HE1.2
Increased Children’s Physical Activity
Health
- Physical Health
Increased Children’s Physical Activity
“Increased Childrens Physical Activity” usually means that children are doing more movement that raises their heart rate and uses their muscles than they were before, and closer to or above recommended levels for their age. Government policy aims that children and young people should get 30 minutes of their daily physical activity through the school day and 30 minutes outside of school.
If you are using this as an outcome in a programme or evaluation, it typically means demonstrating a measurable increase in duration and/or frequency of children’s physical activity compared with a baseline or a comparison group.
Key Value
A monetised social value of £4,300
Monetised social value of being active (an average of 60 minutes or more a day) rather than being less active for 1 young person over 1 year in 2024 prices.
In 2024, State of Life, collaborating with Sheffield Hallam University, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the London School of Economics (LSE), developed a new national social value model for Sport England. The model assesses the health and wellbeing gains from physical activity, showing how these advantages differ across various population groups.
This report is aligned with HM Treasury’s Green Book guidance and uses the underlying WELLBY measure and methodology (C-WELLBY) developed by LSE and State of Life. Details of C-WELLBY can be found in PW2 Improved Children’s Wellbeing. This work builds on the following information:
- One WELLBY, equivalent to a one- point increase on the 0–10 life satisfaction scale, is valued at £15,900 (in 2024 prices).
- Using robust multiple regression models, the study estimates the impact of physical activity on life satisfaction.
- Use of the newly developed Child-WELLBY enables valuation for children aged 7+ in physical activity.
The categories in the study are named as:
- Active (an average of 60 minutes or more a day)
- Fairly active (an average of 30-59 minutes a day)
- Less active (less than an average of 30 minutes a day).
Activities which are included under each of the composite activity groupings used in the report are available in here.
Details of the report are included in the Social value of sport and physical activity 2023-24 – primary report.
After controlling various factors, they find a 0.269 difference in life satisfaction for 11-16 year-olds who are active (an average of 60 minutes or more a day) compared to those who are less active.
The average value for children and young people aged 11-16 who are ‘active’ is worth £4,300 a year in 2024 prices.
Local Needs Analysis Data Source:
Before using this MeasureUp value, we encourage you to assess the local need in relation to the activity or outcome.
Here is the most useful initial data source for assessing local needs in relation to this value.
To assess local needs related to the value HE1.2 ‘Increased Children’s Physical Activity’, you can use the Level of activity (Children and Young People) indicator from Sport England. This data reflects how frequently young people participate in sports, play, and other physical activities.
It is available at the local authority, region, and active partnership levels and is updated annually. This indicator helps identify areas where young people may lack opportunities or access to active, enriching extracurricular experiences.
Bronze
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Multiply the proportion of your participants you expect to report increased physical activity (being active (an average of 60 minutes or more a day) rather than being less active) over the course of a year by £4,300.
If you can’t ask children/young people directly about their physical activity, because you’re unable to survey them, or this is a plan for a future project, then you can use this value as a proxy for increased frequency of physical activity. It is an estimate of the impact of an intervention that is effective at increasing physical activity for young people.
Here’s an example
You plan a programme which supports inactive young people to take part in a sport group with an average of 60 minutes or more a day. You anticipate 20 young people will take part, and you anticipate some (say 16 out of 20) will continue taking part for a reasonable amount of time. (It’s important to be realistic about how many of your target groups will continue with the programme; it’s unlikely all of them will, e.g 16/20 = 0.8). Therefore, you estimate 0.8*£4,300 = £3,440 value per young person. Applied to the 20 people who started means a total of £3,440 *20 = £68,600 monetised social value.
At the bronze level (where you are assuming what the impact might be) your value is likely to overestimate the value of your intervention. We’ve only introduced the value of shifting from less than an average of 30 minutes a day to an average of 60 minutes or more a day of exercise. Realistically, this is a big shift for a person who is inactive and might take a lot of resources. Shifting between other categories has different values, which is covered at the Silver level.
Silver
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Consider what frequencies of physical activity you might shift people from and to, age of the children and demographic subgroups. Therefore, you can calculate an estimate of the overall shift, by applying the appropriate WELLBY values.
Wellbeing values for different age groups:
| Frequency | Age 11-16 | Age 7-11 |
| Less active | £0 | £0 |
| Fairly active | £3,300 | £1,700 |
| Active | £4,300 | £3,100 |
The values presented represent the monetary equivalent of a change in wellbeing associated with being fairly active or physically active. It should be noted that the valuation methodologies vary across age groups, and direct comparisons between groups should therefore be made with caution. For children aged 7–11, reported happiness scores — measured on a 0–10 scale — are converted to the life satisfaction scale used for older age groups, using a conversion factor of 0.546 (Sport England et al., 2025). Although this approach usefully extends wellbeing valuation to younger children, it also means that some broader dimensions of life satisfaction may not be fully reflected in the estimates for this age group (Sport England et al., 2025).
Wellbeing values for different Children and young people (age 11-16) subgroups:
In addition to the full sample, (Sport England et al., 2025) perform the same analysis on a targeted subsample of children and young people aged 11-16. This approach examines whether the link between the interventions and outcomes differs across population subgroups. Split-sample methods like this help uncover subgroup-specific effects.
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Disability (Disabled refers to children and young people who report they have a disability, special need or illness which has a big effect on their life (is limiting) and is expected to last for a year or more (is long term).)
