Policy and Public Affairs Officer

Organisation: Sport and Recreation Alliance
Salary: From £25,927 (to rise in line with London Living Wage from 1 April 2026) + holidays and benefits
Location: London
Contract type: Permanent (Full time)
Closing date: 22 February 2026
Job Description: The Sport and Recreation Alliance is the voice of the grassroots sport and recreation sector. Since 1935, the Alliance (formerly known as the Central Council of Physical Recreation) has protected and promoted the interests of our vital sector and membership to government, policy makers and the media. We strongly believe in the transformational power of sport and recreation to positively shape lives and help drive societal and economic growth.

Throughout our new strategy cycle, our unwavering focus will be to deliver with and for our members, particularly our National Governing Body members, who play a foundational role in engaging and keeping people in sport and recreation. As a result of our membership review, we have made several changes to the way in which we are structured and how we operate.

We have evolved our membership structures and services to better support our members and strengthen our role as the independent voice for sport and recreation, bringing together sport and National Governing Bodies to reflect and elevate their systemic role in delivering sport.

We are being smarter in the way we work together with our members, collaborating more effectively to identify key priorities and focusing our resources on delivering against these. We are enhancing our communications and engagement with members to increase awareness of and support for the work we and our members are doing. Using our independent voice, we will protect members’ interests with key decision makers and be bold and ambitious in promoting the benefits of sport and recreation and the impact our members have.

We are seeking a Policy and Public Affairs Officer to help drive forward the work of the Alliance, building powerful relationships with our members and advocating for their priorities across Government, Parliament, the media and the wider sports and recreation sector. This role will help support the delivery of our 2025-30 strategy, A United Voice for Sport and Recreation.

View the role information by downloading the recruitment pack: https://sportandrecreation.org.uk/files/job-pack---policy-and-public-affairs-officer-030226110458.pdf
How to apply: For the team employed at the Alliance, it is more than just a job. The team all want to make a difference. The Alliance may be small, but the work and the impact is far-reaching. Whilst we are focused on meeting targets and delivering outcomes, we know that it is important that people maintain a healthy life-work balance and feel they are looked after. If you are ready to apply now, please send a CV with a covering letter outlining why you want the role and how you meet the role specification. Your covering letter should be 2 sides of A4 maximum. Please send your CV and covering letter to recruitment@sportandrecreation.org.uk. This role requires successful candidates to reside in the UK and be able to commute to the Holborn, London office at least two days per week. We do not sponsor Visas. Closing date: 11.59pm on Sunday 22nd February 2026. Interview date to be confirmed. Please note that we may close the application window prior to the closing date should we receive a large number of applications. Diversity is valued within our team. More than just encouraging your application, we’re committed to conscious inclusion that (we hope) cultivates an ethos of belonging, connection and shared purpose. Our recruitment process anonymises your application at shortlisting stage. It would really help us if you were able to complete our equality and diversity monitoring survey here (https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=328IX2URlk-CtPBplasU_C5uC9Oy-khHnaFoDNqhvtJUQlFPVEc1R0ZOM0gwV0pUTDlWTURDUFVMWi4u). This is anonymous and does not form part of the recruitment process. Our privacy policy and privacy notice for job applicants can be found on our website here (https://sportandrecreation.org.uk/legal/privacy-policy).