Please Note: Applications for The Together Fund have now closed.

The Together Fund is a continuation of the Tackling Inequalities Fund (TIF) that was set up in April 2020 as part of Sport England's support package to help the sport and physical activity sector through the coronavirus crisis.

Phase 4 of the fund has seen another £20 million of National Lottery funding committed to help the groups that, from Sport England's insight, were being disproportionately affected by the pandemic, significantly impacting their ability to be physically active.

Money from the Together Fund will be prioritised for the following four key audiences:

• Lower socio-economic groups
• Culturally diverse communities
• Disabled people
• People with long term health conditions

Since its launch, the TIF has enabled community groups to continue to exist and engage with their communities, supporting people to be engaged and active.

Together Fund investment will run until August 2023 and is intended to help further growth and recovery of community organisations working with the four key target audiences.

Somerset Activity and Sports Partnership (SASP) is one of 43 Active Partnerships across England, helping disseminate funding at a local level. SASP has been awarded £112k of phase 4 Together Fund funding from Sport England to distribute to community groups and organisations across Somerset.

SASP will continue to support projects across all of Sport England's four key audiences, however we will adopt a particular focus on reaching individuals from lower socio-economic groups and disabled people for the following reasons…

1. Insight from our Holiday Activities and Food Programme shows that whilst children from deprived communities have accessed physical activity throughout the holidays, barriers still exist for those in receipt of free school meals to access opportunities to be physically active during term time.
2. Feedback from school and parents within the most deprived areas of Somerset have fed back particular concerns around swimming proficiency. Of the 1.88 million children estimated to have missed out on swimming participation during the pandemic, an estimated 411,000 of these children live in the most deprived areas of England.
3. Since Covid-19, a significant number of coaches have left the sport and physical activity sector, leading to a workforce shortage that has left disability groups unable to reform. A lack of swimming provision for adults with a disability in Somerset is particularly prevalent.

If you have any further questions, please contact Abbie Barker, Together Fund Project Officer. If you have ideas about a project and need help partnering and linking with other organisations or you want to have a conversation with us, before applying, please get in touch.