To help the sports sector continue to improve and evolve, we share our expertise to help our colleagues, partners and stakeholders improve the way they govern sports.
We also support national governing bodies (NGBs) by establishing frameworks that make it easier for them to access specialist services, and often act in a consultancy role on areas including commercial, innovation and programme development.
Knowledge Hub
The Knowledge Hub is a platform that we use to share knowledge and best practice, and to encourage collaboration across NGBs and other professional entities that receive core market funding from us.
Access to the site is therefore currently restricted to organisations that receive our core market funding. If you’re unsure whether your organisation has access to the site, please email us at CoreMarket@sportengland.org.
The Knowledge Hub features the following:
- Forum: for discussions topics and action groups
- Library: archive of helpful documents and case studies
- Events: placeholders for your calendar
- Wiki: useful web links to other resources
- Members: lets you connect with your peers.
Please note that we manage and moderate access to the site.
Code for Sports Governance
Developed alongside UK Sport and launched in October 2016, the Code for Sports Governance sets out the levels of transparency, accountability and financial integrity you’ll be required to meet if you’re applying for government or National Lottery funding.
Evaluation framework
Our Evaluation Framework website will help you evaluate funding streams and projects effectively, and ensure you get maximum value from measurement and evaluation.
It has easy-to-follow guidance and resources that you can use or adapt alongside your own tools to develop the right approach specific to your organisation.
Legal Panel Framework
We provide a list of firms that have committed to giving fixed fees, discounted rates and other value-added services.
When contacting firms, please let them know that it’s as a result of their appointment to the Legal Panel Framework, as this will ensure you’re eligible for discounted fees.
If you would like a copy of the list, have any questions or would like to speak to someone about this initiative, contact our Legal Services team.
-
Instructing legal panel firms
Our Guidance Note will help you be effective for your organisation and get good value for money from your lawyers. Read moreYou’ll be able to understand:
- How to assess if you need a legal panel firm or not to help with an issue
- What basic information to provide your lawyer with from the outset to ensure bespoke and direct advice can be provided.
- What questions you need to ask your lawyer to ensure you are clear on their process and costs.
- What you can expect from your lawyer.
In addition to our Guidance Note, we’ve also developed a Template Instruction Form for you to fill in and use when you contact one of the panel firms.
-
Additional services of the legal panel framework
Here we provide information on the services that will be offered by all of the legal panel firms and their commitment to service the needs of the sector in a cost-efficient way. Read moreFree 20-minute helpline
In addition to the individual services already offered by each of the legal panel firms, each of the firms has committed to providing a free 20-minute helpline service to NGBs and sport and recreation organisations.
When you contact any firm on the panel you must:- State that you want to use the helpline service and quote LPF2017
- Confirm your funding relationship with Sport England, Sport Wales, UK Sport, or Sport Northern Ireland, and/or membership of the Sport and Recreation Alliance.
Use of the helpline across the firms will be monitored. Please use the helpline appropriately and respect the generous offering from the panel firms by following the rules below:
- The 20 minutes’ free time applies to the first call on new queries/matters only. It doesn’t cover a matter where the legal panel firm is already acting for you or dealing with any correspondence in relation to it.
- This is not a ‘call centre helpline’ and the legal panel firms may not be able to answer your call immediately. Please do leave a message and the lawyer will return your call as soon as possible.
- The service covers the call to the designated point of contact for the legal panel firm, or on some occasions, when they refer you on to a specialist in that firm to discuss your initial query.
- If you have contacted another legal panel firm on the same query, please let the lawyer know. Please note the collaborators and legal panel firms will be monitoring use by NGBs and repeated requests to different firms on the same query will be followed up with the organisation.
Please make sure that you check if the legal panel firm covers the area of law that you require assistance on before contacting them.
-
Pro-bono fund
Part of this initiative is a Pro-Bono Fund where up to £150,000 of legal advice over two years will be available to eligible NGBs. Read moreWhat is the pro-bono fund?
The Pro-Bono Fund brokers free legal advice from the legal panel framework firms to small NGBs and sport and recreation organisations.
Each firm on the panel has committed to provide up to £5,000 worth of free advice per year to the sport and recreation sector.
Who is eligible to apply for the fund?
