Football Foundation Women and Girls Review by footballfoundation

Women and Girls Football Review

1. Background

The Football Foundation has commissioned a review of its investment into the women’s game, to ensure that, as the game is growing at an exponential rate, it is maximising its value and outcomes.

The review is timely as the Football Foundation is entering the final year of its FY2325 funding cycle. It is also responding to the independent report ‘Raising the barreframing the opportunity in women's football’ produced by Karen Carney which raised concerns regarding the ‘quality, availability and access levels of facilities.’

The review has focused on the Football Foundation’s end-to-end processes and systems whilst also seeking external feedback from funders and stakeholders. The review covers girls and women’s grassroots football up to but not including Tier 4 of the Women’s Pyramid of Football.

The report highlights a number of recommendations that will enable the Football Foundation to build on its excellent work to date whilst ensuring that it is best placed to meet the future needs of the women’s and girls' game.

2.The Growth of the Women and Girls’ Game

Women and girls’ affiliated football has doubled since 2019. The FA has recently forecasted its team data to 2030 which indicates a significant growth in the women and girls’ game; with one in five teams being female by the end of this period. This has implications for the selection, design, and usage of facility projects over the next six years.

In addition to the affiliated team data, The FA also has ambitious plans to roll out 4000 ‘casual’ football pathway programmes under the ‘Just Play’ banner

including initiatives such as Wildcats, Squad Girls’ Football and walking football for women.

3.Review Recommendations

In this context, the following are a draft set of recommendations for consideration by the Football Foundation Board:

3.1 Funding Partner Investment

The Football Foundation is currently a third of the way through the delivery of the facilities identified within the initial set of Local Football Facility Plans. These plans were put in place between 2018 and 2020, before the exponential growth in the women and girls’ game and the rising costs to deliver capex projects.

The Karen Carney review outlined the need for a new target facility provision figure in light of the growth of the female game, and that once this figure was known, for Sport England to convene partners involved in funding grassroots football to explore how to unlock funding to deliver this.

‘Clearly more investment is needed to bring grassroots sports facilities to the appropriate level: to support a future pipeline of talent, to ensure greater participation in sports and to provide communities across the UK with the facilities they need. Investment is needed to address the overall deficit, but this lack of facilities is particularly acute for women and girls.’ – Raising the barreframing the opportunity in women's football

Recommendation 1

I. It is imperative that the Football Foundation’s funding partners continue to invest, ideally at increased levels, but as a minimum at the current levels, to address the increasing demands the growth of the women and girls game places on facility stock. Failure to retain investment levels will significantly inhibit the growth and development of women and girls' football. This investment needs to be profiled both over time and with targeted outcomes to ensure the growth in the women’s game is met with high quality accessible facilities. Without increased levels of funding discretionary choices to ‘prioritise’ women and girls’ outcomes on new facilities will be needed to keep pace with the growth in the game.

3.2 KPIs and Targets

The Football Foundation currently adopts a series of output targets for grass pitches, artificial grass pitches (AGPs) and Hub sites and is currently considering whether to move to a more outcomes focussed set of targets in the future.

Since 2021, the Football Foundation has had a women and girls’ ‘Equal Access’ target - which mandates all major capital grant recipients to establish and /or deliver at least one ‘full female competitive pathway’ from junior to adult football.

This is defined as a minimum of four teams at a minimum of two different age groups. (NB for school sites Equal Access is defined as a curriculum and out of school hours offering). There are currently no targets or mandates regarding the percentage of playing slots or priority playing slots accessed by women and girls on any given funded pitch.

In addition, the Football Foundation has committed to building on its existing pipeline by investing in 30 new state-of-the-art artificial grass pitches via it’s ‘Lionesses Futures Fund.’ These grant recipients are required to demonstrate a clear vision for the women and girls’ game including a full competitive and casual player pathway within their operational management proposal; with time allotted to delivering equal access for girls within their programme of use. Applicants are required to have allocated a minimum of 30% of priority slots to women and girls on opening, rising to a minimum of 50% during the life of the five-year development plan.

During the review, there was strong support to build on the existing Equal Access target by establishing a new target building on the work of the Lionesses Futures Fund with increased football provision and priority access on opening, with plans for growth set out within the development plan helping meet future demand. This chimed with the findings of the Karen Carney Review which highlighted the quality of playing slot access as a significant concern ‘This review’s (Karen Carney review) call for evidence found that there is currently both a deficit offacilities andthatuse ofexistingfacilitiescontinues tobemale-dominated,with a lack of ring-fenced or prioritised access for female use’ – Raising the barreframing the opportunity in women's football.

