Sport England
SportsAid is an acknowledged critical system partner by Sport England, the principle investor in the England Talent Pathway environment, and the charity has a loyal and long-standing relationship with the Government’s leading body for grassroots sport.
SportsAid is currently managing the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS), Backing The Best programme and Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) on behalf of Sport England.
Who are Sport England?
Sport England is an arms-length body of Government responsible for growing and developing grassroots sport and getting more people active across England. Sport England started out as The Sports Council, an independent body under the Department of National Heritage, that was established by Royal Charter in 1972.
In 1996, an amended Royal Charter established The English Sports Council, which came into being on 1 January 1997, as The Sports Council was reorganised into UK Sport and the home nations sports councils. This led to being rebranded as Sport England in 1999.
Sport England is working to keep movement, sport and physical activity central to the lives of everyone through a combination of National Lottery funding and grant-in-aid from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Sport England is classified as a non-departmental Government body with around two-thirds of its funding coming from Lottery players.
Sport England's Mission
Sport England is here to invest in sport and physical activity to make it a normal part of life for everyone in England, regardless of who you are. Because it’s not always a level playing field. 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. Sport England is determined to tackle this and unlock the advantages of sport and physical activity for everyone.
Uniting the Movement
This isn’t just about Sport England’s long-standing purpose of helping more people to enjoy playing sport and being physically active. Sport England believes that by removing existing barriers to sport and activity, we can be part of a bigger picture of work that helps to address many of society’s biggest challenges.
Uniting the Movement is Sport England’s 10-year strategy for 2021-31 aiming to do just that. Together, we can change lives for the better in every home, and in every community, right across the country.
In simple terms, Sport England’s support is an enabler: it enables SportsAid to build as an organisation and improve its effectiveness; it enables SportsAid to act, with a clear mandate to help young talent; and it enables focus, with specific funding for specific tasks such as the world-leading Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, Backing The Best and Diploma in Sporting Excellence. Crucially, this support also enables the ability of SportsAid to get out into a very competitive marketplace to find more help and support for talent.