Sport England has made up to £195million of funding available to help the sport and physical activity sector through the ongoing Coronavirus crisis. 

The package includes a £20million Community Emergency Fund, which is now open for clubs and community organisations to bid into. Grants between £300 and £10,000 are available.

The fund has been developed to help organisations meet their obligations, in particular fixed costs which are no longer supported with revenue as a result of the pandemic, such as rent, utility costs, insurance, core staff costs, and facility or equipment hire.

Sport England chief executive Tim Hollingsworth hopes the package will help organisations get through these “extremely challenging times”. He has also recorded a webinar which can be viewed below.

“Sporting events are being cancelled, gyms and leisure centres are closed, clubs and community groups are not operating, and children and young people are all at home," said the CEO.

“As the body responsible for the growth of sport and physical activity at a grassroots level, we have an important role to play both in ensuring that we support those with short term cashflow concerns and immediate loss of income, as well as those facing medium and long term survival challenges and financial difficulties.

“We want the sector not just to come through this crisis but to be in a position to thrive again in the future and this package will ease the pressure on a huge number of the organisations who are central to that.”

The funding package includes £55million to support the sector during an ongoing period of restrictions, to fund new and innovative ways to keep people active and, when the period of restrictions is over, to help organisations get back to business and adjust to a different environment.

The announcement  follows the recent decision to offer major flexibilities to those who currently receive funding – including the ability to change timings, key performance indicators, targets and conditions, and redirect money to new activity in response to coronavirus.

Read more about the funding at sportengland.org. Sport England also want to hear how the pandemic is affecting you or your organisation, and what type of support you think would be most beneficial now or in the future. Email coronavirus@sportengland.org.