{"id":19669,"date":"2021-03-02T11:51:43","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T11:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/news\/spring-budget-2021-invest-in-our-sectors-recovery-to-rebuild-a-healthier-nation\/"},"modified":"2021-03-02T11:51:43","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T11:51:43","slug":"spring-budget-2021-invest-in-our-sectors-recovery-to-rebuild-a-healthier-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/cy\/news\/spring-budget-2021-invest-in-our-sectors-recovery-to-rebuild-a-healthier-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Budget 2021: Invest in our sector\u2019s recovery to rebuild a healthier nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Steven Scales, Director\u00a0of\u00a0Membership\u00a0and\u00a0Sector\u00a0Development, ukactive<\/strong><\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for the fitness and leisure sector over the past year. Our sector headed into the 2020-21 financial year as one of the fastest growing areas on the high street, but with eight months of closure through lockdown, and just 121 days of suppressed trading since 25 July 2020, industry finances are on a knife edge.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister\u2019s recent reopening roadmap announcement<\/a> for England (22 February) has given much-needed clarity for the easing of restrictions, providing light at the end of what has been a long and winding tunnel for the sector. The scheduled reopening of gyms, pools and leisure centres in the earliest stage possible for indoor venues (Stage 2), underlines the vital role these facilities play across society, providing an essential service for the health of millions of people across the country.<\/p>\n

However, these reopening plans need to go hand-in-hand with bespoke measures for survival, because without tailored financial support, these next few months could still mean the loss of thousands of facilities and jobs, compounded by the delays in wider group activities. A recent ukactive operator survey<\/a> showed that approximately 400 facilities have already been lost during the crisis, and ukactive projects that without greater, tailored financial and regulatory support, 2,400 further sites could join them, along with up to 100,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

Since reopening in July 2020, ukactive members have shown great commitment and adherence to safety standards and government operating guidance, helping to reassure employees and the public that their gym, pool, fitness class, or leisure centre, is a safe place to work in and a safe place work out.<\/p>\n

Now, it is time for the Government to commit its support for the fitness and leisure sector, providing the support it so desperately needs, and helping the 17.1 million people that rely on it to get back on their feet.<\/p>\n

In ukactive\u2019s Budget submission, sent to HM Treasury in January 2021, we stressed the need for financial and regulatory support, across a three-stage \u2018Survival, Recovery, and Development\u2019 strategy, in order to secure the future of the sector. Our submission called on the Chancellor to ensure the right support is granted to the sector, a call to action that ensures facilities reopening on 12 April isn\u2019t just an aspirational milestone on a roadmap document, but a real-life and spirited reopening of vital assets and facilities, at a time when communities will need them most.<\/p>\n

Our sector was a sector of growth, a sector that even in the face of adversity, continues to innovate and provide services to those who see it as an essential service and is prepared to work to ensure more people benefit from it services \u2013 but working capital is integral in order to achieve this. Despite the support offered by the Government to date \u00ad\u2013 in the shape of the furlough scheme, public leisure fund, and the moratorium on evictions because of unpaid rent \u2013 the following measures are urgently needed.<\/p>\n

Our key asks to the Treasury:<\/strong><\/p>\n