Sport England LDP pilot, designed and delivered by Sport for Confidence & the Active Partnership, now embedded into early help and prevention adult health and social care services with Essex County Council.
KEY TAKEOUTS
Reconnect, Essex’s countywide, occupational therapy-led, physical activity-based prevention service, enters its third year following strong evidence of social, health and economic impact
Reconnect was commissioned following the strong evidence and impact delivered by a Sport England funded LDP, delivered by Sport for Confidence CIC called the Prevention and Enablement Model which demonstrated up to £58.71 of social value generated for every £1 invested
Outcomes show major improvements in independence, wellbeing, confidence and social connection, alongside reduced reliance on statutory health and care services for adults with disabilities and long-term health conditions across Essex.
What began as a test-and-learn pilot is now embedded within Essex County Council Public Health & Adult Social Care services
Reconnect was procured by Essex County Council following the evidence and evaluation demonstrated through the Sport for Confidence designed and managed, Prevention and Enablement Model, a Sport England-funded Local Delivery Pilot launched in 2020 to explore how occupational therapy-led physical activity could be embedded within a whole-system approach to adult health and social care.
In April 2026, Sport for Confidence’s Reconnect will enter its third year of operation, marking a major shift in how Public Health & adult social care is being delivered across Essex. What began as a test-and-learn pilot is now a countywide, commissioned prevention service, embedding physical activity and occupational therapy at the heart of how people are supported to live well, stay independent and remain connected to their communities.
Reconnect is a core component of the county’s Public Health & Adult Social Care early help and prevention space. It uses intentional, person-centred physical activity as a therapeutic tool, led by occupational therapists working alongside the physical activity workforce in community leisure and neighbourhood settings. The model is built around people’s occupations, environments and lived experience, supporting adults with disabilities and long-term health conditions to do the things that matter to them, in ways that are meaningful to their lives.
This represents a fundamental shift away from reactive, crisis-driven care towards whole system change. The system in this context refers to the interconnected network of public health, adult social care, community and leisure services in Essex and how they interact and impact one another.
The importance of Reconnect is that it is no longer a pilot project, but a long-standing structural part of how care is delivered and what is considered to be care. There are observable changes within the system because of the Prevention & Enablement Model that warranted a long-term, sustainable intervention through Reconnect.
Essex has redesigned part of its adult health and social care system to focus on prevention. Over the last 6 years, this work has shifted from a project to infrastructure that improves health, reduces inequalities and prevents avoidable escalation into statutory services.
Between April 2024 and January 2025, Reconnect welcomed 1,348 new referrals who accessed Occupational Therapy and across all physical activity services, more than 63,000 attendances were logged. Using the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF), the latest Reconnect outcomes, across the same timeframe, show the scale of this impact. Social connection has increased by 33% per cent and the number of people able to do enough of the things they value has more than doubled. The proportion of people who feel they have choice over their care has also increased by 14.5% *, while those who feel in control of their daily life has risen by 14.1%.
Nearly all participants, 98.8 per cent, now rate the service as good or very good and overall, using the Sport England Physical Activity Single Item Metric, the distribution of responses shifted from inactivity being the most common outcome pre-Reconnect to three days of activity being the most common post-programme.
Independently evaluated by the University of Essex and State of Life using Treasury Green Book wellbeing valuation methods, the PEM pilot was shown to generate up to £58.71 of social value for every £1 invested, 12 times more effective than the average NHS intervention.
Reconnect takes a different approach to traditional signposting. Rather than placing the burden of navigating complex systems onto individuals, Reconnect assumes responsibility for supporting that journey.
All new referrals receive an Occupational Therapy Initial Assessment at the front door of the service. Following intervention, individuals are actively supported to connect with local provision in their community. As a result, 91% have successfully navigated into local support and are now engaging with their local Occupational Therapist in their communities. This shows that when the burden of navigation is shared rather than not transferred, engagement increases and people are far more likely to sustain participation in meaningful activity.
These positive outcomes gave Essex County Council the confidence to move from pilot to permanent system change, leading to the commissioning of Reconnect in 2022 as a countywide prevention service that integrates occupational therapy and physical activity into everyday Public Health & Adult Social Care practice as part of the system’s infrastructure.
Lyndsey Barrett, founder of Sport for Confidence and lead occupational therapist, says: “Reconnect is about people being able to live the lives they choose. By delivering occupational therapy through meaningful, personalised physical activity, we help people rebuild confidence, capability and connection to their communities. This isn’t about getting people active for activity’s sake. It’s about using movement as a therapeutic tool so people can do the things that matter to them, in ways that are meaningful to their lives.”
Sport England’s Executive Director of Partnerships and Place, Lisa Dodd-Mayne, says: “It’s such a rewarding moment to know that Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilot investment six years ago has genuinely led to whole system change in Essex. What started as a test-and-learn pilot is now embedded in Public Health & Adult Social Care, ensuring that those furthest away from sport and physical activity can access the Reconnect service.
“This intervention is being delivered by a brilliant team of occupational therapists, a dynamic coaching workforce and a truly engaged Active Partnership. It shows the value that can be delivered through the re-positioning of leisure centres as wellbeing centres and what’s possible when place-based investment is aligned with bold vision, strong evidence and committed local leadership.”
Reconnect is delivered by Sport for Confidence in partnership with Active Essex and a network of community providers including 3 leisure providers, Everyone Active, 1Life and Freedom Leisure plus support and delivery from Colchester City Council, Tendring District Council, Castlepoint Borough Council, Chelmsford City Council, Braintree District Council, Basildon Borough Council, Brentwood Borough Council and Uttlesford District Council.
As Reconnect moves into its third delivery year this April, physical activity is no longer on the edge of Public Health & Adult Social Care in Essex. It is part of how the system works.
Jason Fergus, Head of Active Essex, adds: "What Essex has done is connect the dots between physical activity, health and social care. Reconnect has created a role for leisure, community providers and the physical activity sector in preventing crisis, not just responding to it. That is a powerful signal to the rest of the country that the physical activity sector is not a nice-to-have, it is a core part of the nation’s health and inequality solution and directly contributing to the NHS 10-year strategy. Reconnect is truly embedded into health and social care delivery."
* Statistics were calculated using the adult social care outcomes framework (ASCOF) which measures how well care and support services achieve the outcomes that matter most to people and Sport England’s Physical Activity Single Item Metric Question. Stats relate to the period April 2024 – Jan 2026.
* The ASCOF handbook of definitions sets out the technical detail of each measure, with examples to minimise confusion and inconsistency in reporting and interpretation.
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