A STRATEGIC PLAY

Play England has published its 10-year strategy to “make play normal again” and to ensure every child has both a right and access to free play

Play England has published its new 10-year strategy, which has a vision to “make play normal again”. Launched at an event at the Houses of Parliament, the strategy’s main aims are to help create a society in which all children have the freedom to play and where play is an “accepted and visible part of everyday life”. Titled “It All Starts With Play”, at the heart of the strategy sits an ambitious objective: to restore a play-based childhood for all children in England by 2035.

Increasing opportunities

It All Starts With Play highlights how supervised activities and screen-time have taken over from unsupervised, “free” activities in which children can explore, discover and be physically active without being guided or limited. This has been caused by the loss of playgrounds and areas in which children can safely play – with any play time often limited to school hours.

According to the data presented in the strategy, a child’s opportunity to play freely and safely can also depend entirely on where they live, with urban areas particularly providing limited opportunities to them.

“When children are denied time, space, opportunity and freedom to play, the consequences ripple through every aspect of their lives – across the systems that surround them and across wider society,” Play England states in the strategy.

“Play deprivation is not just about missing out on fun, it means missing out on friendships, independence, physical activity, expression and the challenges that help children build confidence and resilience.”

We don’t need to fix children, we need to fix the system. And it all starts with play

Play deprivation

The data backs up Play England’s central claim – that play is essential to childhood and society, but is far too often ignored as a priority. According to Eugene Minogue, Executive Director of Play England, play is how children learn, grow, connect and thrive.

“Yet, for too long, play has been neglected in policy, practice and public life,” Minogue says. Children’s freedom to play has steadily eroded – by fear, traffic, time poverty, risk aversion nd shrinking space. The result is rising inequality, worsening mental health and a generation of children growing up disconnected from their communities and from their own freedom.”

In the strategy, Play England lays out plans to combat the “play deprivation” and to restore a play-based childhood for all children in England by 2035. It aims to do this through four interconnected priorities, which are:

SPACES

Creating play-friendly environments wherever children are and spend time – at home, school, on the street, in the parks or in digital spaces.

SKILLS

Recognising and supporting people who enable play opportunities – with playworkers at its core and a wider ecosystem of play enablers.

SYSTEMS

Building a resilient play sector and rebuilding the infrastructure for play through national policy, legislation, research and funding.

SOCIETY

Re-norming play as an essential, accepted part of childhood – shifting culture from risk-aversion and control to trust, freedom and joy.

People

Our ambition is to restore a play-based childhood for all children in England by 2035

“This strategy is a call to action,” Minogue says. “Our aim is to make play a normal and visible part of everyday life again. We want a shift to a culture where play is recognised, accepted and protected at school, in our streets, in our communities.

“We believe play deprivation is having a negative impact on both the education and development of children today – and we’re committed to helping to realise a child’s right to play.

“Our intention is to combine our expertise and networks to embed the principle of ‘play sufficiency’ during the school day. Together, we will champion the value of play in supporting children’s physical, social and cognitive development – and support schools create and harness more unstructured, active, and playful moments every day.

“This is not just about building new playgrounds. It’s about embedding play in how we build communities – so children don’t just have homes, they have a childhood.

“We don’t need to fix children, we need to fix the system. And it all starts with play.”

Flexible approach

The document is described as a “living strategy”, not a static document. Intended to guide Play England’s actions and priorities over the next decade, the organisation’s plan is to deliver it through a three year cycle of “reflect, reinvigorate and renew”. The approach is designed to ensure the strategy remains dynamic and adaptive.

Play England will also set up what it calls Children’s Assemblies to help deliver the strategy. These will be structured, child-led forums to embed children’s voices in strategy renewal, national policy and local action.

When it comes to measuring the strategy’s success, Play England has outlined some ambitious goals it wants to reach.

“We will know we are succeeding when all children have equitable access to safe, inclusive and enriching opportunities to play,” the strategy states. “Success means local and national systems recognising and protecting children’s right to play and for play to be not seen as a luxury – but essential for healthy childhoods and thriving communities.

“But above all, success will be defined by children themselves: when children can freely, safely and joyfully play in their homes, streets, schools and communities.”

Increasing awareness

The strategy is being published at a time when there is real momentum in driving play up the national consciousness – as well as the political agenda. The best example of this was the Westminster Hall debate earlier this year (January 2025), which marked a significant turning point in the national conversation on children’s play.

Led by Tom Hayes MP, the MP for Bournemouth East – who has become an important advocate for play – the discussion expanded far beyond the topic of ‘playgrounds’, powerfully emphasising the importance of unstructured free play, adventure playgrounds, active play and the essential role of Playworkers. Crucially, MPs from across the political spectrum united to call for inclusive, accessible, and equitable play spaces, places, and provision for all children.

The spotlight that the January debate shone on play – and how it is fundamental to children’s physical health, wellbeing, social development, and cognitive growth – has clearly worked. The political work on play has since increased and the Play England strategy launch was attended by a number of MPs.

There was also a big reason for the launch to take part at the House of Commons. This was revealed when Tom Hayes MP announced the launch of the first-ever all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on play – alongside a campaign to bring in a “play sufficiency duty” in England to match those in Wales and Scotland.

“Playgrounds are not part of statutory provision for councils at the moment,” Hayes said, announcing the APPG and the plans for the new duty. “We want to change this and it would be a big change.”

He added that the change in the law would be “no burden, no cost” to local authorities.

“We want to build more playgrounds and we want them to be inclusive for all children. The money for this can come from developers’ section 106 funds that they provide when they build new homes.”

As well as the full strategy document, Play England also launched a children’s version of the paper – as part of its commitment to involve children in its policy-making. The 10-page version uses language children recognise and can be downloaded by schools. To read the full strategy document, as well as the children’s version, visit: [www.playengland.org.uk/strategy](http://www.playengland.org.uk/strategy)