Proof of Play
WRU Club Social Value Programme
Proof of Play / withinu CIC — May 2026
WRU Club Social
Value Evidence
Programme
A full evidence and activation programme. Every WRU community club gets a simple, credible way to evidence their social value — and the EDI Policy, training, and support to turn it into funding, sponsorship, and accreditation.
276
Clubs included
£2.84m
WRU annual fund
7
Outputs per club
0.69%
Of WRU annual fund
21 May 2026 — Angharad Collins, Head of Club Development, Welsh Rugby Union Group / Grwp Undeb Rygbi Cymru
What we're doing on social value is the next layer. So that's what we need to do.
WRU's new funding model makes off-field contribution a condition of funding for the first time. Clubs need a mechanism. There isn't one. That's the gap.
From 2026/27 season — submission window opens July 2026
Three pillars.
Five tiers.
Evidence required.
The £2.84m WRU annual fund is now split equally — £1.421m on-field, £1.421m off-field. Off-field allocation depends on which of five accreditation tiers a club achieves. Tiers depend on evidence across three pillars.
🏉
Rugby Workforce
Committee structure, volunteer handbooks, coaching contracts, staff development. Evidence of how the club is run by its people.
🏛️
Facilities
Licensing, health and safety, accessibility audits, community use. Evidence of the club as a physical asset for the community.
⚖️
Governance & Culture
Safeguarding, EDI policy (Bronze+), Club Improvement Plan (Bronze+), rolling self-assessment, gender diversity. This is where Proof of Play maps most directly.
Standard → Bronze → Silver → Gold → Platinum
Under 15 minutes. One submission. Seven outputs.
Everything a club needs from a single session.
A club secretary completes the Proof of Play calculator. They enter what they already know: players, volunteers, community activities, basic financials. The tool does the rest. They receive seven distinct outputs — each designed for a different use case.
📋
Chairman's Summary
One page, headline figure, plain English. For committees, AGMs, and quick conversations.
📊
Full Report
Complete breakdown — volunteer value, wellbeing, community reach, WIMD context. Suitable for Sport Wales.
📰
Press Release
Populated with club-specific figures. Ready to send to local media immediately.
📱
Social Media Posts
Formatted for Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn. Club posts its own figures.
💰
Funding Guide
Welsh funders matched to the club's profile. Sport Wales, Lottery, local authority, and more.
📖
Methodology Notes
Honest explanation of what the figures mean and don't mean. Withstands scrutiny.
⭐
EDI Policy Output — the distinctive seventh output
A pre-populated, committee-ready EDI Policy draft generated from the club's own submission. Built for Bronze-tier accreditation. No consultant. No blank page. Ready for committee review and approval.
Governance and Culture pillar — Bronze tier requirement
No consultant. No blank page. No starting from scratch.
From Bronze tier onwards, every WRU club needs a formal, committee-approved EDI policy. Most volunteer-run clubs have downloaded a generic template and adapted it superficially. It's the weakest document in most accreditation submissions.
Proof of Play generates a seventh output: a pre-populated EDI Policy document, built directly from the club's own submission data.
A volunteer who has never written an EDI Policy gets a pre-populated, committee-ready draft based on their own club's data. They complete Proof of Play — the draft is ready for committee review and approval.
What gets pulled into the EDI Policy
✓ Club name, WRU region, activity types offered
✓ Membership profile by age, gender, and activity
✓ Hidden Need Estimate — ND, MH, additional support
✓ Value at Stake figure — economic case for inclusion
✓ Volunteer workforce data, facilities access evidence
✓ WIMD deprivation decile context
✓ Commitment language calibrated to club size
✓ Committee approval section with date and signature block
Hidden Need Estimate + Accreditation Mapping
The numbers clubs have never seen. Connected to the criteria they must meet.
Hidden Need Estimate — example: 200-member club
Neurodivergent (14%)
~28
MH difficulty (20%)
~40
Additional support needs
~34
Value at Stake
If 12% of those with additional needs became disengaged — estimated £6,000–£8,000/year. A planning scenario, not a forecast. But a number committees understand.
Governance & Culture — Proof of Play mapping
Requirement Tier PoP delivers
EDI Policy — formal, written, committee-approved Bronze+ Pre-populated from club submission. Ready to approve and submit.
