CIMSPA warns MPs of hard times

By DeeDee Doke

Th e loss of signifi cant numbers of workers in the sport & physical activity industry is a potential outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent economic upset, CIMSPA CEO Tara Dillon warned the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Sport.

Speaking at a virtual gathering on 12 June, Dillon cited results from two workforce surveys carried out by CIMSPA during the lockdown that refl ected respondents’ concerns. Five per cent of them plan to leave, or have left, the sector, a “signifi cant number”, she said, with a further 35% working elsewhere to support their income.

“We’ve no indication whether or not that 5% will return,” Dillon said. “Th at’s somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people.”

Dillon said: “Stadiums are stadiums and tennis courts are courts – but they’re nothing without people.”

She was one of three speakers at the event, co-ordinated by the Sport and Recreation Alliance (SRA). Also speaking were Mark Gannon, CEO of UK Coaching, and Mel Marshall, Olympian and coach to star swimmer Adam Peaty.

Ben Bradley MP and private secretary at the Business Department chaired: James Sunderland MP; Dr Luke Evans MP of the Health and Social Care Select Committee; Lord Addington, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for sport in the House of Lords; and Baroness Massey attended. Delegates from around 80 S&PA organisations were also there.

Dillon warned that many were expecting that facilities will reopen from 4 July at the earliest, “but the reality is… operators are going to be stymied about how they can service the numbers. For the foreseeable future, operators are going to see around 40% of their turnover with 100% costs.”

She also suggested that the sector should look to apprenticeships to fi ll the workforce ranks, especially during the 12-to-15 month recovery period.

Dillon did sound a positive note: the continued and growing interest in learning from within the sector, as well as from people who “are actually looking to join”.

And Gannon noted that UK Coaching has been working with MIND to off er mental health and wellbeing as a course for coaches “so that when we come out of this carnage, coaches are well-equipped to understand signs of distress or mental health issues”.

It is understood that plans have now been made for talks between CIMSPA and Lord Addington.