Lottery-funded projects boost 'risky' play

In preliminary findings from a three-year evaluation of the Big Lottery Fund's Children's Play Programme, research consultancy ECOTEC found that it is enabling children to access more play than before, including 'new' forms such as sensory play and 'risky' or adventurous play.

The lottery has earmarked £124m for children's play over three years, with grants of £100,000 to £3m for 1,400 local authority projects for 'free, unstructured play'. It particularly targets disabled children and those living in rural areas and disadvantaged areas.

Although 'free play' is a central tenet of the programme, researcher Nicola Hall said that this 'cannot always be achieved due to barriers particularly for children with disabilities, who cannot experience free play to its fullest extent without additional support'.

Local authorities have also had difficulties engaging hard-to-reach groups, such as Travellers.

Ms Hall said, 'Issues have included getting and maintaining top-level support for play as a whole, and support for the concept of "free play" which incorporates higher levels of risk.'

Only half of the projects evaluated thought that their facilities were sustainable, and a question mark hangs over their future once funding ends because of a lack of staff.

Adrian Voce, director of Play England, said, 'The early signs are that the programme is making a big difference in terms of the extent to which children are now accessing play.'

He added, 'There is always an issue of sustainability for programmes funded by the National Lottery, as funding is always for a finite period. However, since the programme launched, we have a National Play Strategy and every local authority in England has a play strategy. So we are hopeful that local authorities will continue with these projects.'