Whilst previously the Foundation might have had a limited ability to measure the playing slots quantity and quality being utilised by women and girls’ football, the new booking system, which will be mandated as of April 2024 on all new projects, will now allow for this.

Recommendation 2

I. Establish a new target for Funding Year 2026 that all major capital grant projects meet the Lionesses Future Fund minimum on site football provision, thereby delivering a full competitive and casual female pathway (including Wildcats, Squad and adult causal football offering) with a new mandated minimum of 20% of priority slots retained for women and girls’ provision on opening and a target to increase this to 30% within the timeline of the development plan.

II. The current Equal access measure is reviewed and revised for Funding Year 2025 to provide a competitive and casual pathway on opening but with more flexibility on priority slot targets while the Foundation develop a new pipeline of projects and move to the new minimum percentage priority slots target as outlined above from FY 2026.

III. The Football Foundation to consider a new target for Lionesses Futures Fund which are flagship projects for female football delivering a

minimum of 50% of priory access for women and girls across the life of the development plan.

IV. Research should be conducted to further understand the usage by women and girls on the hub sites which come under the control of the National Football Trust and the new PlayZone sites. New ambitious targets should be established as ensure that these projects are meeting comparable standards outlined in the new Equal Access definition.

3.3 Local Facility Football Plans (LFFPs) and Targeting Investment

The Football Foundation’s current LFFPs were produced between 2018-20, and were based on a supply and demand model, to meet the needs of the existing game. A formula was used looking at the total number of existing teams and the total number of existing AGPs to identify gaps in AGP provision. The formula was based on 35 teams to 1 AGP for multi-sport provision and 38:1 for football only projects. The plans helped identify the urgent AGP priorities at a local level and were developed pre the ‘equal access target.’

The LFFPs are due to be updated on a phased approach by 31st May 2025. The current methodology is limited and does not account for the forecasted growth in the women and girls’ game; the predicted growth of boy’s football or local authority over/under performance verses national averages and the implications of this for future planning.

Current performance and future growth, needs to be considered to understand the implications for local need. The FA also has an ambition that all girls and women should have equal access within schools and clubs and the FA and Football Foundation should consider incorporating team data /drive time analysis into local planning to identify the areas in greatest need of investment to deliver on this vision of equal access within the community

The FA’s accredited club programme will be key to delivering the dramatic growth projections for women and girls’ football. It is imperative that The FA ensures that these clubs have the right governance, culture and workforce skills to help facilitate this growth.

Recommendation 3

I. The Football Foundation to work with The FA to ensure that the most accurate existing and projected women and girls participation data is available as soon as possible to help determine future demand and priorities for LFFPs. This will also enable the Football Foundation and the local football partners to identify where there are major gaps in female provision to determine the greatest priorities for investment.

II. The Football Foundation to work with The FA to provide training and guidance for LFFP stakeholders to interpret the data and identify priority projects in line with the Lionesses Fund ambition and criteria.

III. The LFFP process should include consultation with local FA accredited 2* and 3* clubs to ascertain their ambitions for future growth alongside their facility requirements, and that these clubs are prioritised within the pipeline of future projects. Linking growth targets with club and community ambitions is key to selecting the right projects for long term growth and sustainability.

3.4 Governance and Culture

During the Karen Carney review, concerns were expressed about the lack of security of tenure for clubs on sites meaning women’s teams had limited opportunity to access funding directly. The review also heard concerns regarding clubs applying for funding, citing women’s team partnerships within the application then failing to provide an appropriate environment, sense of belonging or fair access to training and playing facilities. At the heart of this issue is poor governance and the need to diversify and modernise club governance to meet the needs of and reflect the communities it serves. A new governance code for accredited clubs would help transform the culture and operations of these clubs and provide a more appropriate environment for women’s teams to thrive in a multi-team male and female environment.

Recommendation 4

I. The Football Foundation should only invest in clubs and other organisations with appropriate, diverse and progressive governance which drives the appropriate support and behaviour towards the provision of women and girls’ football. The impending inclusion of governance criteria within FA accredited club standards provides a possible opportunity for partners to align on these minimum standards within grassroots club based football.

II. Football Foundation and The FA to review pitch scheduling practices and explore new opportunities and approaches that could mitigate against the marginalising and de-prioritising of women and girls’ activity.

3.5 Community Engagement

The Football Foundation requires all applicants to conduct a community engagement process to ensure that both the facility design and usage meet the needs of the local community. A 'Community Engagement Toolkit’ has been developed to support applicants with this process.

This engagement takes place from the pre-application phase and is supported after the opening of the facility where the focus then moves onto the running and operation of the site. Whilst applicants are required to ensure that the steering group reflects its local communities there are no specific requirements regarding women and girls’ representation.

