Sport England has announced a major funding package for athletics, worth £14.6m, to encourage greater participation in support of the structural changes made after the publication of the Moving On review.

The Moving On report, which was chaired by Andrew Foster, made a number of recommendations for major changes to the administration and governance of athletics, including streamlining the national and regional governing bodies.

£1.34m of the lottery investment is being made in England Athletics – the new body created to represent English athletics, which has superceded the Amateur Athletics Association.

Dr Alan Harrison, chief executive of England Athletics, said: "This funding gives an essential boost to our ability to increase athlete participation and success for 2012.

"It is key to increasing the profile of athletics in England and will enable investment in the training of coaches and officials from the volunteer community, opening up capacity for greater participation of athletes at grass-roots level through the clubs."

£13.6m of the funding has been taken from the legacy fund promised to the sport following the decision to withdraw from hosting the 2005 World Championships. It will cover the period from April 2006 until the end of March 2009.

UK Athletics chief executive David Moorcroft said: "The release of this legacy award is a key moment. It recognises the efforts that people have put into helping the modernisation process."