Public body Sport England and high-performance sports agency UK Sport have set their sights on tackling the diversity of sports boards, thanks to recruitment specialist firm Perrett Laver. 

Laver will be responsible for identifying and developing a pool of senior, experienced board candidates from a variety of backgrounds, including Black Asian and minority ethnic (BAME), disabled and LGBT+ to help sport sector organisations recruit skilled and diverse board members.

The project, initially started earlier this year by Sport England with National Lottery and government funding, has recruited 84 candidates, while six appointments to boards have been made already, with more expected in the near future.

By December 2020, 140 potential candidates will be involved in the programme, with priority initially given to identifying BAME and disabled candidates. As the project progresses, it will widen to include candidates of different ages, locations and socio-economic status, with UK Sport committing to extend the programme to a further 20 candidates, so that by mid-2021 a network of 160 diverse board-ready candidates will be in place. UK Sport’s involvement means that organisations solely supported by UK Sport will also benefit from the project.

Each candidate will receive a personalised support package including education, training, development and mentoring from a consortium of expert partners before being signposted to opportunities and vacancies on sports boards.

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