Club Improvement Plan with community contribution evidence Bronze+ Full social value report provides the evidence base. Use directly in the CIP narrative.
Rolling self-assessment Bronze+ Annual resubmission creates a year-on-year comparison cycle automatically.
Gender diversity evidence Silver+ Women & girls participation and volunteer data captured and reported separately.
The same frameworks a Welsh Government analyst or Sport Wales evaluator would use
Figures that withstand scrutiny.
Proof of Play is not a survey instrument or academic study. It is an operational evidence tool applying recognised proxy values to club-reported inputs at scale. The figures are defensible in a funding bid, a board report, or an accreditation submission.
📗
HM Treasury Green Book
Central government standard for social value and wellbeing valuation. Wellbeing and activity outcome values are Green Book-aligned.
🏃
Sport England Social Value Model Year 2 (November 2025)
Sport-specific proxy values for physical activity and participation outcomes. The most recent version.
🤝
DCMS Volunteer Rate — £13.20/hour
The government-aligned volunteer replacement cost rate, applied consistently to all club volunteer contribution calculations.
🏴󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
WIMD — Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation
Used throughout — not English IMD. Deprivation context in every club report and the WRU dashboard is WIMD-based. What Welsh Government, Sport Wales, and local authorities use.
🧠
NHS England / NAS Hidden Need Prevalence Data
14% ND prevalence and 20% annual MH difficulty prevalence. The same population-level figures used by Sport England, local authorities, and Public Health Wales.
For WRU — national view, strategic insight, publishable evidence
A national picture of community rugby's value.
📊
National Dashboard
Aggregate social value across all 276 clubs. Filters by WIMD deprivation, region, activity type, volunteer contribution, and accreditation tier. Available from day one.
4×
Quarterly Insight Digest
Written by Proof of Play, ready to deploy. Headline figures, WIMD patterns, adoption gaps, funding opportunities. Suitable for board packs, Sport Wales, and partner communications.
📙
Annual Social Value Report
"The Social Value of Community Rugby in Wales." Board-ready, partner-ready, and publishable as a WRU strategic asset. Includes national figure, regional breakdown, and 6 club spotlights. (Strategic tier.)
Done-for-you rollout — WRU doesn't need to build the campaign
Co-branded landing page, 3 club outreach emails, social graphics, 60-second video, FAQ document, staff onboarding, and internal briefing deck — all delivered before launch. Angharad's team points clubs to one URL.
Annual licence — all 276 clubs included, no per-club charge
Priced against what it enables.
Enhanced — Recommended
£19,500 /year
0.69% of £2.84m fund · all 276 clubs · bilingual as standard
  • Full bilingual programme — English and Welsh-medium
  • Calculator + all 7 outputs including EDI Policy draft
  • Club Impact and Sponsorship Pack
  • WRU dashboard — WIMD filters, CSV export
  • Funding Bench — pre-filtered per club
  • Done-for-you rollout pack + staff onboarding
  • Full training suite + training library on demand
  • Quarterly club office hours (4×/year)
  • Accreditation tier mapping
  • Quarterly WRU insight digest
  • 100 free Neurodiversity in Sport training places
  • Email support throughout the licence year
Premium
£25,000 /year
Everything in Enhanced, plus
  • Annual WRU Community Rugby Social Value Report
  • Annual partner presentation support — Sport Wales, Welsh Government, sponsors
  • WRU-branded white-labelled club journey
£19,500 is less than the cost of a single social value study from a consultant — which typically runs £12,000–£25,000 for one club or one project. This licence covers all 276 clubs, bilingual, with a live evidence tool, full training, and a year of support. WRU clubs generated an estimated £2 million in additional funding last year.
July 2026 accreditation submission window
Ready to move quickly.
Rugby localisation, the EDI Policy output, and WIMD integration can begin as soon as scope is confirmed. The programme can be live before the July 2026 submission window — giving clubs time to complete Proof of Play, receive their EDI Policy, and include it in their Bronze-tier accreditation submission.
Danny Matharu
withinu Sport & Wellbeing CIC
danny@withinu.net
proofofplay.uk
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