£250 million Sport England investment could see community hubs pilot Couch to 5K-like support after Bristol trial success

29 October 2026

Sport England's £250 million investment into 90 England communities through Place Partnerships could see running support and fitness programmes like Couch to 5K piloted in high-need areas across the country. The national governing body intends to roll out the NHS-founded programme and develop similar community activities to different personas and audiences needs at a hyperlocal level through its existing partnerships with other organisations.

Place Partnerships and rolling out support

The Place Partnerships framework is central to the wider Sport England investment. Initially engaging with 12 community partners from 2018, funding has now expanded to include a further 53 places, each in the top 10% of deprivation indicators at a national level. Historic funding of £120 million has been allocated to the programme to date, with £250 million earmarked for expansion.

The renewed focus on Place Partnerships has been backed by Sport England's work with 43 Active Partnerships, a public agency that uses its position as a trusted body to deliver Sports England's funding as well as its strategic plan at a local level.

The Couch to 5K beginner running programme will play a role in the funding roll-out. Nationally, the NHS programme involves three runs a week, helping absolute beginners to work up to running 5 km over nine weeks using a free, downloadable app. Community activities, said Eddie Andrews, CEO at Sport England, come "under one umbrella in terms of how we're growing the participation work". While making communities healthier "doesn't necessarily mean more people will go and join a gym", Andrews reflected, "it may mean that there will be more people who are active on a regular basis, moving towards our target inclusion".

Rachel Nielsen, Sport England director of sport, explained that the new funding arrangement will develop a community hub model for each Place Partnership, with organisations delivering according to the need of the local population, not Sport England's programme structure.

"If we've got a Place Partnership that says we actually need to work with this particular community, we should be supporting organisations that understand the best way to reach those groups, that understand better the profile of those groups, that understand the drivers, the barriers, the motivators," Nielsen said. "That still comes under that one umbrella of that one Place Partnership, but one of the benefits of kind of working this way is that we don't have to adhere as strictly to that overarching programme structure."

Supporting people to get active in communities, identified as areas with high social need, deprivation and health inequalities, is a National Lottery and taxpayer-funded funding priority, backed by research that shows even 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity can have a significant impact on people's physical and mental health, and contribute to economic growth.

According to Sport England figures published on its website, as of 2021, 26.4% of the total adult population met the Chief Medical Officers' current guidelines on physical activity – defined as 150 minutes of moderate activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or a mixture of moderate and vigorous activity. Teams and organisations funded by Sport England distinguish the work required to increase physical activity among the least active populations and engage with the smaller, less active cohorts of inactive people.

Community-based success stories

This kind of targeted intervention has taken many forms. From 2018 to 2020, Sport England developed the Bristol Core Cities Project, described as a "two-year bespoke engagement initiative led by GARS in partnership with Sport England". The randomised control trial saw officials from Sport England "select ... three deprived wards in Bristol: Lawrence Hill, Filwood, and Hartcliffe and Withywood, to deliver a range of social events, activities and programmes in parks, recreation centres and community hubs in Bristol for a period of 16 weeks".

The project was credited with engaging 424 separate individuals, with a mean age of 51.3 years, 73.6% of whom were female. It used a mixed-method evaluation process, with pre- and post-tests, and four-day observational data collection. The report's key findings include that the Lawrence Hill community reported high per capita usage and engagement of park assets, with events attracting a relatively higher turnout compared to Filwood and Hartcliffe and Withywood. It suggests that while linear equity-related markers such as unemployment and deprivation indices align (indicatively) with per capita sports facility usage, other features of an enviromental audit, including walking communities, perception of safety, park aesthetics and recreation space, may explain the differential participation results in the three case studies.

Notably, Sport England provided £1.35 million to fund a programme its director of sport described as a significant source of the organisation's data about Couch to 5K outcomes and user characteristics. "That research programme is something that we can really relish," she said. It involved the public health communications campaign NOLSAL, which plays an event-based role in supporting physical activity in marginalised groups. "And so now, for the first time, we can actually start to understand who's doing it, what demographics, what kind of actions, [and] what kind of outcomes."

The Couch to 5K fitness programme, delivered in a mixture of online and face-to-face format, was an evolution of the original NHS model of using community organisations to support people to start running. Nielsen said the programme saw "some really interesting gender, ethnic, age profile [and]some really positive indications that we can follow through".

The director said the continued quality and reach of this kind of grassroots initiative rested on ensuring it happened in a "systematic and deliberate" way that grew the base for physical activity in the community. She used the case study to argue that it could work on a similar scale through CJWAS/Bristol-side delivery, even in diverse communities. This was demonstrated in London as well, where a Couch to Fitness programme supported by the £20 million Sports England Tackling Inequalities Fund reached 800,000 Londoners during three weeks of campaign expenditure in 2020, with 29,000 sign-ups and over 50% of registrants completing their first session. More than 54% of those regularly taking part came from ethnically diverse communities, reflects the organisation's message that groups face a "mental and social block" to starting physical activity.