A new ‘Energy Bills Discount Scheme’ will come into effect from April 2023 and run for 12 months following the conclusion of the current scheme.  However, swimming pools and leisure centres have been excluded from extra support.

“This decision by the government to not provide additional support to swimming pools and leisure centres is a hammer blow and flies in the face of previous statements from the government about the importance of physical activity and reducing pressures on the NHS,” said Jane Nickerson, chief executive of Swim England.

The government has not listed swimming pools or leisure centres as one of the ‘energy and trade intensive industries’ which will receive additional government support.

“We need transparency from the government about the criteria used to decide which industries are classed as being ‘energy intensive’. It seems incredibly hard to understand how a library is more energy intensive than a swimming pool. With bills routinely tripling in price and energy costs typically being the second highest expense for swimming pool owners and operators, they have been consistently warning that without support pools and leisure centres will have to close.

“The government must urgently rethink and match their rhetoric around the importance of physical activity with action to provide the support that is so desperately needed to keep these vital facilities open for people to use.”