For England to be a child-friendly country where all children and young people have freedom to play at home, at school, in parks and public spaces.

  • All children and young people have freedom — time, space, permission and opportunity — to play

  • All children and young people can regularly play indoors and outdoors

  • Everyone is aware of the importance of play

Play in England: a new 10-year strategy

Throughout 2024 we will undertake a strategic re-Imagineering* of Play England, primarily through the development, engagement, consultation, and adoption of a new 10-year strategy. 

At the core of the strategy will be our call on the future government to introduce Play Sufficiency legislation in England, alongside the central foundation of the UNCRC - particularly, Article 31 (leisure, play and culture); in that every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities. 

As part of the engagement and consultation process, we will be launching quarterly open sessions with our (interim) Executive Director, Eugene Minogue. These sessions will provide regular opportunities to meet with Eugene and ask questions about the wide-ranging strategic re-imagineering of Play England, the development of the new strategy - as well as general questions/updates. Please use the links below to register for the sessions.  

The first open session in April will primarily begin wireframing the initial structure / outline of the strategy. This will then be followed by a strategy co-design and collaboration session in July, to inform an initial strategic forecast (initial draft strategy). In October, we will hold a challenge and curiosity open session on the strategic forecast, with a final open session on strategy commitment session at our 2024 AGM, with a view to adopting a final strategy in Winter 2024/25.  

*Imagineering (from "imagination" and "engineering") is the implementation of creative ideas in practical form.  

Trends in Children's Street Play


This report provides an overview of results from the PlayDay 2022 survey, conducted by Play England in partnership with Save the Children. The survey questions aligned with a previous survey conducted by Play England in 2013. 

The report shows how children regularly playing out in their street has declined dramatically over the past 70+ years. Importantly it also demonstrates that regularly playing out is associated with better wellbeing during childhood, as well as better mental health into adulthood. The survey results show that children want to spend more time in the area where they live, and that the proportion of children saying this has increased significantly since the 2013 survey was conducted.

Overall, the report presents a dire picture of declining outdoor play close to home and a society where parents are made to worry about their children making noise outside in case it upsets the neighbours. Children want to spend more time in their local area but are frequently being given the message that they, and their play, are not welcome.

Downloadable Info Sheets

Recruitment and retention(mcusercontent.com)

Information Sheet 1:

Recruitment and Retention

Information Sheet 2:

Children’s Mental Health and Play

Information Sheet 3:

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