UK Shared Prosperity Fund
North Ayrshire Council · 18 February 2025
Back to Cabinet — 18 February 2025 and its agenda
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NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL 18 February 2025 Cabinet Title: UK Shared Prosperity Fund 2025/26 Purpose: To update Cabinet on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) and seek approval for the proposed approach to the additional year of funding for 2025/26. Recommendation: That Cabinet: a) Notes the update on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund; b) Approves the proposed approach to the allocation of the £2.697m award and continuation of the previously approved Investment Plan in 2025/26; and c) Provides delegated authority to the Executive Director (Place) to agree changes to the funding allocations in consultation with the Portfolio Lead as required. 1. Executive Summary 1.1 The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) formed part of the UK Government’s Levelling Up Agenda, providing £2.6bn of funding across the UK between April 2022 and March 2025. This replaced European Union funding which historically supported employability and skills projects and local business activity in North Ayrshire. The overarching objective of SPF was to build pride in place and increase life chances, underpinned by four Levelling Up objectives and three investment priorities. 1.2 North Ayrshire Council’s Investment Plan for the £6.2m allocation between 2022/23 and 2024/25 was approved by Cabinet in August 2022 and subsequently by the UK Government in December 2022. In the Autumn Budget in October 2024, the UK Government announced an additional year of funding. A total of £2,697,397 has been awarded to North Ayrshire to continue delivery of the programme. 1.3 This report provides an update on the Fund and seeks approval for the proposed approach to the continuation of the previously approved Investment Plan in 2025/26. 2. Background 2.1 The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) formed part of the UK Government’s Levelling Up Agenda and a significant component of its support for places across the UK. The Fund is delivered centrally by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) with awards made directly to local authorities. It is a replacement for the European Social Fund (ESF) and European Regional
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Development Fund (ERDF) funding. In North Ayrshire this has funded employability and skills and business support services, alongside regeneration project delivery. 2.2 A three year programme of funding under the fund was confirmed by UK Government in April 2022. North Ayrshire Council’s Investment Plan for the £6.2m allocation was approved by Cabinet in August 2022 and subsequently by the UK Government in December 2022. This included the development of a competitive grant scheme and participatory budgeting programme for communities under the Communities and Place investment priority. 2.3 In the Autumn Budget 2024, the UK Government announced an additional year of funding for the SPF. This is subject to the following changes: • Multiply, the adult numeracy programme, has not continued as a specific, ringfenced programme. • The core capital and revenue split has changed with a higher proportion of capital in comparison to previous years. • Allocations have been adjusted to prioritise areas with the highest level of deprivation, informed by the 2020 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). 2.4 A total of £2,697,397 has been awarded to North Ayrshire to continue delivery of the programme for an additional year, equating to a 17% reduction in 2025/26 compared to 2024/25. This additional year of funding does not require an updated Investment Plan for delivery. Delivery is to continue in this year as detailed in the previously approved investment plan. 2.5 The programme has been streamlined into five themes reflecting the UK Government’s ‘Five Missions.’ These are aligned with the three investment priorities for the initial SPF programme illustrated at Appendix One: Communities and Place; Supporting Local Business; and People and Skills. 2.6 Delivery in 2025/26 requires to support the delivery of the UK Government’s Mission: pushing power out to communities everywhere, with a specific focus to help kickstart economic growth and promoting opportunities in all parts of the UK. 2.7 The SPF allocations for North Ayrshire over the life of the programme are noted below, including the proposed 2025/26 allocations. This illustrates the removal of Multiply and the decrease in overall support of 17% in 2025/26. Investment Priority Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 2022/23 (£) 2023/24 (£) 2024/25 (£) 2025/26 (£) People & Skills 107,630 822,104 2,000,395 1,618,439 Supporting Local Business 7,400 367,600 300,000 296,714 Community & Place 0 427,780 850,870 674,348 (of which capital) (0) (300,744) (650,794) (576,535) Multiply 123,393 573,869 373,533 N/A Administration Costs (4%) 26,923 107,693 110,924 107,896 Total 946,284 2,299,046 3,635,722 2,697,397
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2.8 Informed by the budget allocations, the following proposals are recommended for 2025/2026: • People and Skills: continue to support the delivery of the Employability and Skills programme as in years 2 and 3 with essential skills support being delivered through the Community Learning & Development Team closely aligned with the Employability programme. • Supporting Local Business: continue to deliver support to local business as in years 2 and 3 with the addition of capital investment to complement the revenue support. • Communities and Place: continue to deliver the Communities and Place Fund as in years 2 and 3, with a smaller scale competitive grant fund, smaller scale council-led regeneration projects and 1% of the overall fund towards participatory budgeting. 2.9 The Multiply adult numeracy programme has not been continued as a specific ring fenced programme within the Fund in 2025/26. The scope of the People and Skills investment priority now includes essential skills, which aims to contribute to the delivery of the Employability and Skills themes through numeracy, literacy and other employment related skills. The Employability theme focuses on supporting people, including those who are economically inactive, to progress towards and into sustained employment and support for young people who are at risk of becoming not in education, employment or training (NEET). 2.10 The proposed essential skills programme is informed by learning outcomes from the Multiply project, with a specific focus on core skills in line with the requirements of the People and Skills investment priority. The programme will be further defined by the outputs and outcomes for 2025/26 which will be published by the UK Government. It will seek to enhance employability for individuals with varying levels of literacy, numeracy, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and digital literacy. The programme will provide flexible, person-centred support while ensuring that services are integrated and aligned with other community and employment services. 2.11 The UK Government has selected north Ayrshire to participate in an evaluation exercise by Ipsos. This will evaluate the delivery of the fund in North Ayrshire and within other local authorities across the UK. The results set of this evaluation are set to inform and shape any forthcoming programme, with further information anticipated from MHCLG in 2024/25. The approach to SPF or any successor programme in future years will be the subject of a further Cabinet report. 3. Proposals 3.1 That Cabinet: a) Notes the update on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund; b) Approves the proposed approach to the allocation of the £2.697m award and continuation of the previously approved Investment Plan in 2025/26; c) Provides delegated authority to the Executive Director (Place) to agree changes to the funding allocations in consultation with the Portfolio Lead as required.