- Family Affluence Scale (FAM)
- Whether recipient of free school meals
- Local area deprivation (IMD decile) of school location
| Demographic group | Active – Coefficient | Monetised Value |
| Girl | 0.205 | £3,300 |
| Boy | 0.338 | £5,400 |
| Non-disabled | 0.292 | £4,600 |
| Disabled | 0.177 | £2,800 |
| White British | 0.281 | £4,500 |
| White Other | 0.187 | £3,000 |
| Black | 0.142 | £2,300 |
| FAM – Low | 0.185 | £2,900 |
| FAM – Medium | 0.271 | £4,300 |
| FAM – High | 0.318 | £5,100 |
| On FSM | 0.235 | £3,700 |
| IMD 1-3 | 0.249 | £4,000 |
| IMD 4-7 | 0.251 | £4,000 |
| IMD 8-10 | 0.299 | £4,800 |
The table above shows that annual primary (wellbeing) value, per person per year (2024 prices) compared to being ‘less active’. Findings for all single demographic split samples explored are presented in Appendix A2.
It’s important to emphasise that this is a correlation, not a causation. These findings do not suggest that physical activity leads to lower wellbeing gains for certain groups.
Here’s an example
You plan a programme which supports inactive young people to take part in a sport group with an average of 60 minutes or more a day. You anticipate 20 young people will take part, with a realistic mix of demographic characteristics (e.g., 10 girls and 10 boys). It’s important to be realistic about continuation rates; say 16 out of 20 (80%) will continue for a reasonable amount of time.
For girls (half the group), you apply the coefficient-adjusted value of £3,300 per person, giving £3,300 × 10 starters × 0.8 continuation = £26,400 total for girls. For boys, using £5,400: £5,400 × 10 × 0.8 = £43,200. Combined across the group, this yields £69,600 in monetised social value from increased physical activity.
Applying to Other Groups
Use the table’s coefficients and values similarly for targeted subgroups:
- Disabled participants: For 20 disabled young people starting, with 16 continuing: £2,800 × 20 × 0.8 = £44,800 total value.
- FAM – Medium (e.g., families with moderate free school meal eligibility): £4,300 × 20 × 0.8 = £68,800 total.
- IMD 8-10 (most deprived areas): £4,800 × 20 × 0.8 = £76,800 total, reflecting stronger outcomes in high-need groups.
Gold
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
At Gold level you are looking to build on your silver estimations by engaging with the person or people affected. (for people related values)
The details of the survey questions can be found in the Active Lives Survey 2024-25 Year 8 – technical note.
The study outlines three key aspects of mental wellbeing: happiness, life satisfaction, and the sense that one’s activities in life are worthwhile.
For children in school Years 1-2, a smiley face question captures this, grouped into three categories in the tables: happy, neutral (neither happy nor sad), and sad.
For Years 3-6, the standard ONS “happiness yesterday” question applies, while Years 7-11 use the full set:
Happiness: “How happy did you feel yesterday?”
Life satisfaction: “How satisfied are you with life nowadays?”
Worthwhile: “To what extent do you feel the things you do in life are worthwhile?”
These latter questions use an 11-point scale (0 = “not at all” to 10 = “completely”), with results shown as average (mean) scores. The ONS anxiety question was omitted, as it is not advised for children under 14.
Physical activity variables aggregate data from several questions to produce measures of activity levels based on participation. Using SPSS syntax, these variables compute the duration, frequency, and intensity of participation in activities. They then form key summary indicators, such as meeting 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity daily. Full details on these variables and their construction appear in the User Guide and Code Book.
For more information visit here.
Support in developing your Gold survey approach is available through the Measure Up partners, so please do reach out to Impact, State of Life or PRD.
Gold+
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
At the Gold+ level, you are building on your Gold value calculation by assessing the value against the counterfactual, or ‘what would have happened anyway’.
To do this you should identify a control group suitable to assess in line with your intervention, in order to more accurately attribute any changes to your intervention.
You could also consider any other discount or causality elements linked to your job creation activity.
Support in developing your Gold+ counterfactual, causality and discount approach is available through the Measure Up partners, so please do reach out to Impact, State of Life or PRD.
| Value Type: | Outcome |
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This is the type of value. Some values are outcomes, which means many different interventions might lead to them, others are specific interventions that have a set value. |
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Evidence
Measure Up focuses on empowering you to numerically measure the impact you’re having. We recommend that numeric reports are backed up with stories and other types of evidence to help illustrate, in human terms, the impact that’s being made on individuals.
We recommend seeking consent from participants in your intervention to collect and tell their story. This should include a little background on the participant, a summing up of life before the intervention, the human impact of the intervention, and the longer term (if known) impact on the person’s life outside of, and after, the intervention.
Providing photographs, audio recordings, video interviews or even artefacts from the intervention (for example, writing, paintings, music from creative interventions) can add more to the story, and convey the emotional impact of interventions more directly.
In some cases it’s appropriate to anonymise or abbreviate the personal information of case study participants. No story should be published or shared without the recorded consent of the individual(s) it concerns. Individuals continue to own the rights to their stories and if they request you stop sharing the story or making it available online you should do so promptly and without need for justification.
Feedback
Measure Up is an open, collaborative and transparent. If you have any suggestions or feedback on our pragmatic, recommended approach to measuring and valuing social value, including wellbeing, economic, and fiscal impact, and effects on our environment, please get in touch so we can share and discuss this at our next Advisory Group meeting.
More help
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