Active Lincolnshire, Active Together and Active Humber have released the results of a 5-month study into the Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure Sector of Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland. The research conducted by Lincolnshire Open Research and Innovation Centre (LORIC) found that the sector has a combined Gross Value Added (GVA) of approximately £788 million, which could grow to £804 million over the next 4 quarters if current productivity trends are maintained.
A substantial amount of this value comes from small providers including charitable organisations and community interest companies. With over 1,200 companies in Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland providing services. The voluntary organisations are an essential, valuable, but rarely discussed aspect of the sector, with a further 1,218 charities, trusts and CICs providing support in sport, physical activity and leisure with a combined reported income of £330 million, and an additional £3 million coming from 19 societies, mutuals and co-operatives.
Approximately 28,000 people are employed in the sector, and the report explores the significant demand for skills development across paid and voluntary roles, digging into the factors behind the current skills gap across the sector and the systemic changes required to address this issue.
Finally, the research also reports on current and future demographic trends across the region that will focus the training, skills development and future provision offer of the sector, alongside exploring the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and covid-19 pandemic on the sport, physical activity and leisure sector.
Despite the tremendous economic and social potential of the physical activity, leisure and sport sector, it is faced with many significant and overlapping challenges and the report puts forward several recommendations to address these systemic challenges and increase the size, representation, skills, and resilience of the sector making it better able to tackle inequalities and serve the growing and ageing population of the region in the long-term.