Sport England Announces £195m Sports Fund

April 10, 2020 

Last week, Sport England announced a £195 million funding package to help its partners, clubs and community organisations cope with the short and long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The fund specifically targets organisations, including those not currently supported by Sport England, who have a role in supporting the nation to be active but who are experiencing short term financial hardship or have ceased operations due to the ongoing crisis. 

The types of organisations eligible include local sports clubs forced to close at short notice but who are facing ongoing costs around maintenance and utility bills, and voluntary and community sector organisations who deliver or enable sport and physical activity. 

The package, which is a combination of National Lottery and UK government funding consists of the following: 

• A £20 million Community Emergency Fund, which will be opened immediately for clubs and community organisations to bid. Grants between £300 and £10,000 are available. 
  
• A £5 million fund for existing partners to bid into if they’re facing specific financial difficulty. 
  
• An additional £55 million to support our sector during an ongoing period of restrictions, to fund new and innovative ways to keep people active and, when the period of restrictions is over to help organisations get back to business and adjust to a different environment.
• A £115 million rollover of current funding into 2021/2022 to give long term certainty to over 100 well-established partners who play a vital role in the delivery of sport and physical activity in England. 
  

Given cash flow concerns in the sector, Sport England has also agreed to consider requests to release six months of the coming year’s funding to its partners, meaning additional funding will be made available sooner. 

The package follows Sport England’s recent decision to offer major flexibilities to those who currently receive funding – including the ability to change timings, key performance indicators, targets and conditions, and redirect money to new activity in response to COVID19. 

“We want the sector not just to come through this crisis but to be in a position to thrive again in the future and this package will ease the pressure on a huge number of the organisations who are central to that,” said Sport England’s Chief Executive, Tim Hollingsworth. 

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden, said everything is being done to support the sport sector and keep Britain active through these challenging times. 

"This multi-million-pound package of public funding will not only help local sports clubs facing financial concerns but also encourage people to stay fit at home," he added. 

"When it is safe to do so, we want our brilliant community sport organisations to bounce back and we will work alongside Sport England and others to make that happen.”  

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