New Sport England fund to diversify the sport and physical activity sector

Sport England has launched a new fund aimed at diversifying the coach and volunteer workforce.

The £1m Workforce Diversity Great Ideas Fund will be open for a month and will offer grants to organisations wanting to engage women and/or BAME communities in volunteering or coaching opportunities.

According to Sport England's head of coaching Stuart Armstrong, the grant will look to address the currently fragmented workforce – partly comprised of coaches and volunteers – that is currently "lacking diversity".

“Learning what works to engage and support these audiences into volunteering and coaching is key and we want to work with organisations to learn what approaches work and why,” Armstrong said.

“There are any number of potential learning opportunities – from unusual partnerships and testing ways of using new technology to getting women engaged in volunteering."

Applications can be submitted between now and 3 July, with submissions being assessed and then selected for the development of a full application later this year.