For over a decade, the PE and Sport Premium has been the standard funding line UK primary schools have relied on to pay for coaching, equipment and extracurricular sport. That is changing. The government is phasing out the PE and Sport Premium and replacing it with a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, and the timing puts it right in the middle of this year’s club rotas, coach bookings and new term planning. Here is what is actually changing, what it means for schools over the next few terms, and how to keep PE and sport provision running smoothly while the new model beds in.
What the PE and Sport Premium Has Paid for Since 2013
The PE and Sport Premium has existed since 2013, giving primary schools ring fenced funding to spend on physical education and school sport. Most schools have used it to bring in specialist coaches, train existing staff, buy equipment, or run before and after school clubs they otherwise could not afford. It has been a genuinely useful pot of money for a lot of primaries. For many smaller schools, the PE and Sport Premium was the only funding line that let them offer swimming lessons, hire an external football or gymnastics coach, or keep a lunchtime sports club going year after year.
What’s Replacing the PE and Sport Premium
From the 2026/27 academic year, the PE and Sport Premium is being replaced by the PE and School Sport Partnerships Network. Rather than handing every school a set amount to spend on its own, the new model connects schools with a national delivery partner working alongside national governing bodies of sport. The Department for Education says the aim is to move away from a one size fits all approach and toward a partnership led model built on collaboration between schools, coaching providers and local clubs.
How Much Funding Is Involved, and Where It’s Going
The government has committed more than one billion pounds to school sport over three years. Five hundred and eighty million pounds is earmarked for the Partnerships Network itself, which is expected to be fully operational by spring 2027. Another two hundred million pounds is going toward improving school sporting facilities, and a one off one hundred million pound PE Premium payment is being made to primary schools specifically to support them through the changeover. The Partnerships Network is built around two tiers of support: universal training available to every school, and targeted support such as expert coaching, swimming lessons and extracurricular opportunities aimed at disadvantaged pupils and groups who are traditionally less active.
Why the Government Is Changing the PE and Sport Premium
The stated goal is straightforward: get more children moving, regardless of their background or which school they attend. Fewer than half of young people currently meet the recommended sixty minutes of daily physical activity, and girls, pupils with SEND, and disadvantaged pupils are consistently the least active groups. Replacing the PE and Sport Premium with a partnerships based model is meant to close that gap, making expert coaching and extracurricular sport available even to schools that could not previously stretch to it on their own.
What Schools Should Be Doing This Term
There is a transition period running through the autumn term, and schools can keep their current PE and Sport Premium provision going while the new framework is finalised. That breathing room is worth using well. Schools already working with trusted coaching providers, local clubs and community groups are in a stronger position heading into the Partnerships Network, since the new model is built around exactly those kinds of relationships. It is also a good moment to get clearer on what current provision is actually achieving, since schools will increasingly need to show how PE and sport spending improves outcomes for pupils, not just that the money went out the door.
That means tightening up the practical side too: knowing which external coaches are running which sessions, when clubs are on, who has signed up, who has paid, and who needs a reminder. That is exactly the kind of admin that eats into a PE lead’s time, and it is where a tool like Spond for schools and organisations earns its keep, handling scheduling, parent communication and payments for club sessions and external coaching in one place instead of across a dozen spreadsheets and group chats.
Managing School Sport Partnerships with Spond
As schools lean more heavily on external coaches and community clubs under the new model, the coordination side of PE and sport provision matters more, not less. Spond gives schools and the clubs they partner with one place to schedule sessions, take attendance, collect payments and message parents, so a Tuesday afternoon football coach and a Thursday morning swimming lesson are not running on two completely different systems. It also carries safeguarding features that matter when more external providers are coming into contact with pupils, covering DBS tracking and controlled parent communication. None of that replaces the PE and Sport Premium funding itself, but it does make the partnerships that funding is meant to support much easier to actually run.
Getting the New School Year Off to a Good Start
September is when most of this gets decided anyway. Clubs get set up, coaches get booked, and parents start asking what is on offer for the year ahead, all before anyone is entirely sure how the PE and School Sport Partnerships Network will look once it is fully live. Schools that use this term to sort out coach and club logistics, rather than waiting for every detail of the new funding model to be confirmed, will be the ones ready to make the most of it when the Partnerships Network lands in full in spring 2027.
If your school or club is juggling PE and Sport Premium funded sessions, external coaches and club sign ups this term, Spond can bring all of it into one place. Find out more about Spond for schools and organisations, or explore Spond for club and session management.
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