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Coronavirus

This has been is no ordinary time, and we've all faced huge challenges. We're still committed to being as supportive as we can to the sport and physical activity sector, and doing all we can to help people make activity a part of their everyday life.

Latest government guidance

As of 1 April, we're in the government's 'Living with respiratory infections, including Covid-19' phase of their response to the coronavirus pandemic.

This means there are now no coronavirus-related legal restrictions in place.

All forms of activity can take place with no coronavirus-related restrictions on how many people can participate, and all sports facilities can open.

If you have any questions related to 'Living with respiratory infections' impact on sport and physical activity, please email returntoplay@sportengland.org.

Read the government's guidance

Coronavirus - our response

We knew this was a hugely challenging time for the sport and physical activity sector as the country dealt with the coronavirus pandemic.

Our two immediate priorities over this period were:

  • Supporting the sector: taking action to ensure it came through this period in as strong a position as possible
  • Keeping the nation moving: doing everything we could to encourage people to stay active, wherever possible, which is now more important than ever.

Click on the links further down this page to find out more about how we did this, including our funding support and the launch of our Join the Movement campaign.

Return to play

We compiled advice and guidance on how the sport and physical activity sector has and can prepare for a continuing safe return to play.

Our support includes research on what will help people return to play, plus advice for clubs, the professional workforce, volunteers and more.

See the guidance

A man holding a football, with a graphic overlay on top
A mum and daughter getting active together.

Join the Movement

Our Join the Movement campaign is all about inspiring people to keep active, pulling together trusted resources to help people do just that.

It's encouraging people to share their own ideas on social media.

Join the Movement

Activity levels research

We knew how and if people were getting active during the pandemic would, of course, change.

We worked with Savanta ComRes to understand the true picture throughout this period, and how people viewed getting and keeping active.

Read the latest findings

An overhead shot of a person running on a beach.
A man running in a park, with a graphical overlay of a pound sign on top

Funding, flexibility and innovation

A £270 million package of government and National Lottery funding was developed to help the sector through this crisis, including a Return to Play Fund.

We also introduced flexibility in managing our existing support to individuals and organisations, supported innovators working on solutions to inequalities in activity levels worsened by coronavirus and are managing the government's £600m Sport Survival Package.

Find out more

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