Get Britain Working White Paper – the role of sport and physical activity

Last week the government published its Get Britain Working White Paper, which it aims to use as the driving force to increase rates of employment and support economic growth.

In this article, CIMSPA Chief Strategy Officer, Spencer Moore, explores the role that our sector has in helping to achieve the government’s ambitions.

“With 2.8 million people economically inactive in the UK which is almost 22% of the population, the government recognises that it needs a renewed focus with a more effective strategy to help more people into sustainable employment.

This new white paper sets out an intention to use reforms to education and skills, employment support and healthcare policy, alongside a stated £240million investment, to address the barriers that people face to working.

The strategy outlined in Get Britain Working includes a number of areas of focus where the government intends to direct efforts to achieve an employment rate of 80% by the end of this parliament.

Our sector has a vital role across these areas of focus.

We open the door to engaging young people who feel the most excluded from learning and work, we prevent people developing chronic health conditions which can prevent them from working, we help those experiencing health and wellbeing barriers to be more active boosting their recovery and we offer fantastic opportunities for people looking for a fulfilling dynamic career.

Our sport and physical activity workforce are integral to achieving the aims set out in this white paper and as the professional status of the brilliant people driving communities to be more active builds, each of these areas of focus will reap the benefits of our professionally recognised sector.

Young people

Currently 1 in 8 young people are not in employment, education or training (NEET) and the white paper sets out a Youth Guarantee which aims to provide every young person aged 18–21 in England with an apprenticeship, quality training or job opportunities. The Youth Guarantee also includes a commitment to expand training and careers advice services for 16–17 year olds.

Our sector offers a range of career opportunities that appeal to young people and sport and physical activity can be a great conduit to re-engaging young people that are not in learning, training or work. Often these young people have become disillusioned with academic learning and have been unable to find a place to utilise and develop their skills. Sport and physical activity can be a means to them developing their confidence and resilience, building other valuable skills such as communication and team work, and providing a positive purpose.

Organisations like StreetGames, offer young people in challenging circumstances and who may not be engaging with learning or work, the opportunity to develop their skills, improve their wellbeing and become more engaged through their informal community sports initiatives.

This type of work is integral to getting those young people who are NEET to re-engage ahead of progressing into learning, training and work.

And careers in our sector present fantastic opportunities for young people. Over 30% of roles in our sector are carried out by people under the age of 25. Our sector provides skills in communication, customer service, teamwork and many other transferrable areas that serve people throughout their careers whether they remain in our sector or choose to build a career elsewhere.

When we talk to young people working in our sector about their role and what they enjoy, there are a number of themes, some obvious like flexible hours (which can fit with learning), being part of a team, others that aren’t like being a role model, helping people and giving back to their community.

All of these factors are why the Youth Guarantee should look to our sector and organisations like Coach Core who are creating apprenticeship and job opportunities for young people who have struggled to find a place to develop their skills and start a career.

Support for people with health conditions and disabilities

Currently 2.5 million people are not working due to long-term health conditions. This is at a record level. The white paper recognises the impact of ill-health on economic inactivity, with plans to connect health and employment policy with an intention to expand access to mental health services and introduce employment advisers linked to NHS trusts. There is a plan to focus on areas of the country where there are high rates of unemployment due to health conditions with the introduction of NHS Accelerators.

Our sector must be at the heart of this. As we outlined in recent submissions to the NHS 10 Year Plan consultation, physical activity must be embedded as a central branch of government strategy and operations to ensure that everyone can recognise and access the benefit of an active lifestyle to reduce the risk of preventable illness and improve the condition management and recovery of those impacted by ill-health.

We also expressed the importance of our sector in our response to the consultation on the government’s Industrial Strategy, highlighting that every industry and employer needs an active, healthy workforce in order to be effective, productive and to achieve economic growth. Our sector is integral to supporting an active, healthy population who are able to be employed.

There are great examples of where organisations in our sector are working with healthcare professionals to help people with health conditions to recover, become more active and subsequently be able to move into employment or training.

Organisations like Sport for Confidence, who are working collaboratively with stakeholders across our sector and health care professionals to use physical activity to help people overcome barriers to doing life activities, including work.

The white paper also announces an independent review that will look at how organisations can be supported to recruit and develop employees with health conditions and disabilities. Again, our sector has a key role to play in this work with physical activity provision that meets the needs for people with disabilities and long-term health conditions through the professional standards for working inclusively, working with inactive people and working with people with long-term conditions.

It’s also important that the government doesn’t forget that absence rates in working people are at 2.6% (2022 figures), the highest in almost 20 years. In some sectors and areas of the UK, the rate is considerably higher. For those people working in the NHS for example, the absence rate reported at the start of this year was 5.5%. With long-term sickness absence not only impacting employers but often leading to periods of economic inactivity, as part of its policy, government must enable our sector to support employers to improve the active wellbeing of their staff and intervene where possible with employees that do become unwell.

More support for jobseekers

The government plans to make significant changes to jobcentres and job search support with a more personalised approach, enhanced support through the National Careers Service and online resources, and training for those helping jobseekers to find roles.

Our sector offers a wealth of opportunities for people seeking work. With roles that have flexibility to fit around other life commitments, jobs within sport and physical activity are attractive to those looking for new options particularly after a period of being out of the workforce.

In the last two months there have been over 22,000 unique job posts across core roles within our sector with an average salary of £27,600.

Although a number of these roles will require experience and recognised qualifications, one of the biggest challenges is awareness of these opportunities amongst jobseekers.

This is why CIMSPA is collaborating with DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) to provide training for their employment advisers in opportunities and careers available in sport and physical activity.

Alongside this we are also working with partners on Skills Bootcamps to get people ready to take on roles within the sector.

The local approach

It’s been announced that there will be a pilot of a localised approach to work, health and skills development programmes. The aim is that these will focus on enabling local authorities and regional mayoralties to tailor employment support to their local needs.

Our sector is already leading the way in this work through Local Skills Accountability Boards (LSABs) which have been established across 35 areas of the UK. As part of the Sport England funded Local Skills Project, these boards bring together all stakeholders across an area to establish the sport and physical activity skills needs of the location. This is always linked to local health and economic priorities, with every area establishing that a skilled sport and physical activity workforce is essential for ensuring an active, healthy population who are able to work across all industries in the area.

In addition, our sector is pioneering curriculum design with FE Colleges adapting their qualifications and courses to reflect local employer needs and health priorities to ensure that students are best equipped to move into employment on completion.

Reforming the Levy

The Apprenticeship Levy is to be transformed into the Growth and Skills Levy which will aim to offer greater flexibility on the training that employers can invest in.

This is an important move for employers in our sector as greater flexibility will enable them to be supported with financing training and skills development that will most benefit their business, potentially allowing them to recruit and train new sector entrants for effectively.

Conclusion

This white paper alongside plans released for Skills England, the consultations for the Industrial Strategy and 10-Year Plan for Health and the governments five missions can all be more impactful with cross departmental policy which has our sector at the heart of it.

Without harnessing the power of our sector and in particular sport and physical activity professionals to ensure an active, healthy population and workforce for every industry and every organisation, it will be impossible for the government to achieve its aims.”