As Bikeworks celebrates its 20th anniversary, we are proud to become an official Action Hub partner with Fatima’s UK Campaign.

The partnership is grounded in a shared belief in the ability and potential of children and young people in and leaving care, and the importance of creating strong relationships, positive experiences and opportunities that can grow over time.

For Bikeworks, it marks the next stage of a relationship that began two years ago, following a chance meeting with Fatima and a ride together on one of our side-by-side cycles.

From a chance meeting to the Action Hub

Following those first conversations, children and young people from Banya Fostering joined Bikeworks and Fatima’s UK Campaign at the Olympic BMX track at Lee Valley VeloPark.

In the summer of the Paris Olympics, the group enjoyed a coached BMX session and received BMX bikes built through Bikeworks’ Charity Bike Factory, which brings corporate teams together to build cycles for community partners. It was a memorable day for everyone and demonstrated something we all know: opportunities matter.

The following year, Fatima and Gina invited Bikeworks to attend the One Voice Summit at Guildhall. It was a powerful gathering of care-experienced people, organisations, professionals and policymakers, united by a shared commitment to improving the experiences of children and young people in care and bringing about lasting change.

We are incredibly proud that Bikeworks is joining FATIMA’S UK CAMPAIGN as an Action Hub partner.

Our relationship has already shown what meaningful collaboration can achieve. Bikeworks has supported our children and young people with 60 bikes and created opportunities at the velodrome to learn new skills, build confidence and experience the freedom, independence and sense of achievement that cycling can bring.

For young people with care experience, these opportunities are about so much more than a bike or a course. They are about belonging, being given a chance and having people and organisations around them who genuinely believe in their potential.

That is exactly what our Action Hubs are about: bringing good people and organisations together and turning goodwill into practical opportunities that can make a lasting difference.

Jim, Zoe and the Bikeworks team have already demonstrated that commitment through their actions. We are delighted to welcome Bikeworks to our growing Action Hub family and look forward to building on what we have achieved together and creating even more opportunities for our young people in the future.

— Fatima Whitbread MBE
Founder, FATIMA’S UK CAMPAIGN

Becoming an Action Hub partner is the next stage of that relationship. Bikeworks is now developing how our experience of inclusive cycling and cycle mechanics can contribute to the campaign, both through practical activity and by adding our voice to the wider conversations about what needs to change.

Why this matters

Strong relationships and opportunities that continue over time matter for every child and young person. Yet access to them is not equal.

More than 80,000 children were in care in England in 2025. The latest figures also show that 40% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 were not in education, employment or training.

These figures reinforce the importance of creating opportunities that children and young people can return to, relationships that have time to develop, and space to build on their interests and strengths.

This is what Fatima and Gina are building through the Action Hub network: bringing together people and organisations with a shared purpose and turning national attention into meaningful action within communities. The voices and experiences of children and young people in and leaving care will shape what that action becomes.

Twenty years of using cycles as a tool for good

Bikeworks was founded in 2006, inspired by the promise that the London 2012 Games would create lasting opportunities in East London.

Twenty years later, from our home at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, it feels particularly fitting to be building this partnership with Fatima Whitbread MBE. A world champion and two-time Olympic medallist, Fatima’s own story began in care in East London. Her life and sporting career embody extraordinary resilience.

Resilience has also shaped Bikeworks’ journey. Over the past 20 years, we have continued to develop and adapt while remaining committed to using cycles as a tool for good, widening access to physical activity, wellbeing and connectivity through cycling.

That experience has shown us the different but connected possibilities cycling and cycle mechanics can create. Learning to cycle or finding a cycle that works for you matters in its own right, opening up an enjoyable way to be active, spend time with others and take part regularly.

Cycle mechanics offers something different: practical learning that can lead to recognised qualifications, experience of the workplace and, for those interested, progression towards employment in the cycle industry.

Through the Action Hub partnership, we want to explore how cycling and cycle mechanics can build on the interests and strengths of children and young people in and leaving care, with their voices shaping what comes next.

What Bikeworks brings to the Action Hub

Bikeworks brings together the people, place and experience needed to turn a shared ambition into something practical. Our instructors, mechanics and tutors work across inclusive cycling, cycle mechanics and accredited learning, supported by specialist cycles and established training facilities at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Together, these create the potential for more than a one-off experience. Children and young people could return, develop their interests over time and connect cycling and wellbeing with practical learning, qualifications and future opportunities.

“Cycles connect people. Our relationship with Fatima and Gina began with a conversation and a ride together. It has grown because we share a commitment to turning ideas into action.

