We've opened three funds focusing on a safe return to play and narrowing the inequalities gap in sport and physical activity. Find out more and see if the funds can help you.
We know this is a hugely challenging time for the sport and physical activity sector as the country deals with the outbreak of coronavirus (Covid-19).
Our two immediate priorities over this period are:
- Supporting the sector: action to ensure it comes through this period in as strong a position as possible
- Keeping the nation moving: doing everything we can to encourage people to stay active, wherever possible, which we think is now more important than ever.
Click on the links further down this page to find out more about this, including our funding support and Join the Movement campaign.
Latest government guidance
You should minimise time spent outside your home.
It's against the law to meet socially with family or friends unless they're part of your household or support bubble. You can only leave your home to exercise, and not for the purpose of recreation or leisure (e.g. a picnic or a social meeting). This should be limited to once per day, and you shouldn't travel outside your local area.
You can exercise in a public outdoor place:
- by yourself
- with the people you live with
- with your support bubble (if you're legally permitted to form one)
- in a childcare bubble where providing childcare
- or, when on your own, with one person from another household (going for a walk with someone counts as exercise).
Public outdoor places include:
- parks, beaches, countryside accessible to the public, forests
- public gardens (whether or not you pay to enter them)
- the grounds of a heritage site
- playgrounds.
There are, however, two exemptions to the national lockdown restrictions for sport and activity:
- Organised outdoor sport for disabled people is allowed to continue.
- Elite sportspeople (and their coaches if necessary, or parents/guardians if they are under 18) - or those on an official elite sports pathway - are allowed to meet in larger groups, to compete and train.
Outdoor sports venues, including tennis courts, golf courses and swimming pools, must close.
With this national lockdown in place, we've compiled answers to some of your most common questions on what this mean for sport and physical activity.
Return to play
We've compiled advice and guidance on how the sport and physical activity sector can prepare for a safe return to play.
Our support includes the current government guidance, as well as advice for clubs, the professional workforce, volunteers and much more.
Join the Movement
Our Join the Movement campaign is all about inspiring people to keep active during this time, pulling together trusted resources to help people do just that.
It's encouraging people to share their own ideas on social media.
Activity levels research
We know how and if people are getting active during this time will of course change.
We're working with Savanta ComRes to understand the true picture throughout this period, and how people view getting and keeping active.
Funding, flexibility and innovation
A £220.5 million package of government and National Lottery funding has been developed to help the sector through this crisis, including a Return to Play Fund.
We've also introduced flexibility in managing our existing support to individuals and organisations, and put a call out to innovators for solutions to inequalities in activity levels worsened by coronavirus.
What happens next?
We've worked with the government to help explain its lockdown restrictions, and how they impacts sport and physical activity.
You can also watch the latest webinar from our chief executive, Tim Hollingsworth, about the crisis and what it means for our upcoming new strategy.
