Supplier for Sport England Leading the Movement Practice‑Focused Report / Applied Thought Piece 2026

What Good Leadership Looks Like When Tackling Physical Activity Inequalities in a Place

1. Introduction

The Local Government Association (LGA), in partnership with Sport England, is seeking a suitably experienced supplier to produce a practice focused report / applied thought piece (approximately 15 pages) exploring what good local leadership looks like in practice when taking a place based, whole system approach to tackling physical activity inequalities.

The report should surface real world insights, examples and learning drawn from Place Partnerships, illustrating how leadership is enacted, distributed and sustained in different contexts.

Alongside supporting learning resources and sessions, the final outputs will be hosted on Sport England’s Leading the Movement (LtM) website. It will contribute to a wider suite of resources designed to support Sport England funded Place Partnerships to strengthen leadership capability and embed effective distributed and collective leadership approaches over time.

2. Purpose of the Commission

The commission aims to produce an applied, practice led exploration of leadership that:

Identifies what good place based leadership can look like in practice, not just in principle, when addressing physical activity inequalities.

• 3.Scope of Work
• A.Practice Focused Report / Applied Thought Piece (circa 15 pages)

The report should combine insight, reflection and practical application, and explore:

Keen for the tone to be accessible, reflective and grounded, supporting leaders to make sense of their own practice rather than prescribing a single model.

• B.Applied Case Studies (short, practical and high impact)

Each case study should illustrate leadership “in action”, for example:

• C.Connection with NELP

The supplier is expected to work with Sport England’s National Evaluation and Learning Partnership (NELP) to:

This collaboration is essential to inform the final outputs, support alignment and avoid duplication

• D.Socialisation and Use of Assets

The supplier will support the socialisation and use of assets through:

Sessions should be interactive and practitioner focused, rather than purely presentational.

4. Optional Supporting Outputs

Suppliers may propose additional short, practical resources, such as:

•

Suppliers are encouraged to be creative and propose outputs that add value, especially on the socialisation, accessibility and practical use of assets.

5. Deliverables

The supplier will be expected to provide:

6. Timeline

Project Completion date: 30th September 2026

Milestones agreed at inception.

Indicative timeline:

7. Background: Leading the Movement

This work sits within Sport England’s Leading the Movement programme, which aims to build a confident, connected, and skilled community of leaders capable of driving long term systemic change and tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity.

Read more about the Vision, Mission and Aims of Leading the Movement

8. Budget

Total budget: £18,000 + VAT

The budget should cover all research, engagement, drafting, design, sense making activity, meetings and revisions. This is the budget cap. Bidders are required to bid competitively, but realistically, showing a full cost breakdown within the bid.

9. Supplier Requirements

Applicants must demonstrate:

10. Application Process

Applicants must submit:

Bid submission deadline: 9am, Friday 26th June 2026