England Netball receives £21.2m in latest Sport England funding cycle

England Netball will receive expertise, support and an investment of £21,280,390 of government and National Lottery funding from Sport England over the next five years, to support the delivery of both their ‘Adventure Strategy’ and Sport England’s 10-year ‘Uniting the Movement’ strategy.

The funding will enable England Netball to drive sustained systemic change through the delivery of its purpose-led Adventure strategy that aims to open up netball to new audiences and help women and girls to belong, flourish and soar.

It will also support Sport England’s Uniting the Movement objectives across the next five years specifically focusing on tackling inequalities, levelling up access and helping to engage more people in netball.

Thanks to Sport England’s continued investment and support England Netball will accelerate the development and growth of the game, taking it to new audiences and tackling inequalities, elevating the visibility of the sport and leading a movement to impact lives on and beyond the court. Some examples of how the funding will benefit the sport include:

• Continuing to provide a thriving menu of personalised products and programmes with inclusion at the heart of their design to unlock the game to new audiences at all life stages
• Pilot and roll out of new programmes specifically designed to tackle inequalities, attracting and retaining new communities
• Deliver tailored learning offers to develop a thriving collective of coaches, officials and volunteers supporting the game and delivering an extraordinary experience in every environment
• Develop a network of pioneering partnerships, powered by a shared purpose
• Focus on children and young people to deliver world class first impressions, to retain teenage girls in the sport and help to form lifelong healthy lifestyles
• Embed governance structures that can support the Adventure Strategy and ignite a culture that facilitates every woman and girl to belong, flourish and soar in netball
• Deliver a world leading performance system and talent pathway whilst driving forward the professionalisation journey of the sport

Over £550million is being invested in total, with the partners including England Netball receiving funding for up to five years. This new funding model from Sport England provides longer-term financial security as organisations recover and rebuild following the Covid-19 pandemic.

All partner organisations were selected by Sport England due to their ability to influence change and improvement at the heart of the system they are a part of, no matter how big or small. This is the first step on a journey to revolutionise Sport England’s approach to long-term partnerships as it seeks to partner and collaborate with innovative organisations to deliver Uniting the Movement and build a nation where everyone can get active.

Fran Connolly, CEO of England said: “This is a year like no other for England Netball and we are at the very beginning of a decade-long adventure that we will see us reimagine what our sport could be, connecting with our audiences more powerfully than ever before. We are incredibly grateful to Sport England for this level of support that will help to accelerate our ambitious and game-changing plan for netball.”

Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of Sport England added: “Sport England’s goal is to get everyone active– no matter who they are, where they live, or what their background is. But we know that certain groups – like England Netball – are more likely to be inactive. We can only innovate and tackle inequalities effectively by thinking about long-term change; Uniting the Movement is a long-term vision, and our funding approach needs to reflect that. Changes to our funding model will help us achieve our goal, by making it easier for our partners to do what they need to do to level up and deliver.”

Find out more about our Adventure Strategy here.