ukactive has written to the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss on September 6 warning of the threat to the health and wellbeing of millions of people if there is no support for fitness and leisure facilities, amid rising energy costs.
The letter is signed by each member of ukactive’s Membership Council, which represents more than 4,000 ukactive members and is made up of leaders from 13 organisations across both the public and private sector, including operators, suppliers, and organisations from the wider physical activity sector.ukactive and its partners have been in constructive conversation with the Government over the past weeks and months, presenting overwhelming evidence of the current and projected impact of the energy crisis, and the measures of support required by the whole sector.
Following detailed consultation with its members this year, ukactive estimates that compared to 2021 levels, energy bills for the sector will increase by up to 240% in 2023.The consultation showed that some public leisure centres are already facing increases of between 150% and 200%, largely due to the high energy consumption of swimming pools.
With no financial support, nearly all fitness and leisure facilities will need to increase their prices over the next 12 months, and more than half of all public and private facilities will be
forced to close some or all of their sites. This includes up to 85% of public leisure facilities within the next six months.
The letter makes clear the measures of support necessary to allow thousands of facilities to survive the economic turbulence in order to continue providing their essential service to the nation, along with protecting thousands of jobs.Five measures of support:
- Provide Local Government grants, ring-fenced to protect public and community leisure facilities.
- Expand the current business rates holiday and freeze business rates now for next year (FY22/23) for all fitness and leisure premises, with no caps applied.
- Reduce VAT to 5% for fitness and leisure businesses.
- HMRC to replicate the Time-To-Pay flexibility scheme granted during the pandemic.
- Provide and support access to funding for investment in the adoption of green technology by businesses and local authorities.
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To read the full letter, click here.
To support the sector, please email or write to your MP with your concerns. Find your MP here.