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The national charity and leading voice for disabled people in sport and activity

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Our response to Sport England’s Active Lives 2023-24 report

Today, Sport England released the latest data from the Active Lives Adult Survey for the year 2023-24. Over 170,000 people aged 16 and over, took part in the survey. Activity Alliance’s research team has analysed the data to highlight the differences for disabled adults.

Three people do a plank in a gym class.

This year’s report reveals that inactivity levels for disabled people remain similar to last year. Nearly four in ten (39.5%) disabled adults who took part in the survey are doing less than the 30 minutes a week. Findings also show that adults with two or more inequality characteristics remain the least active. An example of an adult with two inequality characteristics would be a disabled female.

Whilst this year’s data shows record levels of activity for adults, with the number of regularly active adults increasing by 2.4 million since the survey began, disabled people continue to be one of the least active groups. Disabled people are nearly twice as likely to be inactive compared to non-disabled people (39.5% vs 20.2%). Whilst it is positive that inactivity levels for disabled people significantly decreased from last year (by 1.3%), the gap in activity levels highlights the continued need to focus on marginalised people and places who can benefit from increased physical activity and that need the most support to be active.

Addressing the disparity of activity levels and inequality challenges for disabled adults requires a continued joint approach across the sector and beyond. We join Sport England in celebrating the record number of adults taking part in sport and physical activity yet also recognise the barriers to entry for many people to be active remain too high. Despite improvements since the survey began, a quarter of the adult population remain incative, including nearly two-fifths of disabled people. Inequalities in playing sport and being physically active remain. These findings highlight the continual need to address inequalities by working together across the sector to ensure that all people, especially disabled people, feel they belong in sports and activities.

Responding to the findings Adam Blaze, CEO of Activity Alliance said: 

“There are major milestones to note in the latest Active Lives data. Not only record levels of activity for adults, but a significant decrease in inactivity levels for disabled people. This is extremely positive to see and exactly what we work together with others to achieve.
“It is important to recognise this step change, but we can’t let it mask the fact that disabled people remain amongst the least active in our nation.
“The immense work done by incredible organisations following the pandemic to reduce the inactivity levels of disabled people is at the heart of this change, however we need to keep this momentum going and see more significant changes.
“We know that barriers are too common across sport and activity for disabled people. This could be a disabled person unable to visit a local swimming pool due to reduced accessible travel options. Or many still struggling with the cost of living who see activity as a luxury. We know the solutions exist and programmes like Get Out Get Active show the impact we can have in many local communities when we centre activities around the people’s needs and motivations.
“More needs to be done to ensure that disabled people can enjoy the physical and mental wellbeing benefits of being active. Beyond the personal there are wider societal benefits too. Our social value report released just a few months ago found that the disparity in activity levels between disabled people and non-disabled people has a cost to society of £10.9 billion.
“This needs to be a moment to look ahead, recognise the good work that has got us to this position and ensure that all disabled people feel they belong in sports and activities. With others, we will continue to work tirelessly to improve opportunities to be active, empowering disabled people to get involved in sport and activities in the way they choose.”

Activity levels for disabled people

Inactivity levels (doing less than 30 minutes of activity a week) for disabled people have slightly improved to last year, decreasing by 1.3%. However, the data shows that disabled people remain one of the least active groups.

  • This year, 39.5% (estimated 6.36 million [1]) disabled people were inactive, compared to 20.2% of non-disabled people. This means that almost two-fifths of disabled people are not experiencing the well-known benefits of being active. 
  • Disabled people’s inactivity levels have nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels (39.8% in 2019). However, disabled people consistently remain twice as likely to be inactive compared to non-disabled people (39.8% vs 20.5% in 2019) compared to 39.5% vs 20.2% this year. Following the pandemic, inequalities were further widened by the cost-of-living crisis. Disabled people were more likely to be hit harder and reduce how active they were compared to non-disabled people [2].
  • The fairness gap, measuring the difference between the proportion of inactive disabled people and the proportion of inactive non-disabled people is now 19.3%. 
  • The more impairments a disabled person has, the more likely they are to be inactive. 

