Website of the UK government

Sport England

Sport England advises, invests in and promotes community sport. Sport England also works with a range of partners to help ensure the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games deliver a lasting sporting legacy across England.

Making sport accessible to disabled people is key to increasing participation. Sport England recognises this and is working actively towards making sports and sports venues more accessible and inclusive.

• Sport England (opens new window)

The English Federation of Disability Sport

The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) is the national body responsible for developing sport for disabled people in England. It works closely with several national disability sports organisations.

One of the aims of EFDS is to raise public awareness of sport for disabled people. EFDS also develops education programmes to increase the number of coaches working with disabled people.

• English Federation of Disability Sport website (opens new window)

The Inclusive Fitness Initiative

The Inclusive Fitness Initiative (IFI) is working to ensure that disabled people gain equal access to gym-based physical activity. It has built up a network of over 180 inclusive facilities across England.

Additionally, the Inclusive Fitness Mark (IFI Mark) quality mark accreditation scheme awards the IFI mark to facilities across the whole of the United Kingdom if they fulfil certain conditions.

Criteria for accreditation include:

• Inclusive Fitness Initiative (opens new window)

Parasport

Parasport is a joint initiative between the British Paralympic Association (BPA) and the services firm Deloitte. The aim is to increase participation levels in competitive sporting events. Parasport will improve how talented sports people are identified and supported at community level.

As part of the project, it is planned to provide individual bursaries to talented and high-potential athletes through a partnership with SportsAid, and to establish a new Disability Sports Institute known as Parasport, run by the BPA.

While the BPA is the body responsible for the ‘elite’ end of disability sport, the Parasport project is open to all abilities.

• Parasport website (opens new window)

The Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme

The Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme operates in England and helps talented young athletes committed to combining their sport and education. There are currently 50 sports that are eligible for TASS, of which 16 are disability sports.

The scheme is open to people aged between 16 and 25, with an upper age limit of 35 for disabled people. Candidates must hold a valid British passport and be eligible to compete in their sport for GB.

The scheme provides a package of sporting services to athletes and access to good quality training facilities. 

TASS 2012 Scholarships are available to sports people with the potential to be a medallist in the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

• Talented athlete scholarship scheme (opens new window)

Government sports initiatives

If you want to find out about government funding, plans and initiatives in relation to sport, visit the Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) website.

The Government wants to make sure that the number of disabled people in sport increases across the board - whether as a participant, trainer or administrator.

• Department for Culture, Media and Sport (opens new window)