About Us: Sport England Funding

On 11th May 2022 Sport England announced that British Fencing (BF) was successful in securing £2.7m investment over 5 years from Sport England, based on delivery against agreed objectives to support ambitions of Sport England’s 10-year Uniting the Movement strategy.

This funding supports our work in delivering our Partnership Programmes and Athlete Development Programme whilst also contributing to our role in governing the sport and supporting our clubs and workforce to create inclusive and accessible opportunities for people to participate in fencing.

Uniting the Movement

In 2021, Sport England announced Uniting the Movement, a 10-year vision to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity.

To achieve this vision, Sport England will fund  and work with a range of organisations who have a shared belief in removing the barriers that exist when trying to access sport and physical activity and importantly, tackling the inequalities that prevent too many people being active. The funding is intended to support meaningful change in organisations that deliver sport and physical activity, so that people are no longer excluded due to gender, ethnicity, lived experiences and more.

BF Strategy

BF believes that fencing has a role to play. As an organisation our strategic objectives 2/3 & 5 already align with the Sport England strategy:

2. A stronger, empowered, diverse and inclusive community of 30,000 fencers, volunteers, coaches and supporters

3. Accessible inclusive swordplay opportunities delivered via partnership programmes

5. Maximise the wider benefits of fencing and the positive impact it can have on people’s lives

Our additional objectives include:

• A diverse set of communities and people finding the right environments and opportunities for them to participate and engage in fencing as part of a wider systemic approach to tackling inequalities.
• A more diverse audience believing that fencing is a sport for them.
• A sustainable system and structure that supports delivery of high-quality inclusive experiences across fencing (whether able bodied or para).
• Through continually improving repeatable methods of partnership working to focus on delivering the wider benefits of fencing, which in turn will make a positive impact on people’s lives.

Funded Activity

Partnership Programmes – Our highly successful Muslim Girls Fence project and our pilot project working with young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder are just two examples of where fencing projects delivered by BF in collaboration with external partners (working together to bring in additional external funding) can make a positive impact on peoples lives. We recognise the role that fencing can play in peoples lives beyond purely giving people the opportunity to be active, we have also seen it serve as a tool for making positive social change in communities and individuals lives. Funding to deliver our Partnership Programmes is spread over 3 years at £227K per year.

Athlete Development Programme (SE Talent) – Our ‘Talent‘ funded work will continue to focus on athlete wellbeing and needs, providing an inclusive and experiential Athlete Development Programme (ADP) based on our belief that ‘Better People make Better Athletes’, whilst delivering pathway training and competition opportunities for athletes, coaches, officials and the extended workforce.  Whilst the ADP supports the whole performance pathway to Olympic success, the Talent funded elements primarily focus on the U17, U20and U23 age groups as they move up the pathway. Talent funding is spread over 3 years at £162K per year.

Governance and Systemic Role of the National Governing Body

Our funded objectives to support Uniting the Movement as agreed with Sport England include:

• Embedding good governance and improvements in safeguarding within affiliated club & regional structure.
• Ensuring the BF governance structure is fit for purpose to support a diverse, inclusive and sustainable system and structures for the long-term
  development of the sport of fencing.
• Improving fencing system governance – influencing, advocating & promoting external good governance across external fencing system partners.
• Regulating & running of competitions to support recovery & reinvention and inclusion of wheelchair/para fencing disciplines.
• Regulating & running of existing long-term programmes providing safe, accessible and inclusive entry points to fencing
• Regulating & running of accessible workforce development and certification, founded in content that demonstrates and role models inclusion.
• Delivering reliable and sustainable operational support to existing delivery partners with a focus on diversity and tackling inequalities. Allow successful
  projects (eg Muslim to be maintained, rather than short term interventions.
• Creating stronger relationships and better connections with expert partners – both knowledge partners (e.g. UK Coaching) and strategic delivery (e.g.
  Maslaha) partners, across the ecosystem – to collaborate, share learnings and inform governance and delivery plans to tackle inequalities.
• Providing a fit for purpose, value driven membership service, underpinned by visible good governance practices and supporting regulation (eg
  safety, rules etc) to protect members and the sport, whilst ensuring the future financial sustainability of the NGB and its ability to service a diverse
  community of members and support and govern the sport.
• Supporting culture change in the club structure/workforce to proactively understand and meet the needs of their local communities – educating,
  informing and driving culture change, underpinned by insight & learnings from BF delivery programmes. Supporting where appropriate to deliver
  inclusive experiences and to tackle inequalities in local partnerships, in their local communities

Governance and Systemic funding is spread over 5 years and is £309K per year.

Disability Fencing

Following the transfer of responsibilities for disability fencing into British Fencing , this provides an exciting opportunity to increase opportunities at all levels of our sport for people with disabilities, importantly not limited to those with disabilities who meet the categories to allow them to compete in para-fencing internationals. This is work that will be supported by all three areas of funded activity.

More Information

For more information about the funding we receive from UK Sport please click here.

For more information about how we use the income we received from members please click here.

For an overview of what we do as an organisation, what types of income we get and what they are used for please click here

Return to ‘About Us Zone‘ to find out more information about the work that we do.