Organisations must meet the following criteria to be eligible to apply for the pro-bono fund:
- The organisation must have a turnover of less than £500,000 (this is inclusive of grant income)
- The organisation must have no budget set aside for legal expenses
- The organisation must have no paid legal staff
- The organisation must be a member of the Sport and Recreation Alliance and/or be funded by UK Sport, Sport England, Sport Wales or Sport Northern Ireland
Please Note: Organisations who meet the eligibility criteria aren’t automatically entitled to an award from the fund. Decisions to make an award are at the discretion of the collaborators (Sport England, UK Sport, the Sport and Recreation Alliance, Sport Wales and Sport Northern Ireland).
What areas of the law will the fund assist you with?
Small NGBs and sport and recreation organisations who meet the eligibility criteria will be able to apply to the fund for free legal assistance with the following areas of law:
- Charity and trust law including CASC registration
- Child protection/vulnerable groups (DBS, Protection of Freedoms Act)
- Simple contracts/grant agreements
- Corporate law/governance/constitutional affairs
- Employment law
- Insolvency law
- Property law (such as leases, licences and security of tenure).
Please note: The pro-bono fund won’t be available for assistance with disputes or contentious matters and organisations will only be eligible to receive one successful application per year.
How do you apply to the fund?
Access to the free legal assistance is managed through a central application route coordinated by the Sport and Recreation Alliance.
Once an application is successful, the legal panel framework firms are contacted to confirm who’s available to provide advice on the matter.
When a firm confirms they’re able to help, the Sport and Recreation Alliance puts the organisation in touch with the firm and they liaise directly with each other from that point.
A unique reference number will be given to the organisation which they must provide to the firm at the outset of the matter.
Applications to access the free legal advice must be submitted to the Sport and Recreation Alliance Governance team.
To apply, organisations must download and fill in the application form and send it along with a copy of the organisation’s latest audited annual accounts, business plan or financial information.
When will you find out if your application has been successful?
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis - the timescales are outlined below:
- Application deadline – 20th of each month
- Application reviewed – 30th of each month
- Decision notification – two weeks after 30th.
Applications received after the 20th of the month will not be considered until the following month.
Is there any more information on the fund?
Please read all of the downloadable documents at the bottom of this page before submitting an application. They include:
If you’d like to discuss your application, please contact the Sport and Recreation Alliance Governance team.
The recognition process
Recognition is a process shared by all five sports councils (Sport England, Sportscotland, Sport Wales, Sport Northern Ireland and UK Sport), which determines which national governing bodies (NGBs) are responsible for governing the sporting activities the sports councils are willing to support and work with.
It acknowledges the status of NGBs as private organisations that govern particular sports through the common consent of the sport itself.
Applications for recognition can only be made by NGBs. If you’re a club, association or individual and would like to see your sport recognised, you must contact your sport’s NGB and raise the matter of recognition with them. They may already have applied or are in the process of doing so.
Recognition applications for a sport and the NGB for that sport are dealt with together as part of a single application. Recognition is subject to application which must be approved by all the home country sports councils with the following exceptions:
- Where an NGB operates in a single home country, recognition of the body requires the approval of that country’s sports council only
- UK Sport also needs to approve applications where an Olympic or Paralympic sport or NGB is being considered.
-
What's a sport?
The sports councils don’t decide what is and what isn’t a sport. There’re many different opinions as to what constitutes a sporting activity and the sports councils don’t have their own definition of sport. Read moreHowever, we operate the recognition process to establish which sports we may consider working with. When deciding whether to recognise a sport, the sports councils look to see if it meets the Council of Europe’s European Sports Charter 1993 definition of sport, and whether it’s well established and organised within our jurisdiction.
-
What's a national governing body?
It’s not the role of the sports councils to establish or appoint an NGB as they’re typically independent, self-appointed organisations that govern their sports through the common consent of their sport. Read moreThe aim of the recognition process is to identify a single lead NGB structure which governs a sport at UK, GB or home country level. Our recognition criteria focus on establishing if a NGB has achieved a position of pre-eminence within its sport and if it has a reasonable level of organisation and governance.
Sports council recognition of an NGB is not a guarantee of funding and neither does it mean we've approved or accredited the quality of its programmes.
Recognition doesn’t bestow any official powers on an NGB to govern its sport.
-
Guidance for applicants
If you’re a national governing body and are considering making a recognition application, you should: Read more- Read the Recognition Policy as this contains essential information which will help you when making your recognition application.
- Email us to request a recognition pre-application form and a reference copy of the recognition full application form. When contacting us, include some brief details about your sport and organisation. Our email address is only intended for recognition-related queries. If you’re looking for funding, you can visit our Our Funds section for details of our funding programmes and our funding application forms.
