Devolution in Action: How Greater Manchester Is Shaping Health, Movement and Community Wellbeing.
- Why Sports
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
At a time when national debates about health, prevention and community wellbeing are front and centre, Greater Manchester stands out as one of the UK’s most ambitious and impactful examples of devolution in practice.
Through joined-up strategy, shared purpose and a relentless focus on local needs, Greater Manchester is transforming how health and physical activity systems work together — and Greater Manchester Moving (GM Moving) is at the heart of that transformation.
As Greater Manchester’s Active Partnership, GM Moving’s mission is simple yet profound: enable active lives for alland embed movement into the way communities, health systems and civic leaders think, plan and deliver wellbeing.
Their presence at the Why Sports 2026 Conference — and the insights shared by Hayley Lever, CEO of GM Moving — will help build a deeper understanding of how devolved leadership and collaborative working can unlock better outcomes for people and places.
Devolution Is More Than Governance — It’s a Health Strategy.
Devolution in Greater Manchester has granted local leaders unprecedented control over key public services, funding and strategic direction. Through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), an elected Mayor and partnerships across 10 boroughs, powers over health and social care, transport, housing, skills and wider determinants of health have been brought closer to the people they serve. This means that decisions about where to invest and how to innovate are made with communities, not merely for them.
Early evidence suggests this shift is paying dividends. A major independent study showed that after devolution, life expectancy in Greater Manchester rose more than expected compared to similar areas, with particularly strong gains in places with higher income deprivation and lower baseline health outcomes. Other evaluations have reported reductions in alcohol-related hospital admissions, fewer violent injuries presenting to hospital, greater access to GP appointments and improved cancer screening — indicating that the benefits of devolution extend across public services and population health.
These outcomes didn’t happen by accident. They came from a whole-system approach, aligning health services, local government and community partners around shared priorities and coordinated action. That’s an important lesson for any place looking to design health into everyday life.
Why Devolution Matters for Health and Wellbeing.
So, what makes devolution so important?
1. Local Leadership, Local Solutions.
Greater Manchester’s model empowers local leaders to design solutions that reflect the lived experience of their communities. Devolution helps shift control from top-down mandates to bottom-up action rooted in local insight — a powerful enabler of equity. Giving communities and local partners agency over decisions fosters innovation and accountability in ways that standard centralised systems struggle to replicate.
2. Integrated Systems for Whole Lives.
By aligning health, social care, transport, housing and skills under a collective strategy, Greater Manchester has demonstrated that addressing the wider determinants of health matters just as much as clinical care. These wider factors — where people live, how they move, the opportunities available to them — shape lifelong outcomes and can either entrench or reduce inequalities.
3. Collaboration Across Sectors.
The success of devolution isn’t built on new money alone; it’s built on relationships, trust and shared purpose. It is also about unlocking contribution and participation in a movement and aligning existing resources to the mission. GM Moving’s work with health, local authorities, voluntary groups and civic leaders shows what’s possible when organisations move beyond transactional partnerships to collaborative, strategic impact.
Hayley Lever, CEO of GM Moving, reflects this spirit of collective ambition:
“The progress in Greater Manchester demonstrates that when partners from health, physical activity and other sectors work closely together, we can make genuine strides in improving health outcomes. GM Moving invites everyone to get involved — because it’s only through collaboration that we can sustain and accelerate this positive change.”
Learning and Leading: Reflections on System Change.
Greater Manchester’s journey illustrates some key lessons about the kind of leadership needed to support thriving communities:
Vision-led Collaboration: Leaders must look beyond organisational boundaries to shared outcomes for people. That means aligning strategies, pooling resources and co-designing solutions with communities.
Adaptability and Learning: Tackling complex challenges like inactivity and health inequality requires iterative learning — testing, adapting, scaling what works and sharing insights. GM Moving’s ongoing evaluation and strategic partnerships exemplify this approach.
Long-Term Commitment: Change doesn’t happen overnight. Sustainable impact requires patience, persistence and investment in relationships, systems and infrastructure that endure beyond short-term political cycles.
A Movement for Movement — and for Health.
Greater Manchester’s devolution journey has also influenced how movement and physical activity are integrated into health and wellbeing systems. Pre-pandemic, Greater Manchester was reducing inactivity twice as quickly as the national average; through the recovery period, it continued to improve at a faster rate than much of England. These outcomes don’t just reflect isolated programmes — they speak to the power of an integrated, strategic approach that places movement at the core of health, prevention and community life.
GM Moving’s GM Moving in Action strategy — aligned with national frameworks like Sport England’s Uniting the Movement — underscores the importance of designing physical activity into all aspects of public life. From walking and active travel to community sport, exercise referral and everyday movement, this strategy recognises that healthy behaviours are shaped by the environments, opportunities and systems around us.
Why Sports 2026: A Conversation Worth Having.
At the Why Sports 2026 Conference, Hayley Lever will unpack the Greater Manchester devolution story — offering attendees a deeper understanding of how collaborative working, shared leadership and integrated systems can influence health outcomes at scale. Her presentation will explore the processes, partnerships and performance insights that underpin one of the UK’s most dynamic regional health strategies.
Through her insights, delegates will gain a practical understanding of:
What devolution looks like in practice
How can integrated planning deliver health and activity outcomes?
Why collaborative leadership is essential for sustainable system change
Lessons that can be adapted in other regions and contexts
Greater Manchester’s experience isn’t just a regional success story — it’s a roadmap for change in a world where communities, health systems and physical activity partners are striving to make a meaningful impact together.
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