The reality of the cost of living crisis on sport and physical activity

The cost of living crisis brings tremendous uncertainty, and the sport and physical activity sector is definitely not immune to this. Organisations are being forced to make very difficult decisions such as, How to develop and run services that are reaching the least active against the backdrop of less capacity and funding cuts?

Most of us will have noticed an increase in fuel, energy, and food prices. With winter and Christmas looming in the minds of many, this adds to the strain. The media is full of stories of people facing a stark choice between eating and heating in the colder months. Britons are turning to social media for tips and tricks to stay afloat as the crisis deepens. Energy saving hacks are flooding social media apps and the #costofliving hashtag has more than 490 million views. Some of the ideas shared on how to creatively cut down on spending include things like showering at the gym and charging your electronic devices in the office or on public transport. Society is trying to map out ways to survive using public places and spaces such as leisure centres and work.

What does this mean for the sports and physical sector?

For many people who take part in physical activity recreationally, paying for sports sessions, gym memberships and coaching qualifications is still viewed as a luxury. What we are now seeing is a reduction in people paying for memberships, National Governing Body affiliations and tickets to sporting events. The impact means that every corner of the sport and physical activity sector is struggling.

A new report by commissioned by Utilita Energy published in May this year revealed that as many as 2,600 grassroots football clubs have folded and a further 6,000 are at risk of closure between now and the end of next season.  The majority of parents and responsible adults surveyed said that affordability was getting in the way of their child’s participation (58%).  The two main barriers to their child returning to grassroots football were affording subs and the kit needed to play (34%). This figure has almost doubled since Utilita’s 2020 report where the figure was 18%.

Caerau Ely Rugby Football Club has also witnessed children dropping out as families can’t afford boots or petrol for travel. But it doesn’t just stop with disposal income and spending. The sport and physical activity sector is reliant on volunteers to help drive community outreach projects and programmes.  For volunteers, a reduced income is likely to impact on their free time and willingness to spend money on travel to get to sessions and events, which will be compounded during the winter months when people are more reliant on public or other forms of paid for transport.

The Games Legacy report, by London Sport, found more than a third of respondents agreed that the cost of living had limited people’s ability to afford equipment. It identified that more than half of adults living in London have had to cut back on all the aspects of spending considered in the survey, including sport and leisure. Council-run leisure centres run a high level of risk of closure in the capital due to this ongoing impact.

In June 2022, a coalition of organisations in the physical activity sector called for urgent support for leisure facilities struggling with rising energy costs. According to research by UK Active, 79% of public leisure facilities say that without support they are ‘likely’ or ‘extremely likely’ to cease operations within the next six months. Since then, Freedom Leisure has seen its annual energy bill increase from £8 million to £20 million, and this despite the recent government announcement outlining the short-term support available for businesses.

Swim England is calling for the industry to receive additional financial help to ensure vital swimming pools, providing a lifeline to millions of people, are not forced to close. Leisure centres have already taken steps to reduce running costs, such as reducing pool temperatures, cutting down on social activities and reducing weekend opening hours.

Across the Home Countries the picture is similar. In Wales, Calon Tysul, a community-run centre in Llandysul, Ceredigion, has already made service cuts as it faces losing £7,000 a month. It is now paying almost three times as much as last year to heat the pool as a result of soaring fuel prices.  Swim Wales said the centre was not alone and that many pools face uncertain futures because of increased running costs.

In Ireland despite a €35million fund being established, sports clubs are still likely to be deeply affected by the Cost of Living Crisis this winter. Fuel and energy costs are causing widespread financial strain as evidenced by conversations RTÉ Sport (Ireland’s public service broadcaster) has being having with clubs across a range of sports.

In performance sport, 63% of the 40 clubs surveyed by football reform group Fair Game, (including 12 EFL teams) said they would consider earlier kick-offs to help reduce energy bills as the hours of daylight diminish, if they were given permission.

So, what can we as a sector do? How do we respond to the ever increasing and complex needs of the people and communities that we support, without endangering the longer-term financial sustainability of our organisations?

We need to work together to ensure that as a sector we remain a crucial pillar within society. We know that there are still communities excluded from sport and physical activity so reaching a little wider, being consciously inclusive and working with more people will help achieve sustainability. There has never been a better time to welcome new people to sport.

We will be releasing a Cost of Living toolkit to support the sector and below an excerpt to give you a flavour of what will be covered.

To support grassroots sports

• Tackle the financial implications of new sports kits and have a ‘kit swap’ event. Somerset active partnership have recently held their second kit swap event.  
• Advice on how to run a kit swap or swish event
• Have a club “boot bank” where youngsters can exchange boots when they grow out of theirs.
• 10 UK sports grants clubs can apply for in 2022
• Invite more people to help volunteer, many hands make light work. Perhaps a job that requires 60 mins a week could be split across a few people, so that the time restrictions are easier to manage.
• Travel together – get to know people in your sports community and enable people to identify a travel buddy to reduce travel costs