Sport England announce £195million grassroots rescue package amid coronavirus shutdown

Sport England have announced a £195million rescue package to help community and grassroots sport through the coronavirus pandemic.

With national lockdown measures leading to the effective suspension of all amateur sport in the UK, clubs are facing significant financial hardship, while recreational facilities such as gyms, sports pitches and leisure centres have been forced to close.

To help the sector survive the shutdown, Sport England have announced a range of measures, including a £20m Community Emergency Fund, which will provide grants of up to £10,000 to struggling community groups and clubs and is available immediately.

There is also £55m being made available to help fund projects to keep the nation active during the lockdown and support organisations’ recovery once government restrictions are lifted.

The largest section of the publicly funded package consists of a £115m commitment to rollover current funding for more than 100 established partners into 2021/22, while requests are also being considered to bring forward funding payments this year in order to ease cashflow problems.

A statement from Sport England’s CEO Tim Hollingsworth said: “Sporting events are being cancelled, gyms and leisure centres are closed, clubs and community groups are not operating, and children and young people are all at home," added Tim.

“This is impacting the sector financially in a significant way, although it is heartening to see huge amounts of innovation and agility, with many operators getting classes online in a matter of days to enable home workouts for example.

“As the body responsible for the growth of sport and physical activity at a grassroots level, we have an important role to play both in ensuring that we support those with short term cashflow concerns and immediate loss of income, as well as those facing medium and long term survival challenges and financial difficulties.

“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.”