Intelligent Health is amongst a group of more than 120 organisations working in partnership with Sport England to level up access to sport and physical activity across the country.
Intelligent Health will receive expertise, support and an investment of £2,997,000 of government and National Lottery funding from Sport England to co-deliver the ambitious of its 10-year Uniting the Movement strategy.
Sport England research shows that some groups are typically less active — like women, people with long-term health conditions, disabled people, people from ethnically diverse communities and lower socio-economic groups. Right now, the opportunities to get involved in sport and activity — and reap the rewards of being active — depend too much on your background, your gender, your bank balance and your postcode.
Intelligent Health will work to empower partners and communities to improve the health and wellbeing of a place especially for those facing the greatest inequalities. We will do this by engaging, connecting, and empowering communities to make small changes that together make a big difference. We will also use our data, insight and engagement, in order to inform longer term actions. We’ve spent the last 3 years working with Sport England and local partners through Beat the Street engaging almost half a million participants and providing strong evidence of sustained behaviour change for adults and children. Our new role as System and Delivery partner will allow us to work deeper with partners in a place and be a bridge that connects communities, and partners from multiple sectors who are all working to improve the lives of people.
More than £550million is being invested in total, with the partners including Intelligent Health receiving funding for up to five years. This new funding model from Sport England provides longer-term financial security as organisations recover and reinvent from 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.
Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of Sport England, said: “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 those who are facing the greatest inequalities – 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.”
Dr William Bird, MBE CEO of Intelligent Health said: “We’ve been on an amazing journey with Beat the Street and have spent time working with partners including Sport England to understand what impact it has and where else to focus our energy.. We want to create the most effective systemic support to enable partners to improve good health at scale through engagement, insight and data. We are delighted to be able to work collaboratively at a national scale, to connect partners with their communities and use our data and insight to help drive Uniting the Movement. We are proud to be a partner and look forward to the next stage of our collective journey to transform lives.”
