The video consists of a series of animated infographics. This description explains the text on screen and the animated sequences linking them.
A white box appears on a blue screen, with £122.9 billion written in it. Surrounding the box are a running shoe, a whistle and a tennis racket, with a tennis ball flying in from the left hand side of the screen and bouncing off the racket.
Beneath the box, text appears reading:
Total annual social value of sport and physical activity in England for 2023/24.
The blue background glides in from the edges of the screen, replaced by a white background, with the white box in the centre changing to blue and the sports equipment disappearing.
A blue line draws down from the blue box, splitting in half, side to side, and transforms into two blue arrows, pointing down at graphic beneath them.
On the left is a green circle with a head and shoulders with a heart inside the head, beneath it is a green box with £106.9 billion in, beneath which is written:
Primary value of sport and physical activity: individual wellbeing.
On the right is an orange circle with three figures depicted in it, beneath it is an orange box with £15.9 billion in, beneath which is written:
Secondary value of sport and physical activity: wider health value to society.
The arrows are connected by a part green, part orange line, with the proportion of the line in green matching the proportion of the total social value made up of the primary value, and the orange part corresponding to the proportion made up of the secondary value.
We focus on the green box, which changes colour to white, as the background turns green and a canoe and target appear on the screen, with three arrow hitting the target.
The screen transitions to a white background with a heading of £106.9 billion in primary value.
Three arrows point down from the heading to highlight:
£8.6 billion in adult volunteering to support sport and physical activity
£84.2 billion in adult participation
£14.1 billion in children and young people participation (ages 7-16)
The screen turns orange with a white box appearing in the middle with £15.9b billion in it, beneath it reads:
Secondary value of sport and physical activity: wider health value to society.
Around the white box, a head, a stethoscope, a heart and an icon representing a family appear.
The screen transitions to white, with an orange heading reading:
£15.9 billion in secondary value.
Two arrows point down from the heading to highlight:
- £8.0 billion or direct healthcare savings, which is made up of:
- £6.7 billion in direct healthcare savings from the prevention of 14 diseases and chronic health conditions.
- £1.4 billion from reduced GP visits and mental health service usage
- -£0.15 billion in healthcare for sports injuries
- £7.9 billion of indirect cost savings relating to social care, informal care and productivity losses avoided
The blue line reappears as the screen turns white again and we return to the blue box of £122.9 billion and the values for both primary and secondary value beneath it.
A purple background sweeps across the screen, with a white box in the middle containing £19.6 billion, beneath it reads:
Annual social cost of inequality in adult, children and young people physical activity levels (calculated from primary and secondary value for adults, but only primary value for children and young people.)
Around the white box are an uneven weighing scale, a ‘does not equal’ symbol and another scale with heads on each side, one side being higher than the other.
The purple background changes to white and the box in the middle to dark blue.
The box contains ‘4.38’ and beneath it reads:
The combined economic and social return on investment (RoI) for sport and physical activity.
The graphic disappear and the Sport England logo appears, beneath which reads:
To find out more, please see our report: sportengland.org/socialvalue, special thanks to our partners.
Beneath this, the logos for Manchester Metropolitan University, Sheffield Halla University and State of Life, appear.
The video ends.
Sport and physical activity contribute significantly to the health and wellbeing of England.
The first results from our updated model, which highlights the social value created by community sports, were published in 2024.
The latest figure, published in November 2025, was an estimated £122.9 billion in social value generated in 2023/24 alone.
This figure represents both primary value - the wellbeing benefits that individuals experience from being active - and secondary value, which reflects the cost savings to public services like healthcare.
Social value calculations are particularly important for community sport and physical activity, where lots of activity is self-organised or volunteer-led and much of its value to society comes in the form of improved wellbeing and better physical and mental health.
You can explore the findings of this model in detail through the reports outlined below - these consist of a summary report, as well as both primary and secondary value reports.
Social value broken down
The video consists of a series of animated infographics. This description explains the text on screen and the animated sequences linking them.
A white box appears on a blue screen, with £122.9 billion written in it. Surrounding the box are a running shoe, a whistle and a tennis racket, with a tennis ball flying in from the left hand side of the screen and bouncing off the racket.
Beneath the box, text appears reading:
Total annual social value of sport and physical activity in England for 2023/24.
The blue background glides in from the edges of the screen, replaced by a white background, with the white box in the centre changing to blue and the sports equipment disappearing.
A blue line draws down from the blue box, splitting in half, side to side, and transforms into two blue arrows, pointing down at graphic beneath them.
On the left is a green circle with a head and shoulders with a heart inside the head, beneath it is a green box with £106.9 billion in, beneath which is written:
Primary value of sport and physical activity: individual wellbeing.
On the right is an orange circle with three figures depicted in it, beneath it is an orange box with £15.9 billion in, beneath which is written:
Secondary value of sport and physical activity: wider health value to society.