Please also bear in mind that:
- Your recognition pre-application will be considered by the UK Recognition Panel and we’ll aim to contact you with the outcome within 12 weeks from the date we receive it.
- If you’re successful at the pre-application stage, you’ll progress to the full application stage. Before submitting your full application, you’ll be required to meet with a representative from the UK Recognition Panel to discuss your application and, following the meeting, you’ll be provided with the full application form to complete and return.
Sports and governing bodies that we recognise
A list of recognised sports and links to their national governing body's website can be found below.
You can download a current list of the UK-recognised national governing bodies and sports here.
For funding purposes, sports marked with an asterisk (*) are deemed high risk to participants and, as such, membership or affiliation to a national governing body recognised by us will be required.
A
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Aikido* | |
Air sports* | |
American football | |
Angling | |
Aquathlon |
|
Archery* | |
Arm wrestling |
|
Artistic skating (roller) |
|
Athletics | |
Australian rules football |
|
B
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
BMX |
|
Badminton | |
Ballooning* |
|
Ballroom dancing |
|
Baseball | |
Basketball | |
Baton twirling |
|
Biathlon* | |
Bicycle polo |
|
Bobsleigh* | |
Boccia | |
Bowls | |
Boxing* |
C
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Camogie |
|
Canoeing* | |
Caving* | |
Chinese martial arts* | |
Clay pigeon shooting* |
|
Climbing |
|
Cricket | |
Croquet | |
Curling | |
Cycling |
D
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Dance sport |
|
Darts |
|
Disability sport | |
Diving | |
Dodgeball |
|
Dragon boat racing | |
Duathlon |
|
E
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Equestrian* | |
Exercise, movement and dance |
F
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Fencing* | |
Fives | |
Floorball |
|
Folk dancing |
|
Football | |
Futsal |
G
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Gaelic football |
|
Gliding* |
|
Goalball | |
Golf | |
Gymnastics* |
H
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Handball | |
Hang gliding and paragliding* |
|
Harness racing* | |
Health and beauty exercise |
|
Highland games |
|
Hockey | |
Horse racing* | |
Horse riding* | |
Hovercraft racing | |
Hurling |
|
I
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Ice hockey | |
Ice skating |
J
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Jet skiing* | |
Ju jitsu* | |
Judo* |
K
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Kabaddi |
|
Karate* |
|
Keep fit |
|
Kendo* | |
Kite Surfing* | |
Kneeboarding* |
|
Korfball |
L
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Lacrosse | |
Land-sailing/yachting |
|
Life saving* | |
Luge* |
M
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Model aircraft flying |
|
Modern pentathlon* | |
Motor cruising |
|
Motor cycling* | |
Motor sports* | |
Mountaineering* | |
Movement and dance |
|
N
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Netball |
O
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Octopush* | |
Orienteering |
P
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Padel | |
Parachuting* |
|
Parkour | |
Petanque | |
Polo* | |
Polocrosse* | |
Pool | |
Powerboating* |
|
Powerlifting |
|
Puck hockey (roller) |
|
Q
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Quoits |
|
R
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Racketball |
|
Rackets | |
Rafting* |
|
Rambling | |
Real tennis | |
Roller derby |
|
Roller sports | |
Rounders | |
Rowing | |
Rugby league | |
Rugby union |
S
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Sailing and yachting* | |
Sand and land yachting | |
Shinty |
|
Shooting* (air, clay target, crossbow, muzzle loading, pistol, rifle and target) |
|
Show jumping* | |
Skateboarding |
|
Skater hockey (roller) |
|
Skiing* | |
Skipping |
|
Snooker |
|
Snooker and billiards |
|
Snowboarding* | |
Softball | |
Sombo* |
|
Speed skating (roller) |
|
Speedway* |
|
Squash | |
Stoolball | |
Sub aqua* | |
Surf life saving* | |
Surfing | |
Swimming and diving |
T
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Table tennis | |
Taekwondo* |
|
Tang Soo Do* | |
Tennis | |
Tenpin bowling | |
Trampolining* | |
Triathlon | |
Tug of war |
U
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Ultimate (frisbee) |
V
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Volleyball |
W
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Wakeboarding* |
|
Water polo |
|
Water skiing* | |
Weightlifting | |
Wheelchair basketball | |
Wheelchair rugby | |
Windsurfing* |
|
Wrestling |
Y
Recognised sports | National governing bodies |
---|---|
Yoga |
Our funding for national governing bodies (NGBs) has different objectives depending on the NGB involved. For example, while most are funded to support people who are regularly active, some are also funded to help inactive people into sport and physical activity, while others are funded to support those who are fairly active (meaning they don’t do quite enough activity to meet the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines).
