UK Shared Prosperity Fund

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and a significant component of its support for places across the UK. It provides £2.6 billion of new funding for local investment by March 2025.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and a significant component of its support for places across the UK. It provides £2.6 billion of new funding for local investment by March 2025.  It replaces European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) such as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), although we are fortunate that ESIF provision continues to run in our area until December-2023.

West Yorkshire has been allocated £83,054,057 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This is split into;

  • ‘Core’ funding of £68,002,877 
  • Multiply funding of £12,483,679.
  • Rural England Prosperity Fund £2,567,501.

In April 2022, the UK Government published the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Prospectus. The UKSPF will support the UK government’s wider commitment to level up all parts of the UK by delivering on each of the levelling up objectives:

  • Boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector, especially in those places where they are lagging
  • Spread opportunities and improve public services, especially in those places where they are weakest
  • Restore a sense of community, local pride and belonging, especially in those places where they have been lost
  • Empower local leaders and communities, especially in those places lacking local agency.

This will be achieved through three UKSPF Pillars which are:

Pillar 1: Community and Place

Strengthening our social fabric and fostering a sense of local pride and belonging and building resilient and safe neighbourhoods.

Pillar 2: Supporting local business

Creating jobs and boosting community cohesion, promoting networking and collaboration and increasing private sector investment in growth-enhancing activities.

Pillar 2 invitation to bid - closed

Pillar 3: People and skills 

Boosting core skills and supporting adults to progress in work, by targeting adults with no or low-level qualifications and skills in maths, and upskilling the working population, supporting disadvantaged people to access the skills they need to progress in life and into work; supporting local areas to fund local skills needs and supplement local adult skills provision; and reducing levels of economic inactivity and moving those furthest from the labour market closer to employment.

This includes the Multiply programme, which is described below - to express your interest visit Multiply maths support

Pillar 3 invitation to bid - closed

Find out more about Multiply and Rural Fund below
Multiply

Multiply is a new government-funded programme to help adults across the UK to brush up their numeracy skills and boost their number confidence. It is an element of Pillar 3, People and Skills, within the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, to which up to £559m of the £2.6bn total UKSPF has been allocated by government to local areas.

In West Yorkshire, the allocation is £12,482,679.

The Multiply Programme will be managed by the Department of Education and will feature both national and local elements. The overall objective of Multiply is to increase the levels of functional numeracy in the adult population across the UK. The following success measures have been identified for the whole programme at national level:

  • More adults achieving maths qualifications courses (up to, and including, Level 2 – with GCSEs and FSQs as the qualifications of choice in England – or equivalent) and an increase in participation in numeracy courses.
  • Improved labour market outcomes e.g. fewer numeracy skills gaps reported by employers, and an increase in the proportion of adults that progress into sustained employment and/or education.
  • Increased adult numeracy across the population– tracking the perceive and actual different taking part in the programme makes on learner’s daily lives at home and work.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MULTIPLY

Rural England Prosperity Fund

On the 3rd  of September 2022, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) launched the Rural England Prosperity Fund, a top up to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) worth up to £110 million for 2023/24 and 2024/25.

It is the domestic successor to the EU funded LEADER programme used to support the development of rural economies, and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

West Yorkshire has been allocated £2,567,501.

The Rural England Prosperity Fund (otherwise referred to as "Rural Fund") supports the aims of the government’s Levelling Up White Paper and Future Farming Programme. It funds capital projects for small businesses (micro and small) and community infrastructure.

It supports activities that specifically address the particular challenges rural areas face, identified as:

  • Lower productivity rates
  • Poorer connectivity
  • Poorer access to key services

 

West Yorkshire and the Combined Authority

In West Yorkshire, the Rural England Prosperity Fund is led by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. The UK-wide programme aligns with the Mayors’ values to support local businesses, to be a champion for our regional economy, to empower our communities, towns, and cities to thrive, and to drive economic growth and innovation to enable good jobs.

*Rural areas are:

  • towns, villages, and hamlets with populations below 10,000 and the wider countryside.
  • market or ‘hub towns’ with populations of up to 30,000 that serve their surrounding rural areas as centres of employment and in providing services.
  • Eligible areas for the Rural Fund can be identified using DEFRA’s ‘Magic Maps’ tool.

The Rural Fund can support investments in interventions starting from 1 April 2023.

Magic Maps - Rural Area Definitions

West Yorkshire Rural England Prosperity Fund Prospectus and Guidance

West Yorkshire Rural England prosperity Fund Outcomes and Output Evidence Requirements

Enquire and apply

Rural England Prosperity Fund National Prospectus

Rural England Prosperity Fund Applicant Workshop 25.04.23 Presentation

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE RURAL FUND

The Combined Authority’s role in the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

West Yorkshire has been identified as one of the delivery geographies for UKSPF and West Yorkshire Combined Authority (the Combined Authority) will be the Lead Authority for West Yorkshire working in partnership with our partner councils. This means that the Combined Authority will administer UKSPF in West Yorkshire.

In order to access the UKSPF, the Combined Authority has produced both a local UKSPF Investment Plan, which will also include the plan for the Rural Prosperity Fund, and a Multiply Investment Plan. The plans set out what the local priorities are and how those local priorities will be delivered to meet the local measurable outcomes to be achieved by the funding over the next three years.

In West Yorkshire we believe we are in a strong position to use this funding alongside other funding to help champion the region to achieve the best outcomes for all.  We already have a West Yorkshire Investment Strategy that demonstrates the outputs and outcomes we want to achieve for the region. With sufficient flexibility, we think UKSPF in West Yorkshire will be a key part of achieving that strategy.

In West Yorkshire £30m of the UKSPF allocation has been allocated to the five local authorities to support the delivery of a hyper local programme which aims to complement a number of regional programmes. For UKSPF opportunities in each of the Local Authority areas please contact the relevant individuals as outlined in the Single Point of Contact document.  

Key Documents

You can find the Local Investment Plan's for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in West Yorkshire below:

- Core UKSPF Programme

- Multiply Programme

Events

Any events that we run in relation to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in West Yorkshire can be found below.

Past events:

31st March 2022 – UK Shared Prosperity Fund in West Yorkshire

24th May 2022 – UKSPF – Multiply in West Yorkshire: Stakeholder Consultation

7th June 2022 – UKSPF in West Yorkshire – Developing the Local Investment Plans (LIPs)

4th July 2022 – UKSPF in West Yorkshire – Local Investment Framework

29th September 2022 – UKSPF in West Yorkshire – Next Steps and Moving to Implementation

29th November 2022 - Multiply Provider Information Event.  Please click here if you wish to watch the recording of this event.

14th December 2022 - UKSPF in West Yorkshire - Pillar 2 Sounding Group

Keeping in touch

You can keep up to date with regular news, activity, sounding groups and other events related to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in West Yorkshire by checking this webpage, or through joining our UKSPF Mailing List by emailing UKSPFWestYorkshire@westyorks-ca.gov.uk

All enquiries related to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund should be emailed to UKSPFWestYorkshire@westyorks-ca.gov.uk

Other Useful Links:

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: prospectus

Multiply: funding available to improve adult numeracy skills

Rural England Prosperity Fund: prospectus

UKSPF Local Partnership Membership

UKSPF Hyperlocal Single Point of Contact