Update on ESAA decision around age groups

England Athletics can provide the following update with regards to the English Schools Athletics Association’s (ESAA’s) position on the implementation of the upcoming age group changes on 1 April 2026, and how this position affects the award of a competition grant. 

England Athletics has supported and advocated for the age group changes as part of a wider need to help modernise the sport and provide an improved developmental pathway to retain athletes in their teenage years.

As a long-term funding partner, we have supported ESAA since 2008 with a total of over £1 million, with a shared vision of promoting the enjoyment of athletics in schools and encouraging the development and discovery of athletic talent.

The ESAA remains the only track and field competition provider in the UK not committed to adopting the new rules of the sport in full on 1 April 2026. We recognise that this continues to cause significant disruption for athletes, coaches, and teachers and creates confusion among officials.

In December, we issued an update outlining ESAA’s decision to adopt the age group changes from 1 September 2026, and have since regularly  engaged with ESAA to encourage them to reconsider their position. We believe aligning with the rest of the sport from 1 April would be in the best interests of athletes and those involved in the delivery of the sport in both clubs and school settings.
In the December update, we also announced that ESAA had decided not to adopt age group changes in cross country and that they were reviewing this alongside their plans for Combined Events.

Due to the ESAA decision, and following a funding application as part of the Competition Grant scheme, England Athletics made a conditional reduced funding offer to ESAA for their 2026 championships programme. The offer of funding was made on the basis that ESAA meet certain conditions, including running the sprint hurdles and throws events at its 2026 National Championships (and Track and Field Cup) using the even age groups and associated technical specifications.

We are pleased to confirm that at a recent ESAA General Committee Meeting, it was agreed that the 2026 Championships would use the new even age groups and associated specifications for hurdles events. We strongly believe this to be in the best interests of young people and athlete development.

However, the same decision was not made for the throwing events or subsequently for the Combined Events championships, despite recommendations from ESAA’s own working group to align. This decision means that ESAA has not complied with the conditions of funding set out in November. The England Athletics Board met in January to review progress and consider funding support for ESAA in 2026. The offer of funding to ESAA for their 2026 championships programme has been reduced.

This reduced amount reflects the fact that some conditions have been met, but not all. The grant funding that would have previously been awarded to ESAA will now be used in supporting local schools and youth competitions, including county schools associations, during this period of change.
 
Throughout this process, our priority has remained putting the young athletes at the heart of our decision making and we believe that it is in the best interests of those athletes, their parents and their coaches for all track and field competitions in 2026 to be held under the same rules. Over 90% of competing athletes in the ESAA champs are registered club athletes, so we feel it is important to have total alignment in the sport.

England Athletics recognises that organisers of county schools' championships and intercounty schools events will need to make decisions on the format of their own events and apply for competition licences in due course, whether these are standalone meetings or held in partnership with a county athletics association. Where school competition providers submit licence applications that demonstrate full alignment with the new UKA Rules for Competition, licences will be issued as normal. However, we also recognise that some may choose to mirror ESAA’s track and field format once finalised. Where this is the case, we will contact providers directly to review and clarify their licence requests.

We will revisit our approach to funding ESAA in 2027 for future years. We will provide further updates as discussions continue and we remain committed to working closely with ESAA for the best outcome for athletes.