Stabilising activity levels despite the ongoing cost of living crisis can be perceived as positive. However, from our Annual Disability and Activity Survey[2] findings, we know disabled people think this is not good enough.  

[1] Department for Work & Pensions. UK Disability Statistics

[2] Activity Alliance. Annual Disability and Activity Survey 2023/24

Multiple impairments

Over seven in ten disabled people have more than one impairment. As seen in last year’s report, levels of inactivity rise significantly with the number of impairments someone has, with nearly half (47.8%) of people with three or more impairments remaining inactive.

  • 30.3% of people with one impairment are inactive. 
  • 35% of people with two impairments are inactive.
  • 47.8% of people with three or more impairments are inactive. 

Please contact the National Disability Sports Organisations for support on engaging with people with specific impairments. 

Other inequalities

The data highlights how other demographic and social factors have a significant impact on how active people are.  

People in lower social groups (those in semi-routine and routine occupations; long-term unemployment or have never worked) continue to have higher levels of inactivity, with no significant change from last year. We know disabled people remain more likely to experience poverty and unemployment [3]. 

Other persistent inequalities from last year are women and older age groups, despite an overall positive trend in older adults (55+) being more active. A larger proportion of women are disabled compared to men, and disability becomes more prevalent with age [1]. In addition, we observe that inactivity levels are most prevalent in people in lower social groups, transgender people, have other sexual orientation, are Asian or Black, or are Muslim.    

This shows the importance of continuing to consider an individual’s social and demographic factors alongside someone’s impairment or health condition.  

[3] Joseph Rowntree Foundation,  UK Poverty Report 2025.

Mental wellbeing

Consistent with last year, disabled people’s personal wellbeing is lower than non-disabled people. Findings show disabled people are more likely to report lower average scores of life satisfaction (5.68 vs 7.33), happiness (5.84 vs 7.37) and feelings of worthwhileness (6.11 vs 7.45). The more impairments a disabled person has, the more likely they are to report decreased average scores, experiencing lower personal wellbeing. Disabled people also report higher average scores for anxiety (4.7 vs 3.23) compared to non-disabled people.  

The Active Lives report shows the positive associations between activity levels and mental wellbeing.  

Attitudes

As with last year’s findings, disabled people are less likely to have positive attitudes around being active compared to non-disabled people, with a decrease in feelings of capability and opportunity than last year. However, disabled people who do take part in sport and physical activity appear to enjoy being active more than last year. 

  • Capability: 17% of disabled people strongly agree that ‘I feel I have the ability to be physically active’, compared to 42.1% of non-disabled people. We observe a small decrease for both disabled (18.1%) and non-disabled people (46.5%) since last year but is unchanged compared to pre-pandemic levels for disabled people (17.3% in 2019). The proportion of disabled people who strongly agree that they have the ability to be physically active decreases with an increased number of impairments, with over a quarter (26.3%) of disabled people with one impairment who strongly agree, compared to 17.1% with two impairments and 9.8% of disabled people with three or more impairments.
  • Opportunity: 16.5% of disabled people strongly agree that ‘I feel I have the opportunity to be physically active’, compared to 36.6% of non-disabled people. Again, this has decreased slightly since last year for disabled people (17.1%) and remains lower than pre-pandemic levels (18.1% in 2019). The perceived opportunity has also decreased among non-disabled people, with the opportunity gap closing 2 percentage points between disabled and non-disabled people (22.1% in 2022/23 vs 20.1% in 2023/24). We observe a similar trend as the capability statements, with 23.3% of disabled people with one impairment strongly agreeing that they feel they have the opportunity to be active compared with 17.2% with two impairments and 10.7% of disabled people with three or more impairments.
  • Enjoyment: 20.6% of disabled people strongly agree that ‘I find sport enjoyable and satisfying’, compared to 35.5% of non-disabled people. Whilst there has been no change for non-disabled people, there has been a significant increase from last year (19% in 2022/23). The perceived enjoyment and satisfaction of sport has also decreased among non-disabled people, with the enjoyment gap closing 2 percentage points between disabled and non-disabled people (16.9% in 2022/23 vs 14.9% in 2023/24). Enjoyment and satisfaction of sport for disabled people is now higher than pre-pandemic levels (18% in 2019). Despite this, level of enjoyment and satisfaction of sport decreases with an increase in number of impairments. Over one quarter (27.5%) of disabled people with one impairment strongly agreed that they feel sport is enjoyable and satisfying compared with 20.1% of disabled people with two impairments and 15.3% of disabled people with three or more impairments.     

