Community Integrated Care spotlights Rugby League partnership at international conference

Community Integrated Care proudly shared its pioneering approaches to embedding physical activity in social care, and to building a more equitable sports system, at the HEPA Europe Conference in Kaunas, with a strong focus on its role as Rugby League’s Official Social Care Partner.

HEPA Europe (the European network for the promotion of Health-Enhancing Physical Activity) is a World Health Organization Europe network that advances research, policy and practice on physical activity across the region. Its 16th conference and the network’s 20th annual meeting took place in Kaunas, Lithuania, from 17–19 September, hosted with Lithuanian Sports University under the theme “Health-enhancing physical activity: taking steps towards sustainability.”

Representing the charity, John Hughes, Director of Partnerships and Communities at Community Integrated Care, delivered a presentation showcasing how the charity is bringing physical activity into the heart of social care, and how it's partnerships with leading sporting organisations are enabling ambitious new approaches that build health, skills and independence through sport.

In the presentation, John spotlighted the charity’s relationship with Rugby League as a uniquely powerful example of a sport and a social care organisation coming together for shared impact.

Working with the Rugby Football League, the charity has developed the Community Integrated Care Learning Disability Super League, expanded accessible sport provision for people with complex needs, and created online experiences that connect care services nationwide to Rugby League via its What To Do platform (what-to-do.co.uk). These impacts are magnified by the charity’s Inclusive Volunteering™ model, which has enabled hundreds of people who draw on support to learn, develop skills, and take up volunteering or employment through Rugby League, and by delivering campaigns that shape a more inclusive society, such as the On The Same Team anti-bullying education programme that has inspired tens of thousands of young people.

This partnership between the charity and the sport has been recognised internationally as an exemplar of social impact and will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2026. Together it supports a growing, more inclusive sport and a more enabling and ambitious care system. 

John Hughes, Director of Partnerships and Communities at Community Integrated Care, said:

“It was an honour to attend HEPA Europe in Kaunas and to support the HEPA movement by sharing our insights with researchers, government officials and practitioners working in this vital field. 

"We were incredibly proud to represent Rugby League’s Official Social Care Partnership in this presentation, showcasing the Learning Disability Super League, Inclusive Volunteering and our social care engagement programmes as best-in-class approaches. 

"We’re bringing powerful new learning back into our charity and the Rugby League partnerships to strengthen our ambition of ending health and social inequalities in social care by creating inclusive opportunities to be active, to volunteer and to belong through sport.

"We would like to congratulate the HEPA organisation for delivering such an inspiring event and coordinating this important movement.”

Marc Lovering, the RFL’s Director of Development, also said:

“Community Integrated Care have been outstanding, innovative partners for our sport, and we are hugely grateful to them for spreading the word of our Learning Disability Super League and other initiatives at this major international event.”