In the Lionesses Futures Fund, it is mandated that as a minimum, there is one representative from the women and girls' game on the community steering group,

helping to shape the project. This ensures that the voice of the women’s game is considered throughout both design and delivery.

Recommendation 5

I. The Football Foundation mandates from FY 2025 that the steering group is diverse and that there are a minimum of two representatives from the women and girls’ game on the community engagement steering group of all major capital projects (over £250k of Foundation grant investment) to strengthen consultation with and ensure projects meet the needs of the female game.

II. To extend these groups to operate post site opening to continue engagement and ensure fair access to slots.

3.6 Facility Design

The Football Foundation currently provides guidance to applicants on facility design standards. Whilst there are no mandatory standards for female friendly facilities, the Football Foundation has recently produced a Female Friendly Facilities guidance document for Football Foundation teammates, which advises consideration of the needs of female users from toilets, sanitary arrangements, showers and separate female officials’ facilities through to safety/lighting and ensuring a sense of belonging. This is an excellent guide, but consideration should be given to publishing it, mandating it and embedding it within the assessment process.

Recommendation 6

I. The Football Foundation to publish, mandate and assess against a new set of minimum standards for female friendly facilities on all new off pitch facilities to ensure that they meet the needs of current and future female users (noting approx. 1 in 5 users will be female). The Football Foundation to raise and explore with The FA whether these revised standards could be adopted for all facility investment.

II. To develop a training programme and assessment checklists for the Football Foundation’s Technical Team, advising applicants, especially around safety issues (customer journey regarding access, lighting etc) and the environment (belonging considerations).

Many existing local facilities require an uplift in standards to meet these new guidelines where possible; including those that have previously benefited from Football Foundation grants. A new ‘badged’ small capital grants programme (targeting female friendly facilities could help transform facilities for women and girls at a relatively low cost whilst helping drive greater outcomes for women and girls’ football.

III. The Football Foundation to ringfence funding from existing budgets to create a new under £25K small grants programme (under its small capital grants programme) for FY 25, specifically targeting capital investment in female friendly facility improvements to the existing facility stock. The executive to determine the budget based on need and affordability and make a recommendation to the Board. To annually review this scheme to ensure that the grant level and criteria meet the needs of the women’s game.

IV. This new targeted grant could be coupled with Sport England’s small revenue grants to help drive growth in sites previously awarded grants pre the growth in the women’s game.

V. To work with The FA, Sport England and Women in Sport to ensure that this new grant is insight led and underpinned by research on its impact.

3.7Post Award – Publishing of Site Plans/Usage

During both the Karen Carney review and this review, concerns were raised that women and girls were not receiving fair and equal access to Football Foundation funded facilities. The Foundation acknowledges that currently there is a lack of transparency post an award on site plans and how accurately the original programme of use is being delivered

Recommendation 7

I. The Football Foundation to mandate the publication by grant recipients to their users/members their development plan goals and aspirations including women and girls’ football as per the agreed terms of their grant. This could be in the form of social assets for social media.

II. Football Foundation to consider an appropriate channel for registering concerns about the level or women and girls’ usage and availability on a Foundation funded site.

3.8 Post Award Monitoring and Reporting

The Football Foundation monitor progress of new sites using a Performance Assessment Measurement (PAM), whereby applicants are assessed against a range of criteria. The current post-award scoring system includes an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) KPI measure which is a catch all for monitoring how projects tackle inequalities and serve local communities but there is currently no specific measure for women and girls’ provision post award.

Recommendation 8

I. The Football Foundation to revise the PAM framework and its KPIs for FY 2025 to include a score for women and girls football provision, which

enables the Football Foundation to track and report against all future major capital grant recipient’s actual performance versus their commitments made at the point of grant award. This should be a key deliverable of the new Post Award process currently being developed.

II. The Football Foundation to report publicly on an annual basis from FY 2025 onwards on progress against the delivery of these new targets

3.9 Post Project Support

The Football Foundation is planning to increase its focus and resources on post project award monitoring to support applicants and hold them to account in the delivery of their development and programmes of use plans

It is important that the CFAs prioritise working with clubs to offer post project support to help clubs and other applicants deliver on their development plans to grow the women and girls’ game.

Recommendation 9

I. Provide enhanced post project support to both new and previous recipients of grants. Where relevant, consider signposting clubs towards small capital grant schemes (for female friendly facilities) and Sport England small revenue grants to ‘reset’ existing sites and leverage greater outcomes for women and girls. (See Recommendations 6.III and 6.IV)

4 Next Steps

• Presentation to Foundation Board for approval – 22/5/24

• Written Update to DCMS Carney Implementation Group

• Development of implementation plan and working group – by 30/5/24

• Regular Advisory Group Review (ongoing)