Sheffield secures major investment to tackle health inequalities through physical activity

Sheffield has secured £1.7m from Sport England as part of its ‘Place Expansion’ programme, recognising the city’s strong, collaborative approach to improving health through sport, exercise, and physical activity.

The funding will be delivered through the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine (NCSEM) Sheffield Partnership, which brings together key organisations across the city including Sheffield City Council, Yorkshire Sport Foundation, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and partners from the voluntary and community sector, driven from its research hub at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre. 

Coupled with additional match funding from the NCSEM’s Sheffield partners, the total investment will exceed £2m.

In Sheffield, inactivity is highest in communities facing economic disadvantage and long-term health conditions, with gaps in healthy life expectancy of up to 20 years between neighbourhoods.  

Over the next two years, partners will deliver a coordinated programme of work that strengthens community-led activity, embeds physical activity within health and care pathways, and builds the workforce, leadership and infrastructure needed to sustain change. 

The work will focus on five priority neighbourhoods and on people most affected by inactivity, including those living with long-term health conditions and communities experiencing multiple disadvantage. It will take a whole-system approach, connecting community organisations, health and care services, and local infrastructure to make it easier for people to be active as part of everyday life.  

This latest investment marks the next phase in Sheffield’s journey to become a city where everyone can lead healthier, more active lives, with a clear focus on reducing inequalities.

Dr Marlize De Vivo, Director of NCSEM Sheffield, said: “In Sheffield, patterns of health and physical activity reflect deeper, structural inequalities across the city. This investment allows us to respond to that with a level of intent and coordination that has not been possible before.

“Over the next two years, we are committing to building on what is already working and bringing together community, health and care pathways and local infrastructure into a single, coherent programme of work designed to influence outcomes, not just physical activity levels, to make it easier for people to be active as part of everyday life.”

Steven Pleasant MBE, Chair of the NCSEM Sheffield, said: “Improving health and wellbeing in Sheffield does not start in hospitals or policies alone – it starts in communities. 

“This is exactly the kind of place based, whole system action we need if we are serious about tackling long standing inequalities in health. By backing what works locally and aligning investment with community insight, we can make physical activity part of daily life for many more people. 

“The new investment allows us to accelerate progress, strengthen partnerships and, most importantly, improve healthy life expectancy for those who need it most.”