Introduction - A Decade of Ambition
A decade ago, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), published “Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation” (December 2015). This strategy marked a significant shift in how sporting success was measured. Moving beyond participation figures, it emphasised broader societal outcomes of physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, individual development, social and community development and economic development. These expanded outcomes and metrics for success have remained central to government policy ever since.
To support this new ambition, Sport England launched the Active Lives Adult Survey, later complemented with the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey. Together, these two surveys form the most comprehensive data set for understanding participation in sport and physical activity across England, guiding policy and decision-making for both the sport sector and government.
A decade on, the Active Lives Survey data paints a decidedly mixed picture. Headline figures suggest that some progress has been made to increase adult activity. However, a closer inspection of these figures reveals “stubborn inequalities” remain with evidence of stagnation or even decline in some key demographics. This complex reality suggests that despite the policy rhetoric of strategic shifts, the ambition of a truly active nation remains elusive.
Progress – What the Data Reveals
The Active Lives data undeniably highlights areas of significant success. The most recent Active Lives Adult Survey (Nov 2023-24) reports a record high in adult activity, with 63.7% of adults (approximately 30 million people) now meeting the Chief Medical Officers' guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate intensity per week. This represents a substantial increase of over 2.4 million more active adults since the survey began in November 2015-16, successfully reversing pre-pandemic declines and demonstrating the sector’s resiliency and capacity for growth. The number of inactive adults (doing less than 30 minutes a week) has also seen a positive decline of nearly half a million.
Significant progress has also been observed in engaging older adults (55+), with an increase of 1.9 million active individuals (6.4%) since 2015-16, indicating successful tailoring of activities for this demographic. While disparities remain, Sport England's data also shows encouraging, albeit slower, gains in activity among disabled people and those with long-term health conditions, reflecting dedicated efforts towards greater inclusivity. Furthermore, the gym and fitness sector has seen considerable growth, reaching 14.2 million participants (up from 13.2 million in 2016-17), suggesting responsiveness to evolving preferences. This trend is further exemplified by the substantial rise in informal participation such as home-based exercise and events such as Parkrun.
Pitfalls – Where Inequalities Persist
Despite the positive headline figures, Active Lives consistently exposes profound and often widening inequalities, revealing the policy's struggle to achieve equitable access.
Individuals from lower socio-economic groups (NS-SEC 6-8) remain significantly less active, with only 52% meeting guidelines compared to 68.9% in the most affluent areas. This 16.9 percentage point gap has proven stubbornly resistant to change. The 'fairness gap' for disabled people remains alarmingly high, with them being nearly twice as likely to be inactive (39.5%) compared to non-disabled people (20.2%). Data for Black and Asian ethnic groups also consistently shows lower activity levels compared to the national average.
Perhaps most critically, the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey (2023-24 academic year) reveals that less than half of children and young people (47.8%) are meeting the recommended 60 minutes of daily activity. While stable post-pandemic, this indicates a failure to significantly uplift youth activity levels since the survey's inception, raising concerns about long-term habits. Inactivity among children remains high, with 29.6% (2.1 million) doing less than 30 minutes a day, and girls (45%) consistently less active than boys (51%). Moreover, activity levels among younger adults (16-34) have shown a 'flat trend' over the past two years, remaining below their 2015-16 baseline, and the 35-54 age group has seen largely stagnant activity, suggesting a failure to consistently engage these crucial working-age populations.
Pivoting – Tackling Inequality through Place-Based Partnerships
Recognising the limitations of a top-down approach to addressing entrenched inequalities, Sport England has progressively evolved its strategy. This learning, heavily informed by the Active Lives data which pinpointed where and for whom inactivity was most severe, but also perhaps stemming from a more fundamental recognition that it has been unable to move the dial meaningfully with regards to sport and physical activity in the past 40 years, led to a strategic shift towards place-based partnerships.
Initiated as 'Local Delivery Pilots' (LDPs) in 12 disadvantaged areas, these early attempts aimed to foster “whole system change” by collaborating deeply with local authorities, health bodies, and community groups. The goal was to co-create bespoke solutions that understood the unique barriers and assets of a specific community, rather than imposing national ‘one-size fits all’ templates. Whilst this approach should be acknowledge as progressive, the idea to empower local communities to design tailored interventions based upon their own needs is not new. Sport England has always targeted its investment towards those who are most in need. Before LDPs, Sport England has routinely allocated funding specifically to initiatives aimed at increasing participation among underrepresented groups (e.g. This Girl Can,XXX ). As far back as the 1980s, the sports council recognised the potential for sport to be used a tool for social intervention with the Action Sport programme which targeted the inner city urban youth.
Building on the insights from the LDPs, Sport England significantly expanding its local delivery pilots, building on its initial investment. In November 2023, they announced a major investment of up to £250 million over the next five years, expanding to 80-100 new “Place-Based Partnerships” across England (with the first 53 announced in February 2025). These partnerships are unashamedly and unreservedly targeted at areas with the highest levels of inactivity, social need, deprivation, and health inequality, seeking to break down local barriers to activity from the ground up. This evolution signifies an implicit acknowledgement that previous attempts to increase physical activity haven’t worked and that the elusive “active nation” can only be built by deeply understanding and working with individual communities, rather than relying solely on top-down imposed grant funding and initiatives.
Conclusion – Charting the Next Decade
Ten years on, “Sporting Future” has undoubtedly driven progress, particularly in overall adult activity, which should be commended as an achievement it is own right. Getting more people to play more sport is a difficult task and a laudable endeavour, one that warrants our full public backing and support.
Yet, the same data reveals only measured success, with an enduring “fairness gap” in inequalities and the stagnation in youth activity, confirming that the ambition of a truly active nation for everyone remains. Sport England's pivot towards Place-Based Partnerships represents an important evolution and an increasingly pragmatic response to the complexities illuminated by a decade of data. It embodies a recognition that while national strategies set the direction, genuine, equitable change must be rooted in local understanding and collaboration. This recognition also requires Sport England to fundamentally challenge and rewire its own thinking about how it tackles inequalities, measures success and demonstrates appropriate taxpayer spending.
The next decade will test whether this localised, data-informed approach can finally unlock the full potential of “Sporting Future” and bring the elusive active nation that much closer to reality.
References
Department for Culture, Media & Sport. (2015, December). Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation. Retrieved from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sporting-future-a-new-strategy-for-an-active-nation
Sport England. (n.d.). Active Lives Adult Survey. Retrieved from: https://www.sportengland.org/research-and-data/data/active-lives
Sport England. (n.d.). Active Lives Children and Young People Survey. Retrieved from: https://sportengland-production-files.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2024-12/Active%20Lives%20Children%20and%20Young%20People%20Survey%20-%20academic%20year%202023-24%20report..pdf?VersionId=OkxhiyHuQVDSR.sYgafHrATLWEt3C7Xs
Sport England. (2023, November). Place Partnerships expanded to help those in greatest need. Retrieved from: https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-inspiration/place-partnerships-expanded-help-those-greatest-need