UNITING VOICES

The Sport and Recreation Alliance has published its 2025-30 strategy. SportsNation takes a closer look

The Sport and Recreation Alliance (SRA) has unveiled its five-year strategy, A United Voice for Sport and Recreation, setting out priorities for the sector from 2025 to 2030. Developed over an 18-month period of consultation, including a comprehensive Member Review and the On the Move roadshow series, the strategy reflects both the pressures and opportunities facing sport and recreation in the UK.

For those working in sport — from national governing bodies (NGBs) to grassroots clubs — the strategy offers a clear signal of how the Alliance intends to support members, influence policy and strengthen the case for investment. At its heart are three core objectives: protecting sport and recreation with key decision makers, providing services and solutions that lighten the administrative load, and promoting the positive power of sport and recreation to create conditions for success.

Timing is everything

The SRA’s strategic refresh comes at a critical moment. Rising facility costs, tightening public funding, and growing regulatory requirements are stretching organisations’ capacity. Local authority leisure provision has fallen sharply over the last decade, with more than 500 swimming pools being lost since 2010, while energy costs continue to put pressure on facility operators. Meanwhile, many voluntary-led clubs, in addition to financial difficulties, still struggle with governance compliance and safeguarding dutiesthat require professional-level expertise. Participation data underscores the urgency. While around 30 million adults in England (63%) take part in some form of sport or recreation each week (according to Sport England), inequalities persist. Disabled people remain twice as likely to be inactive as non-disabled people, and participation rates among lower socio-economic groups continue to lag. Addressing these disparities is central to both government health policy and the SRA’s own advocacy.

Throughout this new strategy cycle, our unwavering focus will be to deliver with and for our members

Objective One: Protecting sport

The strategy’s first objective positions SRA as a shield and advocate for members in policy arenas. Over the next five years, the SRA aims to strengthen relationships with government departments, regulators and funders, ensuring that sport and recreation’s collective voice is heard.

That advocacy is expected to focus on several areas: sustainable funding, taxation, regulation, access to facilities and the integration of sport into health and education policy. At a time when the government is under pressure to reduce NHS waiting lists and improve population health, sport and recreation organisations have a strong case to be considered partners in preventative health. The SRA’s role will be to frame that case convincingly, backed by robust evidence.

Objective Two: Services, solutions and connectivity

The second pillar is about reducing the day-to-day burden on members. Many small and medium-sized organisations operate with limited paid staff and rely heavily on volunteers. Administrative tasks, such as compliance, governance, safeguarding checks and financial reporting consume valuable capacity.

To address this, SRA plans to expand its support services. Members can expect new templates, toolkits and advisory resources covering governance, legal compliance, equality and diversity, and environmental sustainability. Networking and peer-learning opportunities will also be scaled up, recognising that shared solutions often save time and money.

By creating a stronger service offer, the SRA aims to allow organisations to focus on what they do best: delivering activity to participants. Importantly, this support will not be generic but shaped by ongoing consultation, ensuring that tools meet real-world needs.

Objective Three: Promoting the power of sport

The third objective is arguably the most outward-facing. The SRA wants to champion the benefits of sport and recreation across health, community cohesion, economic development, and the environment. To do this, the Alliance is investing in data and research. Establishing robust baselines in 2025 will enable progress to be measured across the strategy cycle. This will include tracking participation, diversity, and facility access, as well as monitoring the impact of sport on wellbeing and local economies.

Evidence will underpin campaigns aimed at shifting public and political narratives. Whether highlighting the role of community sport in tackling loneliness, or demonstrating the carbon savings from active travel, the Alliance intends to build a portfolio of stories and statistics that policymakers cannot ignore.

Measuring success

The strategy emphasises accountability. Each core objective will be monitored against high-level measures, including both quantitative and qualitative indicators. Member satisfaction, uptake of support services, influence on policy decisions, and growth in participation among under-represented groups will form part of the evaluation framework.

While not all metrics are finalised, the commitment to data-driven assessment marks a step forward from previous strategies. It reflects the sector’s growing maturity in evidencing impact — a necessary evolution given the competition for public funds.

Lisa Wainwright, SRA CEO, said: “Throughout this new strategy cycle, our unwavering focus will be to deliver with and for our members – and in particular our national governing body members who play a foundational role in engaging and keeping people in sport and recreation.

“We are confident this strategy builds on our rich history but also demonstrates a willingness to change to remain modern and relevant.”