Beyond Empower CIC delivers programmes that increase the capacity of mainstream sport and activity provision to meet the needs of local disabled people and those with long-term health conditions.Through its Empower You approach, funded by NHS Greater Manchester and Trafford Council, Beyond Empower helps reduce demand on specialist health and social care services by creating inclusive, accessible opportunities for disabled people to be active and manage their health and wellbeing in mainstream, community environments. Alongside this, its community outreach service provides longer-term, activity-focused social care support — helping disabled people stay connected, active and independent in their communities.
The challenge
- Disabled people are twice as likely to be inactive (Activty Alliance, 2025)
- This contributes to poorer health and social outcomes — with disabled people more likely to develop long-term conditions and die prematurely (WHO, 2022, LeDeR, 2018)
- This inequality exists despite eight in ten disabled people wanting to be more active, and seven in ten wanting to do so alongside their non-disabled peers (Activity Alliance, 2020)
- The main barriers are physical, social and cultural — particularly a lack of consideration for disabled people in mainstream activity. 77 per cent of activity providers report that disabled people aren’t part of their “professional conversation” (Activity Alliance, 2019)
- This lack of association between disability and mainstream activity reinforces exclusion and limits disabled people’s opportunities to be active regularly or independently.
The solution
Beyond Empower has been developing and delivering innovative solutions to tackle this inequality since 2015. Empower You was piloted and developed over five years by NHS Salford Clinical Commissioning Group and Trafford Council, and is now commissioned by NHS Greater Manchester in Salford and Trafford Council in Trafford through to, at least, 2029. Its aim is to increase the capacity of the community’s mainstream activity provision so disabled people can lead healthy, active lives.
It does this by:
- working with disabled people to identify activities they’re interested in
- finding those activities locally and supporting the provider to make them accessible
- offering short-term (8–12 weeks) support to help disabled people access the activities, while building a positive relationship with the provider
- taking a step back after that period so disabled people can continue independently, supported by a now upskilled and confident provider.
This creates communities where disabled people can better manage their health and wellbeing through inclusive, local opportunities — reducing long-term reliance on specialist or clinical services. For those who need longer-term support, Beyond Empower’s Community Outreach service applies the same model but is funded through personal social care budgets. It provides an alternative to traditional, centre-based social care — helping people engage with their community through activity instead.
The impact
Across all Empower You and Community Outreach programmes (2020–2025)
People:
- over 1,800 disabled people engaged
- 91 per cent reported improved health and wellbeing
- 88 per cent report being more active
- 75 per cent sustain activity beyond 12 months of support.
Place:
- 93 per cent of activity providers felt more confident including disabled people in their sessions
- 94 per cent reported an increase in disabled people accessing their provision as a result.
System
Independent research conducted by researchers from University of Manchester and Sheffield found a social return on investment of:
- £3.33 for every £1 invested within one year
- £10.79 for every £1 invested within five-years
With savings likely higher due to the programmes impact on other areas such as employment.
While around 1,800 disabled people have been directly supported through Empower You and Community Outreach, the wider impact is much greater. By improving the accessibility and confidence of local activity providers, disabled residents are now able to access opportunities independently — without needing to engage with a specialist services, including Beyond Empowers. This shift from specialist to mainstream access is the long-term legacy of Empower You and represents a genuine step towards sustainable, inclusive communities. The impact of Empower You on local people, place and system, including the perspective of commissioners, is also shown in this short video: Empower you and community outreach: supporting disabled people to lead healthier, active lives.
How is the approach being sustained?
Lessons learned
- Culture change takes time. The inequalities disabled people face are deeply rooted — built on years of dependency on specialist programmes and separate systems. Commissioners have recognised this and invested in longer-term commissioning to support the sustained shift needed to change culture and expectation
- Support and upskilling in isolation doesn’t work. Some initiatives only focus on disabled people without changing the environment they’re entering; others train providers without creating any demand of disabled people to put training into practice resulting in learning and appetite to engage disabled people being lost. Empower You works with both sides simultaneously — generating demand from disabled people while upskilling providers to respond to it — creating real, lasting inclusion
- Whole-system involvement is essential. Long-term change relies on everyone playing their part — social care, health services, leisure providers, transport, infrastructure and community organisations. When all parts of the system share ownership of inclusion, accessibility becomes part of the everyday rather than a specialist project.
Contact
Ben Andrews, Managing Director, Beyond Empower CIC
Email: [email protected]