4 weeks left to have your say on National Lottery funding

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is launching a call for evidence on the future of National Lottery good cause funding. Without the funding we have received via the Sport England grants - supported by the National Lottery - many of the systems, services and opportunities that underpin grassroots athletics and running across England would simply not exist at their current scale.

Since 1994, the National Lottery has generated over £53 billion for good causes across the UK, funding elite and grassroots sport, cultural institutions and local community projects.

During 2024/25 alone, we received £1.46million investment via Sport England and the National Lottery funding. This funding helped drive progress against the strategic aims set out in our strategic plan and enabled us to continue supporting grassroots athletics and running across England.

As the National Governing Body for running and athletics in England, funding enables us to play a unique role in enabling local delivery, including: 

• Governance and systematic frameworks, including regional councils who play an important link between the grass roots of our sport and the England Athletics’ Board and Senior Management to ensure that the needs of our clubs are reflected in the work done by England Athletics. 
• Safeguarding and welfare systems to keep participants safe, including the investment of a dedicated welfare team. 
• Coach, official and leader education pathways that support athlete development at every level while ensuring the sport's workforce remains highly skilled, accredited and equipped with the latest knowledge and best practice. 

• Competition licensing and standards including for major running events such as the London Marathon and Great North Run.  
• Club development support. We now employ nine Club Support Managers for each English region whose role is to provide practical advice, guidance, and resources, and create opportunities for clubs to connect, learn from each other, and share good practice.  
• Equality, diversity and inclusion programmes that include inclusive club development initiatives, coach education, mental wellbeing programmes such as #RunAndTalk and the delivery of our Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan 
• Facility guidance and investment support. 
• Talent development pathways. 
• Participation programmes such as RunTogether have helped more than 207,000 people become active through running and supported the development of over 3,500 community running groups across England. RunTogether provides accessible, local opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to improve their physical activity levels, wellbeing and social connectedness.

The call for evidence closes at midday on 23 September 2026. They are seeking a wide range of views from both organisations and individuals. To find out more or submit your views, click here.