A project to help people on a low income become more active and healthier has won National Lottery funding from Sport England.

Oldham based Outta Skool has been awarded £197, 300 funding as part of Sport England’s strategy to improve people’s health and mental wellbeing through sport and activity.

Sport England is funding a wide range of projects around the country, using varying approaches to help people to feel healthier, happier, more confident and able to cope with life’s pressures, or more connected to their families and communities.

Sport England research shows that a third of people in lower paid and routine jobs, are inactive, meaning they do less than 30 minutes of exercise that gets them slightly out of breath each week.

And inactivity in people in lower paid, routine jobs is twice that of people on a high income in senior and managerial roles.

Outta Skool’s project is a 12 week lifestyle changing programme during which participants are given FREE access to all types of physical activities such as Football, Boxercise, Boxing, Zumba, Yoga, Badminton, Aerobics to name a few.

Participants have access to over 130 sessions per month at times of day to suit them from mornings, late evenings to early hours in the morning with the last sessions finishing at 2am.

The project has been designed to create opportunities for people working unsociable hours and for women who have never taken part in any physical activities.

At the end of the 12 weeks the participants continue to access the project by paying a nominal fee of £2 to attend the session of their choice.

Outta Skool Founder and Project Manager, Moinul Islam, said: “Outta Skool has been working in the community of Oldham for over 10 years delivering meaningful and life changing projects. We have designed this project with the needs of the community in mind.

"This project will remove all barriers to participation as we have left the community with no excuses to not participate as we have thought of everything possible including, times of day, crèche facilities, varied activities and cultural barriers.

"On behalf of Outta Skool and the community of Oldham we would like to thank Sport England for supporting this project and believing in Outta Skool to deliver the project to hundreds of members of the community.

Sport England Executive Director, Mike Diaper, said: “Outta Skool has a strong track record of working with their local community and we’re very excited by how their project will make a positive difference to people’s lives.

“We know that people on a low income can face many practical and emotional challenges that make it difficult for them to be as active as they would like to be. So we’re working with community-focused organisations across the country to find ways to help people fit physical activity and sport into their lives in ways that work for them.

“The lessons we learn from this local project will really help to shape our work with similar groups across the country.”

Outta Skool is one of 34 projects to receive a share of more than £3.36 million in this latest round of Sport England funding specifically aimed helping people on a low income get active.