Results From England’s 2026 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth: Grades, Surveillance Gaps, and the First Parallel Grades for Children With Disabilities

Standage, M, Basterfield, L, Boddy, L ORCID: 0000-0002-7477-4389, Chalkley, A, Daly-Smith, A, Emm-Collison, L, Fairclough, S, Foweather, L, Hobbs, M, Milton, K, Pearson, N, Sherar, L, Tyler, R and Western, M Results From England’s 2026 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth: Grades, Surveillance Gaps, and the First Parallel Grades for Children With Disabilities. Journal of Physical Activity and Health. ISSN 1543-3080 (Accepted)

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Abstract

Background: Childhood physical inactivity carries cardiometabolic, mental health, and musculoskeletal consequences, though it tracks only weakly into adulthood. Across the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance’s four previous Global Matrix cycles, England’s behavioral grades ranged from D− to C+, while School and Community grades were generally higher, a pattern mirrored internationally. We report England’s 2026 Report Card and, for the first time, parallel grades for children and adolescents with disabilities (CAWD). Methods: We aligned five nationally representative surveys (January 2022–December 2025), principally the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, with ten core Global Matrix 5.0 indicators plus Sleep. Grading used structured expert-panel consensus and the harmonized A+ to F rubric, with Incomplete (INC) assigned where England-representative benchmark data were lacking. Results: Four grades rose relative to 2022 (two on non-comparable metrics): Overall Physical Activity (C; 49.1% meeting the ≥60 min/day guideline), Organized Sport and Physical Activity (C+), Active Transportation (B−; ~61% active travel), and Community and Environment (B). School was B+ and Sedentary Behavior was D+ (~38%; carried forward from pre-2022 data); Sleep was entered at C− (42% of 11-, 13-, and 15-year-olds met the school-night threshold). Active Play, Physical Fitness, Family and Peers, and Government remained INC, as did ten of eleven CAWD grades. Conclusions: England’s enabling conditions are stronger than its behavioral outcomes, and a remediable surveillance gap leaves four indicators and almost all CAWD grades Incomplete. Adding benchmark-aligned items to existing surveys, establishing England representative fitness surveillance, and mandating disability disaggregation are the highest-yield priorities.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences; 1117 Public Health and Health Services; 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy; Public Health; 4201 Allied health and rehabilitation science; 4206 Public health; 4207 Sports science and exercise
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC1200 Sports Medicine G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	Human Kinetics
Date of acceptance:	4 November 2026
Date Deposited:	05 Nov 2026 10:43
Last Modified:	05 Nov 2026 10:43
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29821

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