THE coronavirus pandemic has led to increased inactivity among adults in England and widened existing inequalities between certain sectors of society, a new report has found.

The latest Active Lives survey from grassroots funding body Sport England covering the 12 months up to mid-May 2021 recorded a 1.9 per cent drop in those classified as active — doing 150 minutes or more of physical activity per week — compared with the previous 12-month period.

It also saw a 2 per cent rise in those considered inactive — doing less than 30 minutes per week.

When the new figures are compared to the last survey fully conducted before the pandemic (November 2018 to November 2019), the differences are even more stark.

Since that period, there has been a 2.4 per cent drop in those classed as active — 800,000 adults — and a 2.9 per cent rise in those classed as inactive — 1.4 million adults.

The pandemic had a major impact on the ability of people of all ages to access sport as various restrictions were lifted, reintroduced and lifted again across the period.

The survey found men had driven the partial recovery in activity levels between mid-March and mid-May of this year, with female activity levels consistently lower across the period.

Those in the lowest socio-economic groups remain the least likely to be active and this has widened.

While the level of activity among the top socio-economic groups has dropped back to the “baseline” 71 per cent level of May 2016 to May 2017, in the lowest groups the level has dropped below the baseline — from 54 per cent to 52 per cent.

The downward trend in activity among the young — which started pre-pandemic — has continued.

The proportion of 16 to 34-year-olds classed as active fell by a further 2.8 per cent in the 12-month period covered by the survey, with the 16-24 group particularly driving this decrease.

Those with a disability continue to be less likely to be active than those without one — 45 per cent classed as active compared with 66 per cent.

While activity levels recovered in the final two months of the survey period among those reporting no disability, they did not among those with a disability.

The survey also found the pandemic had disproportionately impacted black people and Asian people of non-Chinese ethnicity.

Though all ethnic groups reported a drop in activity, it was most marked among these groups — a drop of 4.8 per cent in each.

In both groups, men drove the downward trend but even so, women in these groups remain the least active and have the largest gender gap to males with the same ethnicity.

Sport England chief executive Tim Hollingsworth said: “This research paints a stark but unsurprising picture of activity levels throughout England.

“The decline, which is right across the board, ties in with when coronavirus-related restrictions were introduced and access, opportunity and the capability to exercise were all massively curtailed.

“What is more concerning is that certain groups — those who have historically found it more difficult to access activity — were disproportionately impacted. And we know that once habits are broken, they are often harder to restart.

“The good news is that through our work to sustain the sports and physical activity sector during the pandemic, combined with the research and analysis that underpins our 10-year strategy, Uniting the Movement, we understand the scale and nature of the challenge.

“Sport England’s absolute focus is using our resources, advocacy and network to target communities — places and people — where raising activity levels will have the greatest effect.”