SWIMMING

The aquatics sector faces a number of challenges – but also plenty of opportunities, as swimming remains among the most popular activities in the UK

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In November 2024, Swim England published what it described as a “bold, unwavering commitment to change” with the launch of a new strategy. Called One Swim England, the strategy sets out the national governing body’s vision for swimming, which is for the sport to provide “Great experiences in water. For all. For life”. At the heart of the plans are four values – “we include”, “we are ambitious”, “we collaborate” and “we do what’s right”. The values underpin a total of 18 goals, which set out the organisation’s roadmap for the future.

A collaborative effort

The strategy was created, in part, with the help of insight received from Vision and Values Roadshows – a nationwide tour of events, organised by Swim England and attended by hundreds of participants, volunteers, coaches, parents, event organisers, regional representatives and pool operators. According to Andy Salmon, Swim England CEO, the views from the roadshow mean that cultural change and collaboration “run through the strategy like a golden thread”.

“One Swim England represents a significant milestone, for us as an organisation and, I hope, the whole of the aquatics community,” Salmon said.

“It’s so important that we are a listening organisation and do things with, rather than ‘to’, the aquatics community. To that end, we undertook a huge listening exercise, running 26 ‘Vision and Values’ sessions around the country for any member of the aquatics community to come and tell us their views on the future of aquatics and what they wanted to see from Swim England and crucially the values that were important to them.

It’s so important that we are a listening organisation and do things with, rather than ‘to’, the aquatics community

“Hundreds of people took part in those sessions and more than 1,000 gave their views online, helping to shape the strategy that has emerged as an output and strengthening it in the process through their involvement. I’m excited about the mandate this has given us to lead the sports combined with our commitment to serving a growing aquatics community.”

Salmon adds that the name of the strategy is intentional. “We named the strategy One Swim England as we wanted to articulate our ambition to improve collaboration, both internally and externally. To plagiarise the former US President Harry Truman, I believe that if we all worry less about who takes the credit, it will be amazing what can be accomplished.”

Setting targets

Of the strategy’s overall 18 goals, eight priorities have been identified for 2025. These are people; shifting the culture; building trust; creating stronger clubs; growing revenues; providing a connected digital ecosystem; having an effective Learn to Swim programme; and a focus on welfare and safeguarding. These have been selected to reflect what Swim England sees as the immediate priorities to help the sport. Growing revenues, for example, has been included to counteract the huge economic pressures that many swimming pool operators find themselves in.

Policy

“It would simply not be possible, nor appropriate, to focus on all 18 goals in the next 12 months,” Salmon says. “We have prioritised the areas that we believe will lay the foundations for long term, sustainable success, right across the strategy.

“This strategy is our new roadmap for the future. Behind the strategy sit a number of very tangible KPIs that we, and the wider swimming community, will hold ourselves accountable to for the duration of the strategy.”

The success of the strategy will be measured through a number of metrics. These include, at the community level, regular updates on participation rates and demographics, customer satisfaction rates, membership data, diversity of membership data and revenue. In addition, the number of volunteers, teachers, coaches and officials will be monitored and reported.

Meanwhile, elite and competitive success will be measured in the number of medals and through rankings. There will also be metrics measuring carbon footprint, to assess swimming’s sustainability at all levels.

ONE SWIM ENGLAND – THE 18 STRATEGY GOALS

Swim England’s strategy’s overall mission is to lead and serve an aquatics community to enable safe, enjoyable and successful experiences. The 18 goals have been divided into three categories.

FOUNDATIONS ● Shift the culture ● Trusted welfare & safeguarding ● Stronger clubs ● Effective Learn to Swim ● Access to water ● Outstanding events ● Success on the world stage

ENABLERS ● Build trust ● Connected digital ecosystem ● Outstanding people ● Grow revenues ● Operational excellence ● Environmental sustainability

COMMUNITY GROWTH ● Tackling inequalities ● Increasing engagement ● Grow open water ● Lifelong participation ● Aquatics for health

Ensuring access to water in the future will be a critically important challenge

Challenging times

The strategy comes at a time when swimming operators and swimming pool facilities are facing increasing financial pressures, ageing facilities and rising operational costs. This has led to many more pools and leisure centres being at risk of closure, leaving communities without vital spaces for physical activity and social connection. Swim England analysis, published in June 2025, revealed that 76% of the publicly accessible water space lost in the past 15 years has disappeared since 2020, highlighting the escalating crisis facing the sector.

The data also showed that 500 swimming pools have been lost since 2010, totalling a massive 34,859 square metres of water space. Of all the pools lost in that time, almost half (42%) have been lost since 2020. The decrease in opportunities to swim is reflected The analysis was used by Swim England and industry body, ukactive, in their efforts to get the Government to provide support for swimming pools and leisure centres in June’s Comprehensive Spending Review, as well as in the NHS 10-year plan. A positive step forward has been the announcement of funding to support up to 350 communities, which includes investment to improve swimming pools. This was followed by the announcement of £400 million for grassroots sports facilities. The work now is to ensure that as much of this funding as possible finds its way to swimming pools and leisure centres, where it can have a lasting impact.

Salmon recognises that it isn’t the easiest of times for the aquatics sector – but remains positive about the road ahead. “There are many challenges facing aquatics in the coming years, but also many opportunities and exciting areas to help even more people enjoy all the benefits that the water can bring,” he says.

“We can’t ignore the huge challenges facing pools, leisure centres and lidos. We’ve seen almost 500 publicly available swimming pools lost in England since 2010 and many more under threat as a result of the well-publicised pressures, including massively increased operating costs – particularly in energy and staffing. Therefore, ensuring access to water in the future will be a critically important challenge to address for everyone who relies on the water.

“We also know that there remains much work to do to tackle the existing inequalities we see in both participation and swimming attainment levels so we have to retain a focus on making sure swimming is an activity that truly is for everyone. That’s why we published our Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) in March, which aligns with the new strategy.

“On the opportunities front, the continued growth of outdoor swimming, the potential to better serve masters swimmers to support that lifelong participation in aquatics and the growing understanding of the importance of aquatic activity for the wellbeing of the nation are all areas I am incredibly excited about for the future.”