South Australia’s Sport Vouchers Plus Program

Outcomes and impact

Since its launch in 2015 the program has been adapted and expanded regularly, including:

• increasing the voucher amount from $50 to $100, then to 2 x $100
• expanding eligible activities from only sport registration fees to include dance, swimming lessons, scouts, guides and most recently music and active recreation activities
• and expanding eligibility from year 7 to year 9, and from 2027, to all children from 5 to 18 years old.

The Sports Vouchers Plus program has issued more than 1 million vouchers, distributing over $90 million to South Australian families to date (May 2026). In 2025 almost 52% of eligible children claimed a sports voucher.

The 2025 annual parent audit survey found that 12% of recipients would not have participated without the voucher, and over half responded that the voucher provided an added incentive to participate. Further, the survey found that 100% of children attended all or most sessions offered, and the vast majority of parents and their children highly rated their satisfaction with the experience (96% and 97%, respectively).

Investment and funding

The program has grown from $2.1 million supporting 43,000 participants in 2015, to $19.6 million supporting 115,793 participants in 2025.

Through an ongoing program of work in partnership with Adelaide University, it has been identified that sports vouchers are underutilised by some children; particularly those who are of low socio-economic status, urban and culturally and linguistically diverse. At the time of publication, a study is underway in a large, socioeconomically disadvantaged, culturally diverse local government area of South Australia to co-design strategies that improve awareness and accessibility of sports vouchers, ensuring more children and families benefit from the program.

The project budget for the 3.5-year study is $2.4 million, including $853,320 from the National Health and Medical Research Council fund. The findings are anticipated to be published in 2027 with successful interventions adopted into the statewide Sports Vouchers Plus program throughout 2027 and 2028.

Enablers and lessons learned

The partnership with Adelaide University and continuous evaluation of the Sports Vouchers Plus program has supported the program managers to identify opportunities to improve the program so under-served populations can optimally benefit from the voucher and unlock the health and wellbeing advantages of sport and active recreation participation.