From sector growth to public benefit

By Rob Turner, Partner at Grant Thornton UK Advisory and Tax LLP 

In undertaking the analysis and drafting of this year’s UK Health & Fitness Market Report we wanted to go beyond simply reporting the metrics and begin to explore, in more detail, what the data means for the UK health and fitness sector and in particular the policy decisions it should help to shape and inform.  

By working with ukactive, Sport England and 4GLOBAL, we knew we were involved in developing the sector’s most authoritative source of market intelligence and as part of this we wanted to ensure we were aligning the robust operator and consumer data with the realities faced by both policymakers and operators in order to provide actionable insight. 

A sector delivering outcomes, not just activity 

This year’s report clearly shows a sector that is growing – a growth that is evidenced across multiple metrics: members, visits, income, clubs – and as a result, its facilities are being used more intensively than ever.  

One of the clearest impacts of this growth story is the value the health and fitness sector delivers beyond its own balance sheet. In 2025 alone the sector generated £7.46bn in attributable social value. Crucially, this is not an abstract figure. The majority of that value relates to measurable improvements in wellbeing and reductions in health risks such as depression, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and strokes. This matters. 

This has big implications for policymakers as it shifts the thinking about health and fitness facilities. It moves them from being discretionary lifestyle amenities to a critical part of the preventative health infrastructure. The data show that membership of a gym is strongly correlated with sustained physical activity, with non-members 10 times more likely to be inactive than current members. For policy makers this raises important questions about how this powerful gateway into physical activity can be harnessed and its impact maximised. 

Bridging the perception gap  

Part of the challenge is that there is a perception gap. While the sector’s capability to support prevention, rehabilitation and long‑term condition management has grown materially, consumer and clinical confidence has not kept pace. The result: health and fitness facilities can deliver more than the public sector currently recognises. 

Therefore, in order to bridge this gap and realise the existing potential there is a need for: 

• clearer national referral pathways, particularly in relation to prevention  

• Government to use consistent and credible language about the role fitness can play in health 

• awareness‑building, especially among older adults and those with long‑term conditions, around the importance of exercise 

• stronger collaboration between clinicians, local systems and operators  

• visible, confidence‑building health offers integrated into fitness settings. 

The hope is this report will help to stimulate and inform conversations between the sector and health policymakers; that it will provide evidence that helps make decisions and shape action, and in doing so facilitate genuine partnership-working for the foreseeable future. 

To read the UK Health & Fitness Market Report 2026, click here. 

The UK Health & Fitness Market Report 2026 is sponsored by headline partners BLKBOX and Matrix Fitness and contributing partners Precor and Technogym.