2023 Free

Football Beyond Borders Impact Report 2023/24

Football Beyond Borders uses football to build trusted adult relationships with young people at risk of school exclusion. Their 2023/24 impact report records 1,587 young people supported, a 51% GCSE pass rate (vs 5% for Alternative Provision nationally), and over £5.5 million in societal wellbeing benefits — with independent evaluation by the University of Manchester confirming significant wellbeing improvements.

Report snapshot
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About

Long-term football-based SEL sessions, 1:1 therapeutic mentoring, school advocacy, teacher CPD, reflective practice groups, parent/carer engagement, reward trips Custom geography from upload: England

Key Metrics

Key Metric 1 1,587 young people on FBB programmes; 97% finished the year in school without permanent exclusion or managed move
Key Metric 2 51% GCSE pass rate for FBB young people — vs 5% national average for Alternative Provision and 17% for FSM pupils with SEN
Key Metric 3 FBB programme delivered societal wellbeing benefits worth over £5.5 million to the taxpayer (Pro Bono Economics)

Key Outcomes

  • 7 in 10 young people improved their SEL skills — bucking the global trend of SEL decline during teenage years (OECD)
  • Young people up to 10 times more likely to pass English and maths GCSEs than peers in their national comparison group
  • 3 in 5 improved behaviour in school; 75% saw a reduction in suspensions; 2 in 3 saw mental wellbeing improve or stabilise

Geography

Other

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
440,000+ young people aged 4-18 active members across 7,000 Groups
Key Metric 2
140,000 volunteers supporting the movement across the UK
Key Metric 3
373 Sections opened or re-energised in England between April 2024 and March 2025
0.3% overall growth in young people (ages 4-18), driven by 31% increase in Squirrel Scouts (5,200 young people)
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
55,000 foster carers and 370 fostering service providers as members across the UK
Key Metric 2
45 new Fostering Friendly Employers recruited, bringing the scheme to over 680,000 employees across the UK
Key Metric 3
95 Fostering Wellbeing Pioneers in Wales offering peer support and mentoring to fellow foster carers
191 children and young people engaged in outdoor adventure weeks through the Fostering Attainment and Achievement programme in Northern Ireland
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
91,000 young people supported across 24 countries in 2024/25, including 67,368 in the UK
Key Metric 2
Over 70% of the 25,500 young people who completed Employment and Enterprise programmes achieved a positive outcome
Key Metric 3
Education programmes engaged 63,000 young people (69% of the total), the largest share of delivery
In the UK, 71% of Employment and Enterprise completers achieved a positive outcome, including 39% into employment or self-employment
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
851 students supported through the In2STEM programme in 2024, from 2,036 applications
Key Metric 2
27,447 hours of in-person STEM placement experience provided to participants
Key Metric 3
94% of participants know what it means to work in STEM after the programme, up from 69% beforehand
97% of alumni who applied to university were successfully offered a place, based on UCAS data from 1,760 alumni