Jennie PriceChief ExecutiveSport England

The importance of programmes targeting young women from disadvantaged areas

• Why this is a priority for Sport England

• How this fits into our wider work

• What we’ve learnt

• What next

Addressing inequalities in participation - gender

Boys (16) Girls (16) Men Women0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

69%

47%

41%

31%

Regular participation

Source: Active People Survey, results for 12 months to October 2012. 1 x 30 refers to at least one 30 minutes session of sport per week

Addressing inequalities in participation - income

Wealthiest Disadvantaged0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%43%

27%

Regular participation

Source: Active People Survey, results for 12 months to October 2012. 1 x 30 refers to at least one 30 minutes session of sport per weekWealthy refers to NS-SEC 1-2, Disadvantaged refers to NS-SEC 5-8

The numbers are significant

• Over 7 million women in the lower social grades:– 37% of adult women– 19% of all adults

Women Men -

5

10

15

20

25

7.26 7.31

11.99 12.87

Adults by social grade (mil-lions)

NS SEC 1-4

NS SEC 5-8

Source: ONS, data for adults (16-74). Chart does not include NS SEC 9 (not classified). NS SEC 5-8 is lower supervisory and technical, semi-routine and routine occupations, never worked and long term unemployed

APS1 (Oct 2005-

06)

2006-07 APS2 (Oct 2007-

08)

APS3 (Oct 2008-

09)

APS4 (Oct 2009-

10)

APS5 (Oct 2010-

11)

APS6 (Oct 2011-

12)

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

33.6% 34.0% 33.6% 33.3% 33.4%34.8%

23.0% 23.6% 22.7% 22.1%20.9%

23.0%

NS SEC 1-4

NS SEC 5-8

Base: All women Source: Sport England Active People Survey

% of women participating in at least one session of 30 minute sport per week at a moderate intensity

Trend over time

Girls from deprived backgrounds do less sport than wealthier peers

Source: Chart: Active People Survey, results for 12 months to October for years shown (based on 1 x 30 participation)NSSEC NS SEC1,1.1,1.2,2 Managerial and professional, NS SEC3 Intermediate, NS SEC4 Small employers / own account workersNS SEC5,6,7,8 Lower supervisory/technical/ routine /semi-routine/never worked /long term unemployed

2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/120.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

45.00%

50.00%

Participation by 16-25 year old girls by demographic group

NS SEC 1-4

NS SEC 5-8

Source CLG: 2011 release, 2010 and 2008 data

Deprived areas

Source CLG: 2011 release, 2010 and 2008 data

Deprived areas

• Over 5 million people live in the most deprived areas in England

• 98% of the most deprived places are in urban areas with pockets of deprivation in rural areas

• The situation is relatively static: 88 per cent of the areas that are the most deprived in 2010 were also amongst the most deprived in 2007

Sport England strategic objectives

• Year on year increase in the number of people in England playing sport at least once a week

• A particular emphasis on 14-25 year olds, to create a sporting habit for life

• A significant increase in the number of people with a disability playing sport regularly

Key components of creating a habit for life• Long term investment in 46 NGBs

– based on clear participation targets– payment for results

• Specific programmes aimed at 'transition points'– Satellite clubs– HE and FE

• Targeted local investment

• Extra effort on disability sport

Where public funds make most difference

• Targeting NGB efforts on participation

• Disability sport

• Encouraging a strategic approach to local authority investment in sport

• Leveraging other investment

• Lower socio-economic groups

Sport England programmes focussed on lower socio-economic groups

• Door step clubs

• Get on Track

• Active Women

Active Women programme

• £7.5m revenue funding awarded to 20 projects

• 3 national, 17 local to deliver for up to three years from January 2011

• all projects are targeting women in disadvantaged communities and/or women caring for children

• StreetGames received the largest single award (consortium of 45 projects)

Headline findings from year 1 MonitoringRecruitment is going well:• Overall projects achieved 99% of their total year 1 participants

target

Reaching women from the target groups is not straightforward:• Projects on women from deprived areas attracted 57% of their

target • Projects on women caring for children attracted 65% of their

target

Retention is also proving challenging:• Overall projects reporting throughput achieved 42% of their year

1 target

Headline findings from year 1Impact

Women reported very positive impacts:• 61% said they had done more sport in the previous

month than in the month before their involvement with the AW project (17% did the same and 21% did less)

• 28% said they would have done no sport without the AW project (48% would have done less while 22% would have done at least as much)

• 99% had fun, 89% felt fitter, and 88% felt better about themselves

Lessons from year 1Attracting women to take part

Session timesVenue location

Childcare facilities Drop in sessions

Cost

Contact from project staff

Social dynamic of sessions

Atmosphere / tone of sessions

Project coaches

Incentives

What makes a difference:• Face to face recruitment • Personal follow up contact• Overtly encouraging existing participants to ‘bring a

friend’• Wide promotion • Linking with partner organisations• Providing easy access to practical information about

what the sessions will entail• Providing reassurance to address women’s

concerns about attending

This requires:• Convenient session times• Accessible venue locations• Childcare facilities• Drop-in sessions• Affordable prices

Lessons from year 1Retaining women in activity

And:• Frequent contact from project staff• Social dynamic of sessions• Soft skills of project coaches• Incentives

Lessons from year 1Retaining women in activity

• Active Women - continued delivery, more evaluation

• Place based pilot:– Creating the best possible

environment for women to choose sport

– Working with a range of providers and influencers

– Creating social groups where playing sport is the norm 

Next steps