“As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we want to bring Bikeworks’ experience of inclusive cycling and cycle mechanics to this incredible network of partners. We know cycling can widen access to physical activity and wellbeing, while cycle mechanics can offer practical learning and recognised qualifications. We will be developing this work with children and young people, building from their interests, strengths and ambitions.”

— Zoe and Jim Co-CEOs, Bikeworks

The next stage will be shaped with Fatima’s UK Campaign, the wider Action Hub network and children and young people in and leaving care. It is an opportunity to bring Bikeworks’ 20 years of experience into a partnership built on strong relationships, shared purpose and a commitment to creating something that lasts.

Want to join our journey?

Find out more about Fatima’s UK Campaign and the Action Hub network.

If your work involves children and young people in or leaving care, and you want to know more about how cycles can be used as a tool for good, get in touch with Bikeworks.

 

Bikeworks exists to reduce barriers to cycling.

For two decades, we have used cycles as a tool for good. The work has always been practical: finding the cycle, setting, support and maintenance that make riding possible where conventional cycling provision does not reach far enough.

In our 20th year, No Child Left Behind brings that mission into sharper focus. Access to cycling should not depend on being able to ride a two-wheeler, join a mainstream session, or attend a school or community setting with its own specialist fleet.

The need is clear. Activity Alliance’s Play, Move, Belong research found only 26% of young disabled people say they can take part in sport and activity at school all the time, compared with 38% of non-disabled young people.

Cycling can bring movement, independence, skill, time outdoors and shared experience. The question is not whether cycling has value for children and young people. It does.

The question is whether the right conditions are in place: a cycle that fits, instructors who can adapt, a setting that works, and a practical plan to keep the offer active, safe and maintained.

At Victoria Park All Ability Club, Phoenix College students are showing what changes when those conditions come together.

What changes at Victoria Park

Phoenix College students have been spending Saturdays with Bikeworks at Victoria Park All Ability Club.

Each session starts with the cycle. Trained Bikeworks Cycle Instructors work with students to find the right fit, position and way to get moving. Specialist and standard cycles are available, so riding is not limited to one type of bike or one way of taking part.

The starting point is not whether a child or young person can fit into a pre-set cycling session.

The starting point is what needs to be in place so cycling becomes possible.

Students ride through Victoria Park. They spend time outdoors. They move, laugh, concentrate, try again and take part together.

The cycle is the tool. Around it, something wider opens up: movement, shared activity, social connection and time in the park.

A member of staff from Phoenix College reflected on the impact:

“Social interaction can be a challenge, but the club’s friendly and supportive atmosphere encourages positive communication and connection with others. Being able to engage in a shared activity helps them develop social skills in a natural and enjoyable way.”

That is the heart of the work.

Not asking young people to adapt to a fixed cycling offer.

Changing the offer so cycling becomes possible.

Why the right cycle matters

A specialist cycle is not an add-on.

A trike, handcycle, recumbent, wheelchair platform cycle, side-by-side or adapted cycle can open up cycling in a different way. The right choice depends on the rider, the site, storage, staff support, servicing and how often the cycle will be used.

Those decisions are hard to make from a catalogue alone.

A catalogue can show a product.

A Bikeworks session shows the product being used: how the cycle fits, how the rider is supported, how instructors adapt the session, and what needs to sit around the cycle so it can be used safely and regularly.

That matters for schools, colleges, local authorities and community organisations thinking about their own fleet, site or inclusive cycling offer.

From the right cycle to the right offer

Bikeworks can help organisations move from interest to practical delivery.

That can mean visiting an All Ability Club to see specialist cycles in use.

It can mean arranging test rides, talking through product options, choosing the right fleet, or purchasing specialist cycles through Bikeworks.

It can mean putting a maintenance package in place so specialist and standard cycles stay safe, roadworthy and ready to use.

It can also mean bringing Bikeworks into a school, college or community setting with trained instructors, specialist cycles and a delivery plan shaped around the site, the students and the outcomes wanted.

The product matters. The fit matters. The maintenance matters. The instructors matter. The setting matters.

When those pieces are planned properly, cycling becomes possible.

That is cycling equity in practice.

Talk to Bikeworks

If you are a school, college, local authority or community organisation, Bikeworks can help you explore what inclusive cycling could look like in your setting.

We can talk through specialist cycles, test rides, fleet advice, cycle sales, maintenance packages, visits to our All Ability Clubs and bespoke cycling delivery.

Email: all.ability@bikeworks.org.uk

No child should be left behind when it comes to cycling.