The arrows are connected by a part green, part orange line, with the proportion of the line in green matching the proportion of the total social value made up of the primary value, and the orange part corresponding to the proportion made up of the secondary value.
We focus on the green box, which changes colour to white, as the background turns green and a canoe and target appear on the screen, with three arrow hitting the target.
The screen transitions to a white background with a heading of £106.9 billion in primary value.
Three arrows point down from the heading to highlight:
£8.6 billion in adult volunteering to support sport and physical activity
£84.2 billion in adult participation
£14.1 billion in children and young people participation (ages 7-16)
The screen turns orange with a white box appearing in the middle with £15.9b billion in it, beneath it reads:
Secondary value of sport and physical activity: wider health value to society.
Around the white box, a head, a stethoscope, a heart and an icon representing a family appear.
The screen transitions to white, with an orange heading reading:
£15.9 billion in secondary value.
Two arrows point down from the heading to highlight:
The blue line reappears as the screen turns white again and we return to the blue box of £122.9 billion and the values for both primary and secondary value beneath it.
A purple background sweeps across the screen, with a white box in the middle containing £19.6 billion, beneath it reads:
Annual social cost of inequality in adult, children and young people physical activity levels (calculated from primary and secondary value for adults, but only primary value for children and young people.)
Around the white box are an uneven weighing scale, a ‘does not equal’ symbol and another scale with heads on each side, one side being higher than the other.
The purple background changes to white and the box in the middle to dark blue.
The box contains ‘4.38’ and beneath it reads:
The combined economic and social return on investment (RoI) for sport and physical activity.
The graphic disappear and the Sport England logo appears, beneath which reads:
To find out more, please see our report: sportengland.org/socialvalue, special thanks to our partners.
Beneath this, the logos for Manchester Metropolitan University, Sheffield Halla University and State of Life, appear.
The video ends.
See the research
Summary report
A high-level overview of the key findings from Sport England’s updated model of social value.
See the reportPrimary value report
Explore the wellbeing benefits generated from participating and volunteering in sport and physical activity.
This report breaks down the £106.9bn of primary value produced in 2023/24, highlighting its significance for different demographic groups.
See the reportSecondary value report
Discover the £15.9bn of secondary value created through reduced disease cases and lower demands on health and social care services.
This report explains how physical activity prevents millions of cases of diseases like depression and Type 2 diabetes a year, generating substantial savings for the public sector.
See the reportSocial value where you are
Tax revenue generated
Technical note detailing how we estimate the government tax revenues generated by grassroots sport in England in 2023 - the most recent year for which such a calculation is possible.
See the technical noteEconomic impact: Sport Satellite Account for the UK
In addition to the social benefits, sport and physical activity makes a substantial contribution to the UK economy.
The latest Sport Satellite Account for the UK - with breakdowns for each home nation including England - presents the economic value of the sport sector for the year 2021.
This release, provided by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) in October 2024, examines the annual economic output, gross value added (GVA), and sport-related employment for the sector.
The overall value for the UK of £99.6bn, with the figure for England calculated to be £87bn, with a GVA of £46.7bn.
This analysis and insight into sport-related economic activity is complementary to our social value research, with both important to making informed and effective policy decisions.
Overall picture
Together, ours and the Government's models provide a robust and detailed understanding of how community sport and physical activity improves lives, delivers wider value to society and contributes to the nation's economy.
This evidence is crucial for making the case for continued investment in sport and physical activity, ensuring these benefits reach those who need them most.
Previous research
This model, first published in October 2024 and updated in November 2025, builds on previous research from 2000 that calculated for every £1 spent on community sport and physical activity, a return on onvestment (RoI) of £3.91 was created for individuals and society.
It also found the combined economic and social value (SROI) of taking part in community sport and physical activity in England in 2017/2018 was £85.5 billion.
Social and economic value of community sport and physical activity
The research showed that £42bn worth of value was created from improved life satisfaction for 24m participants and 3.9m volunteers through their involvement in sport and physical activity.
Read more about Social and economic value of community sport and physical activityThe findings also demonstrated how physical activity plays an important role in preventing a number of serious physical and mental health conditions, with the research showing this had a value of £9.5bn.
Of this amount, £5.2bn was in healthcare savings, while £1.7bn was in social care savings.
More than £3.6bn worth of savings were generated by the prevention of 900,000 cases of diabetes, while a further £3.5bn of value was generated through avoided dementia cases and the related care.
A total of £450 million was saved by preventing 30 million additional GP visits.
A further £20bn of value came from stronger and safer communities, including:
As with the new model, there were three reports produced for the 2000 publication.
A summary report, one on the SROI and one on the economic importance of sport and physical activity.
The reports were produced by the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, but we also published simple breakdowns of the social value figure for each local authority and Active Partnership area.
The spreadsheet, which consisted of three tabs of information:
Read less about Social and economic value of community sport and physical activity