Leisure industry in Budget aid plea to avoid mass closures
Government told facilities may not survive April restart Group exercise instructors at risk over limited participants
The Government has been warned that thousands of sports and leisure facilities might not survive their reopening next month if bespoke support is not placed at the heart of tomorrow’s Budget.
Around 400 gyms, pools and leisure centres are already estimated to have been permanently closed during the pandemic, but new data from ukactive, which represents public and private sector facilities, says that 2,400 more remain at risk.
This would result in the loss of 10,000 jobs at a time when the sector had been growing year-on-year by six per cent, and was estimated to annually save the National Health Service £450 million.
There is particular alarm over the plight of group exercise instructors, of which almost half have not been eligible for financial support due to their employment circumstances. This has disproportionately affected women, who make up 78 per cent of the almost five million people who regularly take part in a class.
The Government’s roadmap has scheduled the resumption of group exercise classes for May 17, some five weeks after gyms and leisure centres open, but with a maximum of only six participants, which would still not be economically viable for many instructors.
EMD UK, the national governing body for group exercise, has warned that this will disenfranchise women and girls from their choice of exercise and wants guidance brought into line with wedding receptions or funerals, which will respectively allow 15 and 30 people.
“Group exercise classes are led by a professional instructor who can ensure social distancing and cleanliness rules are followed,” said chief executive Marcus Kingwell.
Ukactive is calling for a VAT reduction which matches current, and any proposed future, concessions for hospitality, as we4ll as support for backdated rent, an extension of the business rate holiday and the public leisure recovery fund and incentivisation schemes to encourage people to use the sector’s services.
“With facilities closed for the entire first quarter of 2021, and total lost revenue estimated to be more than £90 million a week, it is vital that the uncertainty around the sector’s financial position is addressed, so facilities can plan to reopen their doors,” said Huw Edwards, ukactive’s chief executive. “We are calling on the Government to put the health of our nation at the heart of this Budget, because it will need the fitness and leisure sector more than ever during this recovery.
“Thousands of gyms, pools and leisure facilities are yet to receive any bespoke support from the Government, and this Budget marks the best opportunity to redress this, and invest in a sector which promises such strong health and economic returns.”
Public sector gyms and leisure centres have collectively received £100 million in recent government aid and the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced on Sunday that gyms and leisure facilities would be among those eligible for £18,000 “restart loans”, which will be announced in the Budget.
The leisure sector has been closed for almost six months since March 2020 and, having only reopened between July and December with restrictions, was again shut for what is traditionally its peak period.
With almost two-thirds of all cancer prehab and rehab services provided in leisure centres, and inactivity the fourth-biggest cause of death and disability in the UK, the importance of the sector has also been stressed to government.
Up to one million children have missed out on swimming over the past year, including in school lessons which are a statutory part of the national curriculum to ensure that every 11-year-old can swim at least one 25-metre length.
Drowning is the third-highest cause of death among children and Swim England is in talks with the Government about a mass catch-up programme. Even before the pandemic, only one in three children could swim 25m unaided when they left primary school.
There is also acute ongoing concern over the future of 200 community swimming pools, which were not deemed financially viable to reopen even when lockdown restrictions were eased last year.