Updates to the SMM 2026
What’s new: changes to the System Maturity Matrix in 2026
As the evaluation progresses, NELP is learning alongside our partners working within Places and Sport England and always looking for how to improve our resources and methods. We listened to feedback from Place partners and reviewed the content of the System Maturity Matrix (SMM) to make it more accessible for people and to better reflect the reality of what goes on in a Place. This will help to increase our collective confidence in Place System Maturity Assessments, CCA analyses, and development of findings which support learning and action.
We have collected feedback from Places and Sport England representatives in our interactions on person, online or in writing. This, combined with our own reflections, as we have analysed and interpreted responses to the CCA evaluation, has led us to identify several areas in which we can improve the SMM and the guidance supporting it.
Tackling Structural Inequalities
We recognise that this area of action can be challenging for Place representatives to respond to, and so we have simplified the descriptors and developed additional guidance (coming soon).
Cycles of Learning and Action
Our analysis and interpretation of responses to the CCA evaluation and the Evaluation and Learning submissions has highlighted how this condition represents a core way of working that underpins progress on other conditions. We have changed its position in the SMM accordingly, to reflect this and to highlight that this is not something that we do at the end of the programme, but an integral part of the ways of working for a PBSA.
We have also re-written the three sub-conditions to emphasise the goal of understanding how and why something worked or not, for whom, and in what circumstances to highlight the importance of explanatory accounts. We have also tried to more clearly flag the collaborative and participatory nature of this work and the value of trust, curiosity and psychological safety, as well as the importance of translation of learning to action.
Community leadership and influence (5c)
We found considerable overlap of this sub-condition with other sub-conditions in the responses to the SMM survey and moderation process. People tended to share the same examples for this sub-condition as for the Supported Community-led initiatives (6a-c), as well as in response to the distributed leadership sub-condition (5b).
The key unique element that this condition sought to capture was the participation of community representatives in decision-making in relation to the PBSA work on PA, and this is captured in the Resources Survey. Therefore, we have removed this sub-condition and amended the wording for the ‘distributed leadership’ sub-condition (now 6b) to include initiation of partnership action by community representatives. The area of action for this is now categorised as general rather than Sector Integration, as it relates to strengthening individual and community capacity as well.
Meaning of ‘Culture’ in the SMM
We recognised that the word culture has many different meanings and connotations, and within the SMM we have used it in different contexts which affect its meaning. To clarify our use of the term we have produced a guidance note (as part of the forthcoming guide to using the SMM), and the key points are outlined below:
We use the term 'culture' to describe the values, beliefs, knowledge, meanings and ways of behaving that are shared by a group of people. This includes assumptions and expectations that are often taken for granted and help define what is seen as 'normal' within a particular group or setting.
In the SSM we use the language of cultures in three different contexts:
- Culture as a factor in structural inequality
- Culture can help maintain existing inequalities and should be recognised as one of the mechanisms that drives them.
- Organisational cultures for PBSA
This refers to ways of working that are based on equity, diversity (of thought, ideas and backgrounds), collaboration, and the sharing of power and resources. Such cultures help build trust, encourage curiosity, and support people to work with uncertainty.
Cultures for physical activity (PA)
This refers to whether movement and physical activity are valued, encouraged and embedded in everyday life, becoming a normal part of how people live and work. It is about whether being active is seen as positive and achievable for people within a community or organisation.
Clarification of other descriptors
Some wording has been changed to clarify the meaning. Most of these changes are very minor but more notable changes have been made in the Organisational Policies, processes and structures (now Organisational processes, policies, structures and governance); the SCIC sub-condition of Cultures and Practices for PA (now Physically active cultures in local settings); and Built and natural environments that enable PA (SIPA and General).
