SOCIAL VALUE OF MOVEMENT AND DANCE RESEARCH

The Sport and Recreation Alliance, alongside members from its Movement and Dance division, and a consortium of academic professionals specialising in research on movement and dance, have published a report highlighting its overlooked social value.

Headline findings from the report include: The annual social value of movement and dance is £3.49bn, representing around 5% of the total social value generated by community sport and physical activity.

— Of every £20 of social value created by sport and physical activity, £1 is created uniquely by movement and dance.

Movement and dance creates £430m in savings on physical and mental health.

Prevents more cases of breast cancer and hip fractures than its ‘market share’.

Message From Cimspa Ceo

Tara Dillon On The Skills Shortage Challenges Facing The Sector

Staff shortages continue to be one of the biggest issues for the sport and physical activity sector.

A host of other benefits – delayed onset of Parkinson’s disease, reduced loneliness, and improved retention in activity of young people, older people and people living with disabilities.

To maximise the social value of movement and dance, the report recommends that they are better used to relieve pressure on the NHS, by being integrated into health, care and prevention practices, including ‘social prescribing’. It should also be a key method used to keep an ageing population active and reducing the risks of being sedentary.

SRA CEO Lisa Wainwright MBE said: “Movement and dance is a vital part of our society and culture, and deserves to be supported for the incredible value it provides for so many people. We hope that this report can be the start of that process.”

We’ve been working with our partners to overcome the recruitment and retention challenge via the ReTrain to ReTain programme. Funded by Sport England and delivered in conjunction with UK Coaching and EMD UK, I’m pleased to report that the £5m job retention package and support package is making a difference. Our latest progress report, launched in January, shows how the scheme is both upskilling and reskilling our existing workforce and attracting new people to the sector. We also hear from some of the people who have benefitted from the funding (p9).

As laudable as it is, this programme is not enough to solve the skills shortage. As a sector, we have to get better at looking after our staff and that includes supporting their mental health and wellbeing. Mental health has made it on to the national agenda, but we still have some way to go in promoting mental health in the workplace as the latest findings of Workforce State of Mind Survey demonstrate (p14).

The research shows a widening gap between the needs of the health and fitness workforce and the protection and support provided by employers. It finds that while 54% of individuals have experienced a mental health issue in the last year, only 49% of employers have a mental wellbeing strategy in place.

Retaining great staff is crucial. Creating a workplace environment where teams feel included, empowered and safe has never been more important.