Eat my goal....a new model of social value for sport
Eat my goal…
Our new model of social value for Sport England is out today. 12 years in the making from our start at London 2012 volunteering charity Join In. It’s got the lot.
A team effort
State of Life put together a consortium with Sheffield Hallam, Manchester Metropolitan and our old friend Chris Krekel at LSE (Mr Wellby).
New tactics
The major evolution for this model is to shift sport and physical activity towards the standards of evidence and measures that we see in health economics. And this is made possible by the new WELLBY measure we are such big fans of.
No losers but some big, important winners.
Another big shift is that we can now see how much more valuable activity is for different groups in society. No-one loses by being more active, it’s good for everyone. But there are some significant extra winners revealed in this new evidence.
It can be double the wellbeing impact to work with people who are inactive vs those already fairly active. Being physically active rather than inactive generates an annual wellbeing value of £2,500 per adult (while becoming 'fairly active' is £1,200 per adult, per year)
There is a much greater benefit to working with those inactive and disabled or with long term health conditions. Around £5,000 per year, per person
It is also more valuable to work with women, children and those will multiple factors of inequality.
A marathon not a sprint
This is the start of a three year project and next we can start to look at settings (outdoor vs indoor), regional variation, team sport vs individual fitness. But at this point the evidence is suggesting that it is WHO you work with, rather than what you do, that could be the most important driver of social value and return on investment. There will also be guidance, tools and training on how to apply the new values coming soon.
The finishing line
The sprint finish was to show the work to State of Life’s friend Gus O’Donnell. He said:
“Constraints on public spending are severe. This makes it more important than ever to focus our investments on those most in need and where we can make the most difference. This new evidence for Sport England starts to point the way”.
All reports on primary, secondary value and full technical detail can downloaded on the button below
If you want to know more about this and our other work with Ofcom on children’s wellbeing drop us a line on hello@stateoflife.org