UK chartered institute, CIMSPA, has teamed up with the UK government's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to promote career opportunities in the physical activity sector and help address staff shortages.

The partnership will involve CIMSPA creating resources and training on careers in the sector that will help Job Centre work coaches and DWP employer engagement officers to support job seekers to explore roles in the sector.

It will also provide DWP school advisers with access to careers guidance on opportunities available and – longer-term – make training opportunities available to DWP customers who want to start a career in the sport and physical activity sector.

Links will be strengthened between local DWP leads and CIMSPA’s local skills delivery team to enhance skills development and work opportunities in each locality in line with its place-based approach.

Tara Dillon, CEO of CIMSPA said: “We see this collaboration, and crucially our alignment on the importance of place-based working to support local people and communities, as integral to supporting more great people to become part of our talented, dedicated workforce.

“We want to make more people aware that often the practitioners that have the most impact on society are the ones that reflect the communities that they work with.

“Being a trainer, or coaching and delivering physical activity is just one part of the sector when it comes to careers. There are many more roles outside that in areas such as customer service, marketing, IT, facilities management and many more which operators in the sector are looking for to fill," said Dillon.

“We know that physical inactivity is often linked to economic inactivity and by helping people improve their active wellbeing we can increase their confidence in undertaking a more active life – including working or volunteering. The key to this is having a workforce that understands the challenges that people face and who can engage people who are are inactive.

The sport and physical activity sector employs close to 600,000 people, with high demand for people to fill vacant roles. In a two-month period in 2024, 22,000 unique job vacancies were posted.