What is the UK Shared Prosperity Fund? November 2022 Connect. Support. Grow.
What is the UK Shared Prosperity Fund? The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is one of the central pillars of the UK Government’s Levelling Up Agenda, providing £2.6 billion worth of new funding for local investment by March 2025. Serving as a replacement for the European Regional Development Fund, UKSPF will be driven from a local level, empowering local leaders to identify the area’s key priorities and maximise the impact of support. UK Shared Prosperity Fund Timeline
Funding period: Apr 22 – Mar 25
What is the aim of UKSPF? The UKSPF will support the Government’s commitment to level up all corners of the country by boosting productivity and jobs, spreading opportunities, and empowering local leaders and communities. The primary goal of the Fund is to ‘build price in place and increase life chances’ across the country through three main investment priorities: 1. Community and place 2. Supporting local businesses 3. People and skills The Fund builds upon the already announced Levelling Up Fund and Community Ownership Fund, providing long-term and stable funding which can be used to support a wide range of interventions.
How is the Fund allocated? The level of funding awarded varies by nation and authority type. Every part of the country will receive an allocation for 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 for both the core UKSPF and for the adult numeracy programme, Multiply. Authorities such as district and borough councils will only receive core UKSPF funding. Mayoral Combined Authorities like the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will receive an allocation of both core UKSPF funding and Multiply.
West Midlands UK SPF core £88,408,357
Multiply £16,767,132
Total £105,175,489
What local challenges were identified by the West Midlands Combined Authority? In their Investment Plan for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the WMCA outlined its ambition to build a better connected, more prosperous, fairer, greener and healthier West Midlands. Specifically relating to the ‘supporting local business’ investment priority, the WMCA noted specific needs relating to low regional productivity, poor business survival rate in certain areas of the region, declining high growth firms, and low demand for innovation. As such, key areas of economic opportunity for UKSPF to target include:
Supporting SMEs with low to mid-level productivity Expanding and attracting frontier firms Catalysing growth in target clusters where the region has a competitive advantage Supporting business transformation to boosting jobs growth and safeguarding existing jobs
How will £88 million of UKSPF funding be used by the WMCA? The Board of the WMCA approved its UKSPF investment plan on 28th October 2022 to trigger the Government’s release of the money to the region over the next three years. It was agreed that £42 million would be targeted at helping local businesses, including the deployment of expert advisors at a local level to directly help firms become more competitive and resilient in response to the increasing cost of doing business. More than half of the £42 million will be used to deliver specialist programmes that help firms decarbonise their operations, boost productivity, and secure additional investment to boost their economic growth going forward. The remaining funds will be given directly to the region’s seven metropolitan authorities – Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton. The councils will use the remaining funding for community and neighbourhood infrastructure work, including new green open spaces and supporting community groups to help build local price of place. What is the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce’s view? As well as working closely alongside the WMCA and Birmingham City Council to ensure businesses fully capitalise on the UKSPF, the Chamber will continue to signpost businesses to the latest support and programmes available and update members on developments relating to the Fund. On a national level, the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce continues to call on the UK Government to increase funding to the UKSPF to ensure that commitments to levelling up all corners of the country are fully and successfully delivered. It is vital that there is a period of stability which provides businesses with the assurance that they need to plan ahead effectively.
For more information, please contact: Erin Henwood Policy Advisor e.henwood@birminghamchamber.com