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4. Implications/Socio-economic Financial 4.1 SPF will provide £2,697,397 of funds directly to the Council in 2025/26. The cost of delivering the Investment Plan and overall SPF Programme including the Programme Manager and Monitoring and Compliance roles will be predominantly funded by the SPF admin fee allocation. The balance will be met by the Regeneration budget or other external funding sources due to the 17% decrease in the overall allocation. Human Resources 4.2 The SPF Programme will continue to be managed by the Programme Manager, with monitoring and compliance undertaken by the Claims and Compliance Officer. Both roles will be predominantly funded by the SPF admin allocation and a contribution from the Regeneration budget or other external funding sources. Legal 4.3 The approved Investment Plan was informed by advice from Legal Services and has informed the development of the Communities and Place Fund guidance and application documentation. Equality/Socio-economic 4.4 The approved Investment Plan aims to deliver on social and economic outcomes and was subject to the following impact assessments: Equality and Children’s Rights; Islands and Fairer Scotland Duty. The Communities and Place Fund aims to provide a flexible and inclusive source of funding for communities to meet local need and achieve local outcomes across a broad range of activities. The application and assessment process ensures alignment with the Fairer Scotland Duty and Council priorities, to address socio-economic inequality and embed a Community Wealth Building approach. Climate Change and Carbon 4.5 The approved Investment Plan aims to improve the North Ayrshire and Ayrshire economies in accordance with net zero ambitions. This links with the ambitions of the Sustainable North Ayrshire Strategy and the ambition for a fairer, greener and more inclusive economy as set out in the Council’s Economic Recovery and Renewal Approach. A key aspiration of the Communities and Place theme is to deliver measures to support net zero and energy efficiency and enhance the natural environment. Several of the interventions specified by the Fund can deliver on these aims. Key Priorities 4.6 The continued implementation of the investment plan will contribute to achieving the Council Plan priority outcomes and will contribute to the ambitions for wellbeing, communities and local democracy and climate change.
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Community Wealth Building 4.7 The approved Investment Plan was informed by the Community Wealth Building strategy with the SPF themes cross referenced with the five pillars and respective related Regeneration Delivery Plan, Economic Recovery and Renewal Plan and Island Plans. The Investment Plan approach was considered by the CWB Expert Panel and advice provided on embedding CWB into the proposals. 4.8 The approach proposed for the Communities and Place Fund ensures investment is targeted locally to add value to and enhance existing activities across the funding landscape. It empowers local communities to deliver on their own priorities and encourages added capacity through partnership working, creating a resilient and robust local delivery ecosystem. 5. Consultation 5.1 The approved Investment Plan was developed by a cross-service team of officers through a short life steering group with representation from Economic Policy, Business Support, Employability, Regeneration, Connected Communities, Health & Social Care Partnership, Procurement, Finance, Legal Services and HR. 5.2 The Communities and Place Fund approach was developed in consultation with Elected Members (at the Policy Advisory Panel), Connected Communities, community organisations and community stakeholder representatives as outlined in Appendix One. This has been further tested through consultation with The Ayrshire Community Trust and Arran Council for Voluntary Services. RUSSELL McCUTCHEON Executive Director (Place) For further information please contact Calum Couston, Programme Manager – Shared Prosperity Fund, on 07867159975. Background Papers Cabinet Report: UK Shared Prosperity Fund, 23 August 2022 Policy Advisory Panel Report: UK Shared Prosperity Fund – Communities and Place, 18 April 2023 Cabinet Report: UK Shared Prosperity Fund – Communities and Place Fund, 30 May 2023 Cabinet Report: UK Shared Prosperity Fund – Communities and Place Fund Update, 23 January 2024
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Appendix One: Shared Prosperity Fund Investment Priorities