The public body that invests National Lottery and government money in grassroots sport and physical activity in England, with its headquarters in Loughborough.
Sport England is a non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, that works to grow sport and physical activity in England, remove barriers to being active and help talented people reach elite levels. Rather than running clubs or teams itself, it funds and works with others: it supports a network of active partnerships and more than 130 'system partners', including national governing bodies of sport. It also has a planning role: it is a statutory consultee on planning applications that affect playing fields. Its work ranges from protecting playing fields to funding campaigns.
Sport England's strategy is Uniting the Movement, a ten-year plan published in January 2021. A main goal is tackling inequalities by investing in the people and communities with the greatest need. In 2024 it launched Every Move, its first environmental sustainability strategy. Its best-known campaign is This Girl Can, launched in 2015 with National Lottery funding, to get more women moving. It also supports We Are Undefeatable, for people with long-term health conditions, Play Their Way, a child-first coaching approach, and the Movement Fund, launched in April 2024 as a single place to apply for grants.
The organisation's headquarters is in Loughborough, according to Wikipedia. It is also linked to national sports centres at Bisham Abbey and Lilleshall, and its Active Places website helps people find sports facilities across England. Its work reaches communities through partnerships rather than offices, so many of the people it supports will never see a Sport England building. The Wikipedia entry names Tim Hollingsworth as chief executive and Chris Boardman as chair, but we have not confirmed these against the organisation's own site.
The founding story is a little tangled even on its own Wikipedia page: the page says the body was set up by royal charter in September 1996 as the English Sports Council, became fully operational as Sport England in January 1997, and traces earlier roots to The Sports Council of 1972. The page lists Buddle, launched in December 2023, a guidance hub for community clubs, and Active Design, guidance on designing places that encourage activity, first published in 2007 and updated in 2023. The page did not describe staff culture.
Jobs at Sport England match its work. There are investment and partnerships managers who work with sports and local organisations, insight and data analysts who study who is and is not active, campaign and communications teams behind This Girl Can, policy and planning advisers, and finance and corporate staff. If you care about getting more people moving, or about fairness and health, this is a clear example of how those interests become careers. The Sport England website lists current roles.
Website: www.sportengland.org
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