By Tim Mathias, Strategic Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
When we launched our Next Generation strategy we had a simple aim – to help provide more opportunities for children and young people to access our members’ facilities, products, services, and programmes across the physical activity sector. The measure of success was simple: to get a million more young people active in facilities by 2030. At first glance this may seem somewhat ambitious – after all, one million is a large number – but not when put into context of the prolific growth witnessed by the sector and evidenced by Sport England’s Active Lives Survey. In 2024, 908,000 more children and young people took part in gym and fitness activities compared to five years ago – an increase of 11.8%.
There are a couple of conclusions to be drawn from this data: that young people are enjoying gym and fitness activities and appreciate the variety on offer. These numbers should not be a surprise, with fitness, wellbeing and health being a significant influence among young people, especially in safe, welcoming, social environments. Our sector plays such a key role in these participation levels and their prolific growth!
ukactive has now revised its guidance for facilities serving children and young people, in recognition of the increased focus in fitness participation of young people. The guidance document has been developed to aid facilities to welcome young people safely and securely. We have worked with a group of fitness and leisure providers from both the private and public sectors to refine the guidance and ensure its operational application, and it has been reviewed by legal counsel.
The updated guidance has been designed to be clearer and practically implementable – with key contextual information, insight, FAQs, and case studies on the usage of gyms, pools, fitness and leisure facilities. It covers safeguarding, supervision, inductions, education and training, and use of equipment and changing rooms. It provides recommendations for working with children and young people in fitness and leisure facilities – specifically the gym area and group exercise sessions. And while we encourage physical activity for all ages in a wide range of environments, this guidance applies specifically to activity provision for those children and young people aged eight to 11-years-old and 12 to 17-years-old – these being the age bands for older primary school children and for secondary school children.
Regardless of whether your facility, product or service currently caters for young people, there is something in ukactive’s Next Generation strategy for you and your product or service. It could be the framework for quality and safety within The Active Standard or our data and insight ambitions to understand the next generation of consumers. Much has been researched and spoken of with regards to ‘Generation Z’ (those who are in their late teens and early 20s), with a generational shift in their behaviours, preferences and experiences, but what of the younger generation, ‘Generation Alpha’, to whom we wish to instill physical activity as a lifelong habit, and support with pathways into fitness? This generation presents many opportunities but also some challenges – we need to understand how best to cater to their requirements and expectations.
But for now, we encourage you to access the guidance, recognise the upward trend in gym and fitness among under-16s, and play your part in driving the activity levels of the next generation in ways that are fun and engaging. Through our new guidance, you can focus on supporting young people through safe, accessible and welcoming environments that are purpose-built for their wellbeing, the benefits of which will be realised across physical and mental health for generations.
To read the guidance, ‘Children and Young People in Gym and Group Exercise Facilities’, click here.
ukactive will be hosting a special webinar on Tuesday 2 December for ukactive members to learn more about using the guidance – register here.
