10th May 2022
Partnership with Sport England

Wesport is amongst a group of over 120 organisations working in partnership with Sport England to level up access to sport and physical activity across the country. 

Wesport will receive expertise, support and an investment of 2.7m over 5 years of government and National Lottery funding from Sport England to co-deliver the ambitions of its 10-year Uniting the Movement strategy.

Sport England research shows that some groups are typically less active – like women, people with long-term health conditions, disabled people, people from ethnically diverse communities and lower socio-economic groups. Right now, the opportunities to get involved in sport and activity – and reap the rewards of being active – depend too much on your background, your gender, your bank balance and your postcode.

The Wesport strategy outlines our commitment to ensuring people from lower socio-economic areas and under-represented groups have improved access to sport and physical activity, helping to improve their health, community, skills and ambitions.

Over £550million is being invested in total, with the partners including Wesport receiving funding for up to five years. This new funding model from Sport England provides longer-term financial security as organisations recover and reinvent from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

All partner organisations were selected by Sport England due to their ability to influence change and improvement at the heart of the system they are a part of, no matter how big or small.  This is the first step on a journey to revolutionise Sport England’s approach to long-term partnerships as it seeks to partner and collaborate with innovative organisations to deliver Uniting the Movement and build a nation where everyone can get active.

Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of Sport England, said:

“Sport England’s goal is to get everyone active– no matter who they are, where they live, or what their background is. But we know that certain groups – including people from lower socio-economic areas and culturally diverse communities – are more likely to be inactive. We can only innovate and tackle inequalities effectively by thinking about long-term change; Uniting the Movement is a long-term vision, and our funding approach needs to reflect that. Changes to our funding model will help us achieve our goal, by making it easier for our partners to do what they need to do to level up and deliver.”

Steve Nelson, CEO of Wesport, said:

“This 5 year investment from Sport England recognises their trust in Wesport as a system partner, with a key role in supporting the goals of their strategy, Uniting The Movement. This will significantly aid our long term planning and the delivery of Wesport’s strategy and our local priorities across the West of England.”