Press release

Funding boost for Sport in 2012 and beyond

Changes to lottery share and increased ticket sales mean £500 million more for sport over the next five years

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt has revealed that latest lottery projections show that sport will be £500 million better off over the next five years, leaving a lasting sporting legacy from London 2012.

Lottery projections from December 2011 show that total income for sport between 2012 / 13 and 2016 / 17 is expected to be £1.8 billion, up from £1.3 billion from projections made in September 2010.

This is a result of the changes to the way lottery cash is being distributed, announced in 2010, with sports share of the lottery returns increased from 16 per cent to 20 per cent. Sports funding is also on the up due to a rise in lottery ticket sales.

Jeremy Hunt said:

“An extra £500 million of Lottery money is set to go into sport over the next five years, helping to leave a real sporting legacy from London’s Games. It’s fantastic news for both elite and community sport and exactly why we reformed the lottery last year. 

Turning round declining participation rates in youth sport will be a tough challenge, but this financial boost - combined with an inspiring summer of sport - gives us a good platform to turn things around.”

Earlier this month Jeremy Hunt announced the £1 billion youth sport strategy that will be delivered by Sport England over the next five years. This will open up school sites for community use, creating thousands of new sports clubs and form stronger links between schools and sports governing bodies.

Latest lottery projections, from December 2011, for Sport England (community sport) and UK Sport (elite sport)

  • All figures in £ million
  • 2013 figures: After Olympic transfers
2012/2013 2013/14 2014/5 2015/16 2016/17
Sport (total) 336 360.8 362.8 366.4 368.2
Sport England 205 223.7 225 227.2 228.3
UK Sport 80 82.3 82.7 83.5 83.9
Sport Scotland 27 29.2 29.4 29.7 29.8
Sport Wales 15 16.2 16.3 16.5 16.6
Sport Northern Ireland 9 9.4 9.4 9.5 9.6

Notes to Editors

  1. The School Games is a new school sport competition, using the inspiration of London’s Olympics and Paralympics to help transform competitive sport in schools and get more young people playing sport.  Open to all schools, there are three levels of competition (class versus class, school versus school and then county or city wide sports festivals) leading up to the showcase final on the Olympic Park. The School Games will continue after 2012 and the ambition is for the finals to be held in the Olympic Park at regular intervals. Schools have until the end of January to sign up. 

  2. Further information about the school games.

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Published 24 January 2012