Published on: 06,May 2026

Emma Hutchins, Senior Influencing Manager & Louisa Emkes, Policy Officer – We are Undefeatable powered by the Richmond Group of Charities

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee has published its report, ‘Game On: Community and school sport’.  

The report makes a series of welcome recommendations on healthy finances, healthy spaces and healthy communities, and we are particularly pleased to see calls for:  

• A movement for health strategy that cuts across government, establishes clear objectives and defines the contribution across policy areas to increasing activity. 

• Clearer national guidance and sustained funding to health, sport and local partners to expand accessible and community-based provision and support, especially for those with long-term conditions, poor mental health or at risk of inactivity. 

• Increased government spending on sport and recreation over the next ten years.  

• Funding to expand inclusive initiatives that prioritise older generations and other disadvantaged groups. 

The Richmond Group of Charities has long called for a movement strategy that would get millions more moving, and we are encouraged by the strong case the report makes for cross-government action. 

The case for a strategy 

People with long-term conditions are among the least active groups. Inactivity increases with the number of conditions someone has, and nearly half of people with three or more conditions are inactive. A movement strategy that puts the least active at its heart has the potential to make the biggest difference, ensuring those furthest from being active have realistic and achievable ways to do a little bit more movement and reap the greatest gains in health.  

To do this, it must be grounded in lived experience insights. If we don’t address the real-world needs, motivations and attitudes of those we are trying to support, we risk catering for the already active and neglecting those who have the most to gain. 

Our research from We Are Undefeatable can help. From this, we know that pain, fatigue and physical limitations are consistently the biggest barriers for people with long-term conditions, along with the unpredictability of having a health condition or fear of making it worse (barriers of capability and motivation). We also know improving mood and mental wellbeing are significant perceived benefits. You can access all the data on our Lived Experience Data Dashboard. 

While the recommendations to improve facilities and expand provision (both addressing opportunity barriers) are welcome, they must be accompanied by tailored and targeted support to remove other systemic barriers to physical activity. In particular, solutions must address the significant capability and motivation barriers that are more likely to prevent activity in one of the least active groups. Embedding movement into healthcare is a crucial part of this solution. 

A stark inequality  

The report was published just days before Sport England released its latest Active Lives data, which emphasised the need for targeted action. It tells an optimistic story of increasing levels of activity, including among people with long-term conditions. But a significant gap remains between those of us with and those without a long-term condition or disability. Stark disparities also exist between ethnic groups, genders and age groups. The persistence of these inequalities, alongside the rise in prevalence of multiple long-term conditions, shows we need to think differently about sport and physical activity and act now to make changes. 

What next? 

Our charity partners are already playing a major role in addressing the challenges the report flags. We Are Undefeatable has shaped the narrative on what it means to be physically active with a long-term condition by inspiring and supporting our audience to move in ways that work for them. Mind’s ‘Safe and Effective Practice’ toolkit helps sport and physical activity organisations better serve those of us with mental health conditions. Royal Voluntary Service fosters active lives through volunteering. Age UK and Parkinson’s UK have well established walking sports programmes and partnerships with sports organisations. 

As a coalition, the Richmond Group of Charities is a source of expertise, insights and lived experience of movement and health, and we would be pleased to support the implementation of these recommendations to help ensure they meet the needs of people with long-term conditions. We look forward to seeing the Government’s response and working with ministers, officials and parliamentarians to get millions more moving.