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Cuts to further education budgets are putting at risk initiatives designed to tackle UK obesity, inactivity and resulting health problems warns YMCA Awards, one of the UK’s leading providers of qualifications for fitness professionals.

New research commissioned by YMCA Awards shows that there will be a shortfall in trained fitness instructors and coaches if current rates at which FE Colleges are cutting places and closing departments continue.

Data compiled by EMSI for YMCA Awards shows there will be a need for 6,867 newly qualified professionals by 2019, with demand predicted to maintain a steady rate of increase into the 2020s and beyond.

However, following a fresh wave of budget cuts, YMCA Awards notes that courses designed to provide qualified fitness and leisure professionals are being disproportionately affected.

Rob May, Director of YMCA Awards, comments, “Examining the impact of budget cuts it is clear that departments related to the Leisure sector and related skills such as fitness training and coaching are seen as a soft target when it comes to administrators wielding the axe.

“This is a major concern given the importance to our nation of tackling the epidemic of inactivity that is affecting our health and wellbeing as well as having a knock-on effect on the costs of healthcare.

“We encourage FE institutions to recognise the value to learners and to wider society of resisting cuts in these areas and helping to meet the future needs of this crucial sector.”

YMCA Awards is working with the Chartered Institute for Management in Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA) to ensure these findings are tackled. CIMSPA CEO Tara Dillon said: "We applaud YMCA Awards for undertaking this research which has yielded some alarming conclusions. It is essential that we tackle these short falls today. The inactivity epidemic is costing the UK millions each year. It is imperative that funding the training of future generations of fitness professionals is maintained as a minimum, if not increased."