The data continues to show a positive association between positive attitudes and being more active, volunteering, improving wellbeing, and individual and community development. Those who strongly agree that they have opportunity, capability and enjoyment in sport recognise not only the benefit to personal health but also contribute to building stronger communities.   

Types of activity

Overall walking (61.7%), sporting activities (35.4%) and active travel (33.8%) remain the highest broad activity categories for adults. The types of activities participants can report include some disability-specific sports; boccia, goalball, paragliding, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair rugby.  

Consistent with previous years there is still no responses to disability-specific activities. Therefore, data is not available about disability or impairment specific sports and physical activity. Currently, the data only breaks down types of activities by gender. However, using the Active Lives tool, when updated with this year’s data, will enable types of activity data to be examined by disability. Read our guidance on how best to use the tool.  

Volunteering 

Consistent with findings that disabled people are less likely to see people like themselves volunteering in sport and physical activity [2], disabled people remain less likely to volunteer to support sport and physical activity than non-disabled people. 17.6% of disabled people compared to 23.8% of non-disabled people have volunteered within the last year.

We observe that whilst there has been no change in volunteering for disabled people, there has been a significant increase in volunteering amongst non-disabled people. Additionally, the more impairments a disabled person has the less likely they are to volunteer, as 23.5% of those with one impairment compared to 13.5% of those with three or more impairments have volunteered to support sport and physical activity within the last year.

Whilst less likely than non-disabled people, disabled people were most likely to volunteer once a week (5.5% disabled people vs 7.3% non-disabled people) or once every few months (4.6% disabled people vs 6.1% non-disabled people), with no change from last year for disabled people and a significant increase in non-disabled people volunteering once per week.

Disabled people volunteering in coaching roles has increased slightly since last year (4.4% in 2022/23 vs 4.6% in 2023/24) but remains lower than non-disabled people (6.7% in 2022/23 vs 7% in 2023/24). Insight from UK Coaching reveal that just under a quarter (23%) of Active coaches are disabled or have a long-term health condition and that disabled coaches are more likely to do paid coaching, say coaching is their primary occupation and spend more time coaching per week [4].

The Active Lives report highlights the positive relationship between the regularity of volunteering and higher wellbeing scores and individual development.   

[4] UK Coaching, UK Coaching Population Study 2024 Report Disability Spotlight

About the survey 

This report presents data from the Active Lives Adult Survey for 2023-24. Data is presented from 171,926 adults (aged 16+) in England and was collected between November 2023 and November 2024 using an online and paper questionnaire. The survey is carried out by Ipsos Mori, and data is weighted to key demographics and geography measures from the Office for National Statistics.  

Useful resources 

Working with partners, we will build a collective voice to support organisations and people who deliver activities to support disabled people to be active. Our latest strategy, We all belong, complements the message from Sport England in recognising the need for organisations and individuals to come together to transform lives and communities across sports and activities.     

Here are some useful resources: 

More research or insight 

Please get in touch with the research team at Activity Alliance to discuss our response: research@activityalliance.org.uk