UK Shared Prosperity Funds (UKSPF)

South Tyneside has been provisionally allocated £8.8m of UK Shared Prosperity Funds (UKSPF) by Government over the next three years (2022 / 2023, 2023 / 2024 and 2024 / 2025).

UK Shared Prosperity Funds are the £2.6bn UK-wide successor to European Structural and Investment Funds (such as ERDF and ESF) and will run for 3 years.

UKSPF is closely linked to Government aims around Levelling Up and the recent Levelling Up White Paper.

To access this allocation, South Tyneside Council is working on a Local Investment Plan, which will highlight:

• our priorities
• key programmes and projects
• associated outputs and outcomes

The plan has to be submitted to Government by Monday 1 August 2022.

As part of this role, the Council is asking for projects to come forward that meet our local, and the national UKSPF, aims.

For more information on the types of projects we are looking for, and how to apply, see:

• Types of projects that could get funding
• How to submit a bid

Key themes

There are three key themes of the fund:

• Supporting local business
• Communities and place
• People and skills

What the fund aims to do

The fund aims to:

• Build pride in place
• Increase life chances across the UK

More information about the fund

For full details about the fund, go to: 

• GOV.UK: UK Shared Prosperity Funds
• GOV.UK: UKSPF Interventions, Outputs and Indicator

If you have further questions, email funding@southtyneside.gov.uk.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is open to a whole range of organisations, including but not limited to:

• local Councils
• universities
• voluntary and community sector organisations
• umbrella business groups

Private sector organisations and registered charities

Private sector organisations and registered charities can prepare bids where they are providing a service to benefit other organisations or individuals.

Open call process

The Government's UKSPF prospectus recognises that some activity can only be delivered by local Councils, while other activity should be procured through an open call process.

South Tyneside Council is looking at many areas to encourage projects.

These are set out in the South Tyneside UKSPF prospectus.

The fund is open for revenue projects that can start delivering in 2022 / 2023 or 2023 / 2024 (as well as potential ideas for 2024 / 2025).

Projects can be for 1, 2 or 3 years of the Fund.

Projects should set realistic start and end dates, as well as realistic milestones.

They should consider that all expenditure must be incurred by 31 March 2025.

Costs may only be incurred from the point of approval onwards. Retrospective costs will not be paid.

South Tyneside Prospectus

Projects must deliver activity in line with the South Tyneside UKSPF Prospectus.

This sets out our key priorities, and the aims of the fund identified by Government.

Read the South Tyneside UKSPF prospectus.

Priorities

There are three investment priorities of the fund:

1. Supporting local business
2. Investment in communities and place
3. Investment in people and skills

Government have said that the people and skills theme is only for the final year (2024 / 25) of the Fund.

Project size, scale and area

There is no minimum or maximum amount of funding that you can apply for.

This is to encourage a range of innovative projects that can deliver for residents and businesses in South Tyneside.

Projects should: 

• benefit some or all areas of South Tyneside, and
• reflect on how they can deliver in the most disadvantaged areas of the Borough

South Tyneside Council would like UK Shared Prosperity Fund projects to provide the maximum benefit to businesses, residents, and communities in South Tyneside.

While we will support regional and cross Council bids, these projects must clearly show:

• what they will deliver in South Tyneside
• how they will deliver it
• the impact it will have in South Tyneside

Type of funding

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is mainly a revenue programme.

Government guidance states that between 80% and 90% of funding available through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is revenue funding, with a small amount of capital funding (rising from 10% in the first year to 20% in the final).

Prospective applicants should adjust their bids accordingly. 

Other funding

Match funding is not mandatory and the UKSPF may fund up to 100% of the costs.

However, the Government encourages applicants to maximise leverage of other funding, where appropriate.

This includes other government funding where relevant.

This will be assessed as part of the value for money considerations.

Outputs and results

For information on outputs, outcomes and indicators, see GOV.UK: UKSPF Interventions, Outputs and Indicators.

For local priorities, read the South Tyneside UKSPF prospectus.

There are two parts of the application form.

The initial form is to make sure that your organisation and project meet the requirements of the Fund.

We will review your responses and if successful, will invite you to the main application form.

• Deadline for completion of this initial application form was 9am on Monday 13 June 2022
• Those successful from the first phase were invited to complete the main application by 9am on Monday 4 July 2022

Bids submitted in any other format or after the deadline will not be accepted.

Read the privacy notice.

If you require any technical support with the application form, please contact st-ukspf@rocketsciencelab.co.uk.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a competitive process.

South Tyneside Council will not enter into discussions with bidders.

For any questions or queries, email funding@southtyneside.gov.uk.

South Tyneside Council will appraise all bids submitted to see whether they will form part of our Local Investment Plan.

Firstly we will carry out basic due diligence on all projects, looking at how they fit with Government guidance, as well as financial and legal checks.

Secondly, independent technical due diligence on all projects will be carried out to check if they:

• meet the Government Gateway criteria, and
• fit with national and local priorities

This will be in the form of an individual appraisal for each project, scored against the following 13 indicators (with an equal weighting attached to each):

About the project

• Delivery model
• Alignment to UKSPF priorities
• Alignment to local needs and strategic priorities in South Tyneside
• Beneficiaries
• Partners

Financial information

• Value for money
• Assessment of Budget
• Implementation

Delivery

• Milestones
• Equality, diversity and inclusion
• Experience and track record
• Risk assessment
• Overall fit of application to local and national priorities

Finally, a sub-group of the South Tyneside Partnership will carry out a further appraisal and produce a shortlist.

Criteria for assessing bids

We will assess bids against these criteria:

• The ability to start delivery in 2022 / 23 or 2023 / 2024, and complete by March 2025
• The extent to which they meet the objectives of the UKSPF
• The extent to which bids would support the delivery of key local growth priorities (as set out in the South Tyneside UKSPF prospectus)

Approval

We will let you know if your project will be able to proceed and be part of the Local Investment Plan.

Government will look to approve the plan by October 2022.

Any approval locally is subject to national approval.

The Government will let South Tyneside Council know if projects have been successful in October 2022.

How funding will be paid

South Tyneside Council usually pays quarterly in arrears at an agreed intervention rate.

We prefer to operate in line with our standard processes. However, we understand in some cases, flexibility may be needed.

Any change to our standard process will be by exception following an assessment of need and risk.

Monitoring spend during the project

All projects funded must meet their contractual requirements.

This includes submitting regular monitoring returns.

Each grant must be used for the purpose intended.

This will be subject to monitoring and final review.