physical activity in all they do and champion inclusivity.
- Positive experiences for children and young people that are created with opportunities designed around fun, inclusivity and safety, as well as choice.
- Talented athletes from every background being given the chance to make it to the top.