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Initiative aims to make it easier for disabled people and those with long term health conditions to get active

Disabled people look set to benefit from a new Inclusive Activity Programme launched by the Activity Alliance thanks to our £450,000 investment.

The National Lottery money has been allocated to the Activity Alliance – formerly the English Federation of Disability Sport – by us to help enable disabled people to be more active.

Research has shown that disabled people are twice as likely to be inactive as non-disabled people, but also that 70 per cent of disabled people want to be more active.

Working with UK Coaching and us, Activity Alliance will engage key groups in specialised training to provide those people with the best advice and pathways possible to get more active.

“Inactive people are missing out on a wealth of physical and mental health benefits,” said Sport England executive director Mike Diaper.

“Many disabled people want to be active but can be put off by things such as a lack of opportunities and the right support.

“We are delighted to be providing National Lottery funding for the Inclusive Activity Programme, which will train coaches, local community activators and health care professionals so they can offer disabled people strong support and help build their confidence about getting active.”

The Inclusive Activity Programme (IAP) will look to build on the success of its predecessor, the Sainsbury’s Inclusive Community Training initiative.

Over the programme’s three years, the IAP will deliver more than 600 practical, tailored face-to-face workshops and provide access to ongoing learning and development opportunities for 8,500 people.

The end goal is for trainees to be given the tools to tailor their own activity delivery to a variety of audiences, thereby increasing the likelihood of disabled people, and those with long-term health conditions, getting and staying active.

Activity Alliance chose the inaugural Coaching Week to make the announcement due to the key role coaching skills will play in getting people active.

“We are very excited about this new enhanced programme and the impact it will have across the country,” said their chief executive Barry Horne. “This funding from Sport England’s National Lottery will enable us to build on our learning from previous work.

“We know there are groups of people who have greater influence on how active we are or want to be.

“IAP will target these individuals to make a real difference to the lives of people who are not currently active.

“The aim is to ensure that disabled people have more opportunities to be active for life.”