Leadership, Resilience & Hope

Outgoing Play England Chair, Anita Grant, reflects on the past decade she has spent at the organisation

As I step down from my position as Chair of the Board for Play England, I have reflected on my years steering the charity and celebrating play. We have just launched our 10-year strategy, It All Starts with Play!, which outlines the fundamental need for a reset and restoration of a play-based childhood. At the same time, the government is on the verge of announcing £18m to refurbish 200 play areas across England. It seems like change is coming, at last.

When I first joined the trustee board of Play England in 2016, the world of children’s play was suffering. Austerity meant that funding for play was severely reduced. Even the word ‘play’ was rapidly disappearing from government documents. Playwork training was being reduced and screen time was becoming a real discussion point for those thinking about children’s experiences. It was also the year of the Brexit vote, heralding an abrupt end to many collaborative projects across Europe that had long supported a rich, shared understanding of childhood.

The pandemic effect

Three years later, in 2019, I became Chair of Trustees, stepping into the role just as the COVID-19 pandemic brought a universal halt to the freedom to play, affecting every single child across the country. For many children, the sudden disappearance of opportunities to play freely and interact with peers marked a profound disruption in their lives. I still struggle to comprehend that children were once allowed outside for no more than an hour a day! We continue to live with the impact of those decisions, and our collective responsibility to learn from them.

Mental health conditions among children rose sharply - from one in eight in 2017 to one in five by 2023 - and experts note that prolonged play deprivation contributed to this rise.

When schools closed, and playgrounds were taped off, the spaces where children typically played vanished overnight. Parks, sports clubs, and community centres, places that provide safe environments for physical activity and social interaction, were inaccessible. Even informal play, such as meeting friends after school or playing in the street, was curtailed by strict pandemic rules on social distancing. For younger children, this meant losing the chance to explore and learn through play-based experiences. For older children and teenagers, it meant isolation from peer groups and the loss of shared activities that help build identity and confidence.

In my own organisation, Islington Play Association, we fought hard to keep our sites open, providing free play for children through the lockdowns as much as possible. We saw first hand the change in children’s confidence and social skills as fear became an everyday feeling for them and their families. As part of the children’s play safety forum, I was part of a group that commissioned research into how Covid spread, arguing successfully with local authorities that there was minimal danger of transmission on metal play equipment and lobbying for playgrounds to reopen as soon as possible.

A matter of health

The absence of play had cascading effects. Physical health suffered as children spent more time indoors. Research shows that by September 2020, children were half as active as before the pandemic. Social development was and remains affected as children missed out on learning cooperation, negotiation, and empathy at pivotal developmental stages. Emotional well-being also declined; play is a natural outlet for stress and anxiety, and without it, many children struggled to process the uncertainty and fear surrounding the pandemic. Mental health conditions among children rose sharplyfrom one in eight in 2017 to one in five by 2023- and experts note that prolonged play deprivation contributed to this rise.

Throughout these challenges, I have been proud to help steer Play England through some of the hardest moments in children’s play lives. As trustees, our aim was simply to safeguard the charity during its darkest days, acting as custodians so that Play England would be ready when public and political opinion shifted back toward recognising just how vital play is for children.

I am hopeful that the moment has arrived. We are now seeing genuine momentum. There is an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Play.

Additionally, the Covid Inquiry has revealed the profound effects of pandemic decisions on children, accompanied by calls for apology and renewed commitments to play sufficiency, play-based learning, and greater support for physical play across all sectors. Over the last decade, Play England has worked tirelessly to keep play firmly in the public consciousness, featuring in national media, collaborating directly with government departments, and offering practical support to organisations delivering play across England.

My commitment to the fundamental importance of freedom and play remains unwavering. As children navigate an increasingly complex world, the agency and autonomy they gain by interacting freely with their peers and environments will shape their ability to thrive. I am excited to see what comes next for Play England. Its next iteration will, I believe, play a crucial role in shaping a future where children’s right to play is protected, celebrated, and embedded in every layer of society.