What We Do

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) was launched by government on 13 April 2022. Nationally, it provides £2.6bn of government funding between 2022-25 that is central to the Levelling Up agenda.

UKSPF in the North of Tyne

North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) received approval from Government of its UKSPF Investment Plan on 5 December 2022.  UKPSF investment opportunities and funding calls are published here.

Government provided NTCA a non–competitive allocation for delivery across Newcastle, North Tyneside & Northumberland.

• £51.2m in total for the North of Tyne area
• £47.1m – core UK Shared Prosperity Fund
  
• £4.1m – Multiply
  

Building on our existing priorities, we developed a Local Investment Plan which was submitted to Government before their  August 1st deadline.  A summary of our Local Investment Plan can be downloaded here.

The UKSPF is designed for local places to invest in three key themes:

• Community and Place
• Supporting Local Businesses
• People and Skills

The plan takes account of the three themes of the fund as set out by Government:

• Community and place
• Local businesses
• People and skills

Guidance from Government on core funding was that the first two years of our plan should focus on Communities and Place, and Local Businesses.  In the third year, the fund can be used for People and Skills.  The Multiply programme will be delivered across all years.

Branding guidelines for the delivery of UKSPF funded projects in the North of Tyne can be found here.

UKSPF is now underway in the North of Tyne

Since the Government approved our Investment Plan in December 2022 we have been preparing for UKSPF delivery. We have now identified the specific programmes and activity types to be funded within each of the three themes and our work to deliver UKSPF is underway.

Please follow these links to find out more about how activity in each UKSPF theme will be delivered and how you can get involved:

• Communities and Place
• Supporting Local Businesses
• People and Skills

Stakeholder engagement and consultation

We would like to thank everyone who participated in our stakeholder engagement and consultation programme.  Your contributions were invaluable in developing our UKSPF Plan for the North of Tyne area.

We worked  in partnership with Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Councils.  We have consulted with local MPs, who played an important role in helping identify priorities for their constituents.

We held an online briefing event on Thursday, 28 April 2022 which was the first opportunity for Stakeholders to hear more about delivering the UK Shared Prosperity Fund for the North of Tyne,  the fund and the fund’s three core themes.  The presentation from the briefing event can be found here.

On 16 May 2022 NTCA hosted a stakeholder consultation event at Alnwick Gardens.  107 people attended the event, representing the public, private and voluntary sectors and with a mix of support providers and strategic leads. Following brief presentation by Rob Hamilton, NTCA Chief Economist, attendees took part in round table discussions on one three national UKPSF themes, which they had preselected when they confirmed their attendance. The evidence presented at the event can be found here.

Attendees were asked to answer the following questions:

• What are the key local challenges and opportunities in the North of Tyne area in relation to the Investment Priorities?
• What are the lessons learned from previous programmes?

Attendees then undertook a prioritisation exercise where they each selected their top three Investment Priorities for their chosen theme, prioritising interventions and outcomes. Then give their reflections on the other investment themes.

A summary of the table discussions that took place at this event can be found here.

Call for Evidence

NTCA with support from Learning and Work Institute (L&W) conducted a ‘call for evidence’ requesting further qualitative evidence from stakeholders who have experience working with economically inactive residents in any capacity, to help inform future provision.

This Call for Evidence has now concluded. The call was due to close 9 November, but was extended to 11 November due to the positive interest received.  Over 35 contributions were submitted from a range of organisations across the region with a variety of backgrounds, sectors and specialisms.  Findings from these contributions, along with feedback from the pre-engagement event held on 24 November 2022, were reviewed by LWI and complied an Economic Inactivity Report, with Executive Summary, which you can access here.

Please contact ukspf@northoftyne-ca.gov.uk if you require any further information about the UKSPF in the North of Tyne.

UKSPF in the North East 

The UKSPF’s interventions will be planned and delivered by lead authorities that can be either a local authority or a mayoral combined authority. Government has asked lead authorities to develop Local Investment Plans and work with each other at a regional level to explore areas where we have common challenges and opportunities and where it makes sense to think regionally to create a bigger impact.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus

On 19 May 2022 a regional engagement event was hosted by the North of Tyne Combined Authority, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and the seven local authorities – Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland. The engagement event aimed to help inform approaches to the government’s UKSPF in our region.

We have published a number of documents from the event, including:

• The introductory presentation
• Supporting briefing documents that provide background information to the Fund, objectives, evidence and interventions for each of the investment programmes
  • Community and place
  • Local businesses
  • People and skills
• A summary of the discussions that took place in the following formats
  • NEL UKSPF Stakeholder Feedback Ven Diagram
  • NEL UKSPF Stakeholder Feedback PPT
  • NEL UKSPF Stakeholder Feedback Summary of Cross Link Themes A4

Evidence base for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

An evidence base has been developed that provides key data and intelligence about Levelling Up, along with the UKSPF’s 3 key investment themes.  You can view this evidence base on the North East Evidence Hub here.

If you have any comments or feedback on this, please contact Emma.Ward@nelep.co.uk

Contacts for UKSPF in the North East

Durham  Contact Claire.Williams@durham.gov.uk or Glenn.Martin@durham.gov.uk

Gateshead  Contact Victoriabryson@gateshead.gov.uk

North of Tyne Combined Authority  Contact ukspf@northoftyne-ca.gov.uk

South Tyneside Contact Rory.sherwood-parkin@southtyneside.gov.uk or John.scott@southtyneside.gov.uk

Sunderland  Contact ukspf@sunderland.gov.uk