{"id":19963,"date":"2022-05-10T08:23:45","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T07:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/news\/together-ukactive-and-sport-england-can-help-shift-the-dial-on-inequalities-in-physical-activity\/"},"modified":"2022-05-10T08:23:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T07:23:45","slug":"together-ukactive-and-sport-england-can-help-shift-the-dial-on-inequalities-in-physical-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/cy\/news\/together-ukactive-and-sport-england-can-help-shift-the-dial-on-inequalities-in-physical-activity\/","title":{"rendered":"Together, ukactive and Sport England can help shift the dial on inequalities in physical activity"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Marianne Boyle, Head of Partnerships & Strategic Lead Infrastructure at ukactive, and Emma Bernstein, Strategic Projects Lead at Sport England<\/strong><\/p>\n

ukactive and Sport England have enjoyed a productive working relationship for many years \u2013 one that has been built upon a common purpose and shared values. Today\u2019s announcement of ukactive\u2019s role as a System Partner of Sport England cements the importance of this partnership and 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.<\/p>\n

The partnership will focus on supporting the structure around local leisure facilities so that every local leisure facility can provide an opportunity for everybody<\/em> to be active, regardless of your background, gender, bank balance or postcode<\/p>\n

This is why the fitness and leisure sector represents one of the largest drivers of activity levels in England, second only to walking for helping people to achieve the Chief Medical Officer\u2019s recommended guidelines for physical activity.<\/p>\n

In addition to the fitness and leisure sector delivering multiple health-specific programmes from cardiac and pulmonary rehab to weight management and exercise referral, 66% of all prehab and rehab for cancer patients currently takes place within leisure centres. These valuable facilities, providing a range of activities\u00a0 supported by a passionate workforce have huge potential to do so much more to support the health and wellbeing of the nation, not to mention its social fabric. By working in partnership, we aim to unlock this potential.<\/p>\n

While we have worked collaboratively for many years, we are extremely proud of how our partnership has gone from strength to strength over the past two years in particular, and despite the disruption and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, significant progress has been made in working together to support the continuous development of the sector.<\/p>\n

From a focus on the Decade of Change for Public Sector Leisure<\/a> to the undertaking of the UK\u2019s first review<\/a> of the fitness and leisure sector\u2019s digital maturity and effectiveness, the publication of our This Girl Can guide<\/a> for the sector to better support women and girls, to the launch of Gall Pawb<\/a>, our agenda for disability inclusion and accessibility, together we are making significant in-roads to enabling the fitness and leisure sector to address inequalities and be more inclusive and accessible than ever before.<\/p>\n

Of course, none of this would have the desired impact if it was not for the commitment of ukactive members who have not only engaged and contributed to the development of these pieces of work, but have a stronger appetite than ever before to implement the recommendations and drive lasting change.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n