Joe Billington – CSSC AW Ambassador

Deputy Director encourages fellow civil servants to get active this February.

Joe Billington, Deputy Director in the Department for Education, is encouraging fellow civil servants and public sector workers to prioritise their mental and physical wellbeing by getting involved in this year’s Active Wellbeing campaign.

Cycling has always been a big part of Joe’s life. From a young age, his father inspired him to fall in love with the freedom travelling on two wheels gave him.

“This year I’m once again encouraging my colleagues to take part in CSSC’s Active Wellbeing campaign to help them take small steps to improve their wellbeing such as cycling to work or going for a walk on your lunch break,” said Joe.

“I’m addicted to cycling and the benefits I get from it. The notion of cycling has also been a drumbeat for me throughout my career and I’ve been cycling to work since 1997.

“I do find it to be a tremendously powerful way of getting yourself moving in the morning because it’s not an intellectual exercise, it gets your blood flowing and you turn up to work awake and alive.

“The corollary of that is that going home you are able to leave work when you’re ready and the only thing you need to focus on is the road.

“If you don’t think you can find time for exercise, think about the time you spend sitting in traffic. There’s no better feeling whizzing past stationary traffic on your bike, while you get your exercise in!”

For the second year running, Joe will be an ambassador for CSSC’s Active Wellbeing campaign, championing his colleagues and fellow Cross Government Cycling Network members to feel the ‘nudge to budge’ and get active in any way they can.

For this year’s Active Wellbeing campaign, Joe will be cycling to work and enjoying his passion at weekends, preparing for cycling events.

To encourage more people to cycle and support this year’s Active Wellbeing campaign, Joe and the Cross Government Cycling Network is organising Bikeability training in ten locations across central government and there are networks now in 32 different organisations in different parts of government, in addition to other events throughout the month of February.

Bikeability is the government’s national cycle training (replacing Cycling Proficiency Tests in 2007) which provides hands-on training empowering adults and children across the UK to embrace cycling safely and confidently.

Joe knows just how beneficial being active can be to both your physical and mental health.
“The lack of human interaction during the pandemic was really difficult but cycling made it considerably easier,” he said.

“My hour-long commute really makes a difference in my life, so I found myself waking up earlier and earlier during the pandemic to ride before work to set myself up correctly for the day.

“I want to help others to find the same wellbeing outlet that cycling gives me and Active Wellbeing has a lot of tools to help everyone find theirs.”

Active Wellbeing is the UK’s largest physical activity campaign which aims to inspire members of the civil service and public sector to move more and get active in a bid to improve their overall wellbeing.

For the second year in a row, participants will take part in the Around-the-World challenge where teams will work together to go around the world as quickly as possible, with every activity counting towards their team’s total.

You can sign up here and create or join a team before 31 January.