Decision details
Decision Maker: Deputy Leader of the Council and Economic Growth, Regeneration & Tourism Portfolio Holder, Leisure and Public Realm Portfolio Holder
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: Yes
Decision:
To set up an additional fourth UKSPF Fund for Upskilling, Coach Education and Workforce Development Grant under the UKSPF ‘Sport and Activity Grants’.
Reasons for the decision:
To release an additional fourth grant to upskill and train local volunteers and coaching providers. This will ensure that the allocated UKSPF fund to ‘Sport and Activity Grants’ is fully utilised before the March 2026 deadline.
The UKSPF programme, established in 2022 by Central Government, is part of a wider programme which has allocated funding nationwide to Councils for locally led delivery. Funding has been delivered via Multiply, the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF), and Shared Prosperity Fund Programmes.
The programme will initially draw to a close at the end of 2024/25, however, a transition year was announced by MHCLG for 2025/26.
It was announced in December 2024 that Tendring had been allocated £563,028 (made up of £71,771 capital and £491,257 revenue), via an updated funding formula, to be allocated to projects across three themes in 2025/26. Some of this funding has already been allocated by Cabinet (report in the link within this decision).
The themes are unchanged from the previous programme, and supported by sub-themes as follows:
• Communities and Place
• Supporting Local Business
• People and Skills
On 21 February 2025 Cabinet approved acceptance of the UKSPF 2025/26 and delegated the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism to approve the award of grants to organisations under the UKSPF.
On 10 July & 7th October 2025, the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism approved the scoring criteria to be used to assess these open call applications: Acceptance of the UKSPF 2025/26 Scoring Criteria.
A panel of officers drawn from across the Council applied the scoring criteria to assess the funding bids. The scores have been combined to identify those bids with the highest score.
The Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism in the decision above is approving allocation of funding to the highest scoring bids as recommended by the panel.
Applications of the UKSPF Sports & Leisure Widening Participation Grant are subject to a required pass mark & scoring panel before being awarded allocated funds of £500 & up to £1000 in exceptional circumstances.
Successful submissions are notified of the decision and agree to adhere to legal requirements of the fund and all monitoring responsibilities.
Alternative options considered:
Not to launch an open call funding scheme and reducing opportunities for local businesses and community groups to thrive.
To give the funding to alternative projects, however we followed the scoring criteria rigorously. The proposed applications have been selected by the scoring panel by following approved criteria.
Remaining funds which have not been awarded will be sent back to central government. The grant funding has not been exhausted from the number of applications.
Publication date: 14/11/2025
Date of decision: 13/11/2025
Effective from: 22/11/2025