Across the 49 NGBs we’re funding during our 2017-2021 strategy period, there are 88 diversity targets split between women and girls, lower socio-economic groups, disability, older people, people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, and people who identify as LGBT+.
A key element of these investments is to ensure sustainability for our partners, both by being more efficient with the existing resources available and being able to find funding from a variety of sources.
All the funding awarded since April 2017 followed detailed discussions with each governing body about what contribution they could make to our strategy.
Receipt of funding was also conditional on the organisation meeting the requirements in our Code for Sports Governance.
Our success stories
Back to Netball
We've invested more than £55 million of National Lottery money in netball-specific projects over the last decade. This has included contributing to the elite Vitality Roses, as well as supporting the Back to Netball campaign, which has seen more than 110,000 people get back into the sport.
Back to Netball sessions are running across England and give women of all ages a gentle re-introduction to the sport. Run by passionate and enthusiastic coaches, sessions cover the basics of the game.
02 Touch Rugby
For those who like rugby but not the full contact version, the RFU, through our investment, has created more opportunities to play informal, social and non-contact touch rugby, including more chances to play rugby sevens around the country.
O2 Touch is a fun and friendly environment for both men and women of all abilities to get involved in touch rugby.
Related content
This investment guide explains our approach to tackling inactivity, with support and guidance for organisations who'd like to work with us.
Our Community Asset Fund is a capital fund dedicated to enhancing the spaces in your local community that give people the chance to be active.
To ensure people who are engaged in sport and physical activity have the best possible experience, the workforce must be recruited, developed and supported in the right way.
Our vision for sports clubs is to help them create great experiences for all in high quality, safe and sustainable environments.
Safeguarding advice and guidance for parents, carers, organisations, associations, clubs, activity providers, instructors, teachers, coaches and leaders.
See our advice on designing high-quality facilities, as well as guidance on planning applications that impact sporting provision, and our playing fields policy.
About the fund
The Sport Winter Survival Package was announced in November to protect the immediate future of major spectator sports in England that are being directly affected by coronavirus restrictions on spectators attending fixtures and events between October 2020 and March 2021.
It provides a total of £300 million in emergency funding and is designed to support those organisations who've suffered significant revenue losses and are in urgent financial need as a result of a loss of spectators.
The fund will be primarily distributed as loans and provides a targeted investment into spectator sports.
All of the relevant sports and organisations were engaged prior to the government’s announcement in order to determine their specific needs and to assess the level of support they might require.
Provisional assessments of need were made based upon the preliminary financial information they provided, but these numbers were only indicative and each sport will need to go through a formal application process to access support through the scheme.
Independent decision-making board
We'll be administering this emergency funding, but the Secretary of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has appointed a new, independent, board who'll oversee the funding process and make all investment decisions related to the package.
The Board members are:
- Sir Ian Cheshire (Chair), chairman of Barclays Bank UK PLC
- Lord Patel of Bradford, chairman of Social Work England and senior board director at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
- Nick Timothy, non-executive board member of the Department for Education, and member of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee
- Denise Lewis, sports presenter and Olympic heptathlon gold medallist
- Tim Hollingsworth, chief executive of Sport England
- Natalie Ceeney, Vice-Chair of Sport England and chair of Innovate Finance
- Sally Munday, chief executive of UK Sport
- Ben Dean, director of sport, gambling and ceremonials at DCMS
The Whyte Review
Together with UK Sport, we’ve co-commissioned a fully independent review into allegations of abuse in gymnastics.
The structure of the review, alongside its terms of reference, were published on 25 August 2020.
The review is being led by Anne Whyte QC, and it would like to hear from individual gymnasts, parents, carers or guardians of gymnasts, gymnastics coaches, British Gymnastics staff or former staff and any other organisations and individuals who want to provide information.
Evidence should be submitted to the Secretariat to the Whyte Review via info@whytereview.org by 5pm on Friday 25 September 2020.
Read the independent review’s terms of reference, frequently asked questions, and biographies for the QC and her advisors Mike Cave and Tonia Couch, plus find out how you can get in touch with the review, via the Whyte Review website.