voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
UK Shared Prosperity Fund: What does it mean for Fife?
Created: 30/06/2022The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is part of the UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda and replaces legacy structural EU funding from the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
This Fund is a mix of revenue and capital funding which can be used to support a wide range of interventions to build pride in place and improve life chances across local communities in the UK.
The full Fund prospectus was published earlier in June 2022.
Managing the UKSP investment in Fife:
Local Authorities will plan and deliver the Fund and are expected to draw on the expertise of local partners including the third sector, private sector, rural representatives, education/skills providers, regional representatives of arms-length bodies of government, the Scottish Government, the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland, and Members of Parliament.
*MPs will not be involved in deciding projects, but there is a formal expectation set by the UK Government that MPs remain aware of their relevant local authorities’ Investment Plan and governance arrangement.
Fife Council is responsible for planning and delivering the Fund in our communities and is in the process of developing an Investment Plan, which sets out how it will target the funding on local priorities against measurable goals. The focus of investment will be underpinned by the Plan4Fife, Fife Economic Strategy (due for refresh in 2022), the prioritisation of Mid Fife, and Community Wealth Building.
Once this is in place, it unlocks three years of UKSPF investment.
Key dates:
Fife’s allocation of the UKSPF and investment priorities:
Fife’s allocation of the UKSPF comes under the proportion allocated for the Edinburgh and South East region, which amounts to £40m.
In total, Fife will receive £13.4 m and the payments will rise incrementally over the three year funding period (e.g. Year1: £2m, Year2: £3.5m, Year 3: £7.8m).
Investment priorities include:
The new Fund also includes over £36 million for Scotland for an adult numeracy programme, Multiply, which will support people with no or low-level maths skills to get back into work. The scheme will offer free personal tutoring, digital training, and flexible courses to improve adults’ confidence and numeracy skills. This features within the budget for Fife.
Delivering the investment in Fife:
The proposed ways of delivering the fund in Fife include:
Fife Council will design the project selection and contracting processes so it has the mechanisms to recover funding where beneficiaries do not comply with fund parameters, UK law or any local requirements. Any underspend must be returned at the end of each financial year.
There is no requirement for match funding.
Regional/local collaboration and national organisations:
Within the UKSPF, there is scope for local and regional collaboration. The direction of investment will be determined using the ESES Regional Prosperity Framework and Tay Cities Region Economic Strategy.
Regional projects will only be considered for 2024/25 funding.
UKSPF is primarily used for local investments so national organisations will have to consider the need for their work within the local area and contact the Local Authority to see if they would consider investment.
Local authority reporting commitments:
Fife Council will report data every six months (with qualitative updates required on a more frequent basis) to ensure that allocations are being spent to agreed timescales and milestones, including achievement of outputs and outcomes at the project level. Prior to each annual payment, Fife Council will be asked to complete a report for the UK Government.
The milestones, expectations and timescales will be set out in a Memorandum of Understanding.