Sport and physical activity create £3.91 of social and economic value for each pound spent

Every £1 spent on sport and physical activity in England returns £3.91 of social and economic value.

The figure comes from a progress report on Sport England’s strategy, Uniting the Movement. The report charts how Sport England and its funding and programming are performing, as the sports body heads into year two of its second implementation plan.

According to the report, England now has record high physical activity levels – with 1.02 million more active adults when compared to last year. Other headline figures include a 1.4% increase in children in Years 3-6 reporting three or more positive attitudes to sport and physical activity.

When it comes to facility development, the report shows that Sport England has funded 250 football and multi-sport pitches over the last quarter.

Tim Hollingsworth, Sport England CEO, said: “The report shows how Uniting the Movement is starting to grip with participation at record levels.

“It shows the foundations we’re building to achieve our mission of creating an active nation that will lead to increased activity levels, decreased inactivity levels, narrowing inequalities within sport and physical activity and an improvement in the experiences of children and young people when being active.

“But we know we can’t do this alone, and we thank the sector and our partners for continuing to work with us to help achieve our goals.”