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.
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.
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.