UK Sport logoUK Sport has confirmed it will grant more than £1.38million in extra funding to help national governing bodies (NGBs) struggling because of the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The money will be distributed between ten sports who applied for assistance from UK Sport’s Continuity Fund.

It is the first round of contributions from the Fund, which was set up by UK Sport specifically to help mitigate the adverse impact of Covid-19 on the operational and financial health of NGBs.

The extra funding will be used in a variety of ways by the sports who applied for support including:

i) to cover existing expenditure

ii) to support new strategic activities that will enable the sports to adapt to a significantly different operating environment moving forward

iii) to enable them to take part in competitions which are essential to preserving world rankings and thus maintaining the opportunity to qualify for future Olympic / Paralympic Games

The following NGBs have received grant support via the Continuity Fund:

● Archery GB – £110,000

● British Basketball Federation – £180,000

● British Cycling – £500,000

● British Fencing – £33,000

● British Judo – £86,000

● British Weightlifting – £30,000

● England Hockey – £90,000

● Goalball UK – £35,000

● Pentathlon GB – £22,000

● Royal Yachting Association – £300,000

It is expected that there will be a second round of funding and applications for this will open in the coming months. This will allow sports to assess the longer term implications of the Covid-19 pandemic and approach UK Sport for support via the Continuity Fund in due course.

Sally Munday, CEO of UK Sport, said: “Our priority is to ensure the long-term health of Olympic and Paralympic sport and minimise the negative impact of the pandemic.

“I’ve been impressed by how so many national governing bodies have swiftly identified the risks caused by what was an unprecedented situation and acted to mitigate these. I hope that today’s announcement of grant funding to these ten organisations can play a significant role in helping to protect high-performance sport and ensure it continues to thrive long into the future.

“We will continue to monitor the impact of Covid-19 and respond with future funding rounds from the Continuity Fund accordingly.”

Mark Winder, CEO of Goalball UK, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the support of UK Sport. Our High Performance system relies on philanthropic giving. This has been impacted upon over the past six months and this grant will ensure we can continue our journey until March 2021. It will enable our Great Britain Men’s team to take part in the European B League in January, 2021. This is essential to maintaining the opportunities to qualify for Paris.”