Overview
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) was launched in April 2022 and provides £2.6 billion in funding for local investment by March 2025.
The Fund supports the ambitions of the Levelling Up White Paper and aims to build pride in place and increase life chances across the country.
Rochford District Council has been allocated £1m for local levelling up projects.
Investment Priorities
After consultation with a wide range of community stakeholders in line with UKSPF guidance, the Council has prioritised the following UKSPF interventions in its Investment Plan, which was submitted on 1 August and approved on 5 December 2022:
- E1: Funding for improvements to town centres and high streets, including better accessibility for disabled people, including capital spend and running costs (£300k)
- E4: Enhanced support for existing cultural, historic and heritage institutions that make up the local cultural heritage offer. (£600k)
- E23: Strengthening local entrepreneurial ecosystems, and supporting businesses at all stages of their development to start, sustain, grow and innovate, including through local networks (£100k)
Funding Profile
The Government has specified how the funding will be distributed to each local authority each year. The Rochford funding profile is as follows:
Funding Profile
| Funding Sources | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UKSPF Allocation | £75,450 | £150,900 | £773,651 | £1,000,000 |
UKSPF funds can be allocated in a combination of grants to public or private organisations, commissioning third party organisations, procurement of service provision and in-house provision.
2023/24 UKSPF Grant Programme
The Council will be distributing a proportion of its 2023/24 UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocation to organisations through a competitive grant programme. This grant programme will launch around 19th April 2023.
The Council is strongly encouraging organisations that may be interested in applying for funding to attend the dedicated workshop (details below) and to begin developing their applications now, as the grant application process is only likely to be open for around 4 weeks.
What grants are available?
Grants of between £5,000 and £15,000 will be available to organisations for projects that improve local high streets / town centres; or enhance the local cultural and heritage offer. This funding can be revenue or capital. Further eligibility criteria will apply.
The Council has published initial guidance (available at the bottom of this page) to help organisations develop potential applications.
The Council will publish detailed guidance, application forms and FAQs in due course.
Where can I find out more information?
The Council is holding an open workshop for organisations who may be interested in applying for funding under the Council’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund 2023/24 programme.
The workshop will be hold online (using Microsoft Teams) 10 – 11:30am on Tuesday 18th April 2023.
The workshop will provide an overview of the grant programme, including how to apply and details on the process, and provide an opportunity for organisations to ask any questions or seek clarifications around that process.
Please note, we are unlikely to be able to comment on the eligibility of specific projects, other than to clarify the criteria and rules that have been set. We would, however, always encourage organisations to submit applications which they feel they may be eligible as we are looking to fund a broad range of different activities.
If you would like to attend the workshop, please email ukspf@rochford.gov.uk and an invite will be shared.
Rochford Local Partnership Group
Lead authorities must create a Local Partnership Group to provide advice on strategic fit and deliverability. This will ensure that Fund investments complement other activities in the area and meets Fund and local objectives. The government has recommended the types of partners that should be represented on the group.
The Rochford Local Partnership Group first met in March 2023 and will meet quarterly thereafter until March 2025. Notes of these meetings will be linked below.
Governance
As the Investment Plan has now been approved in principle by Government, a paper setting out next steps and steps for implementation was presented at the meeting of the Executive on 19 January 2023.
Details of how to put projects forward, including any grant programme, will be published on this page in due course, alongside any initiatives directly commissioned by the Council.