The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) forms part of the Levelling Up plans, and replaces the former EU funding which local business support activities relied upon. However, not only is the money available much lower than past EU funding, but must be split across three priorities: Communities and Place, Business Support and People and Jobs. The timescales for councils to plan their approaches are extremely tight.
Local councils are now working on their local investment plans and receiving bids and proposals from organisations keen to use the funds to deliver local projects which meet one or more of those three themes. FSB's local East Midlands team has been working hard to urge all our local councils who are considering activities for ‘communities and place’, ‘business support’ and ‘people and skills’ to:
- recognise the value and potential which small business bring to their communities,
- choose projects that will support SMEs,
- ensure that businesses are engaged in the whole decision making and review process.
We have written to council teams outlining our priorities and asks, and we would be grateful for support from members who are speaking to local councillors, as each council will have a different pot of funds, priorities and plans and it’s vital that small businesses are supported and engaged.
You can read an example of the full letter here.