To recommend for approval the acceptance of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) transition year 2025/26 allocation to Tendring District Council (TDC) which totals £563,028, and recommend an approach to its spend, building on the successes of the previous UKSPF programme (past 3 financial years) and which aligns with TDC’s external Grant making policy.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

(a)    following the review of the External Funding High Level Framework Grants Checklist, as attached in Appendix A to the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.3), accepts £563,028 from UK Shared Prosperity Fund;

(b)    approves the allocation of: £40,000 to commission business support; £26,500 to the continuation of the Local Cultural Education Partnership (LCEP) Officer role; £19,506 to the continuation of the Council’s Town Centre Manager Role; £15,000 for Extend the Season Events Grants; and £25,000 for the Widening Participation Sports Grants scheme, as set out in Appendix B to the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.3);

(c)    allocates the remainder of the UKSPF funding via an open call for projects in quarter one 2025/6 under the themes set out in the Portfolio Holder’s report;

(d)    authorises the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism to approve the criteria for assessment of grants under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund;

(e)    authorises the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism to approve the award of grants to organisations under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund; and

(f)     authorises the Council’s Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism, to sign the grant agreement and memorandum of understanding for the funding, when they are received from Government.

Cabinet considered a report of the Economic Growth, Regeneration & Tourism Portfolio Holder (A.3) which recommended acceptance of the 2025/26 UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which totalled £563,028, and the Council’s approach to its allocation and alignment with the adopted External Grant Making Policy.

Members were reminded that the UKSPF programme, established in 2022 by Central Government, was part of a wider programme which had allocated funding nationwide to Councils for locally led delivery. Funding had been delivered via Multiply, the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF), and Shared Prosperity Fund Programmes.

As the current programme would draw to a close at the end of 2024/25, a transition year had been announced by MHCLG for 2025/26, for UKSPF only. DEFRA was yet to make a formal announcement regarding any continuation of REPF and therefore this would be brought forward separately if any amount was to be allocated to Tendring. All money had to be spent and fully delivered by 31 March 2026.

It had been 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. The themes were unchanged from the previous programme, and supported by sub-themes as follows:

•    Communities and Place

o   Healthy, Safe, and Inclusive Communities

o   Thriving Places

•    Supporting Local Business

•    People and Skills

o   Employability

o   Skills

As set out in Appendix A, the External Funding High Level Framework Checklist had been considered and completed.

It was proposed that the bulk of the funding allocated for 25/26 be made available via an open call for projects under each of the main three themes, and projects assessed for their value for money and fit into the sub-themes by Officers, continuing business as usual from the previous three-year programme, with one key difference. Rather than allocating specific amounts to each theme and sub theme, it was proposed to instead make the total amount available known and respond to need/demand as evidenced by the applications received, rather than allocating a specific amount per theme then finding that some were over or under-subscribed, or otherwise unable to deliver by the 31 March 2026.

It was reported that applications would be welcomed from external organisations via the open call, as well as Council projects, and all would be subject to the same assessment process. Projects would be reviewed by Officers, to include due diligence on the applicant organisation itself as well as the veracity of the claims made about the project applied for, and in cases where match-funding was applied for, to check other funding sources were in place to ensure delivery of the project to meet the March 2026 UKSPF deadline. Decisions on whether to reject, award, or part-award funding would be made by the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism, and subject to call-in by other Members.

As part of the open call for projects, it was proposed to continue specifically two grant schemes which had been successful in the previous UKSPF scheme namely: ‘Extend the Season’ Events Grants, which linked to ongoing work with town centres and Long-Term Plan for Towns funding, and Widening Participation Sports Grants, linked to the Sports Strategy. Further information on those Schemes, and a select number of other recommended projects which had demonstrated strong value for money, were found at Appendix B of the Portfolio Holder’s report.

Cabinet was informed that it had also been considered that the funding landscape for 2025/26 was very different to that of the initial UKSPF Investment Plan submitted in 2022. Projects recommended at this stage in Appendix B, and invited via the proposed open call, had been/would be assessed as to whether UKSPF was the ‘best fit’ for project to ensure parity across the District as far as possible. For example, the Community Regeneration Partnership (CRP, formerly the Levelling Up Partnership, LUP) funding was limited to Clacton and Jaywick, and High Street Accelerator (HSA) funding was limited to Dovercourt, and both places were also receiving capital funded projects via the Levelling Up Fund and Capital Regeneration Project funding. Therefore, in allocating UKSPF, those areas would not be excluded or weighted against specifically, but to ensure value for money of any particular project, UKSPF would not automatically be recommended where a strong project could be funded from another source.

Members were made aware that, as with the 2022-25 scheme, and as per the 2025/26 Technical Note, “Each lead local authority will be able to use up to 4% of their allocation by default to undertake necessary Fund administration, such as project assessment, contracting, monitoring and evaluation and ongoing stakeholder engagement.” With up to four percent of the 2025/26 allocation available (£22,521.12), it was proposed to consider the potential to cover either staff costs or wider external support for the process. Any recommendation on this allocation would come forward via an Executive Decision.

Cabinet was cognisant that monitoring would continue to take place in the same way as 2022-25, with six-monthly updates reported to Government via their bespoke Power App. This programme allowed for spend, outputs, and outcomes delivered per quarter to be reported to Government and approved by the Council’s Section 151 Officer. Further information on monitoring was included at Appendix B, as well as the published outputs and outcomes for 2025/26 at Appendix C. All successful grant recipients received a grant agreement letter which stipulated standard terms and conditions including the requirement to acknowledge the funding received, the requirement to provide evidence of spend in a timely manner, and financial clawback arrangements if money was found to have been misspent.

The Monitoring Officer referred to the fact that Appendix C (the UKSPF 2025/26 Outputs and Outcomes, published by the MHCLG) to the Portfolio Holder’s report had been restricted to Members only and therefore had not been published in the public domain. Having reassessed the matter, the Monitoring Officer informed the Cabinet that this document could now be placed in the public domain. The Committee Services Manager thereupon circulated copies of Appendix C to the members of the public present at the meeting and undertook to update the Council’s website accordingly.

Having noted that work at this stage was being prepared so that the Team could move as efficiently as possible when the payment schedule, memorandum of understanding, grant determination letter, and the funding itself was received in the new financial year and that with this in mind, it was proposed that a launch event take place in mid-March alongside promotion of the opportunity for businesses and community groups to apply to the open call for funding and being aware that, without approval at this stage, this preparation time would be lost, reducing the time available for any projects to deliver:-

It was therefore moved by Councillor I J Henderson, seconded by Councillor Scottand:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

(a)     following the review of the External Funding High Level Framework Grants Checklist, as attached in Appendix A to the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.3), accepts £563,028 from UK Shared Prosperity Fund;

(b)     approves the allocation of: £40,000 to commission business support; £26,500 to the continuation of the Local Cultural Education Partnership (LCEP) Officer role; £19,506 to the continuation of the Council’s Town Centre Manager Role; £15,000 for Extend the Season Events Grants; and £25,000 for the Widening Participation Sports Grants scheme, as set out in Appendix B to the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.3);

(c)     allocates the remainder of the UKSPF funding via an open call for projects in quarter one 2025/6 under the themes set out in the Portfolio Holder’s report;

(d)     authorises the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism to approve the criteria for assessment of grants under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund;

(e)     authorises the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism to approve the award of grants to organisations under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund; and

(f)       authorises the Council’s Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism, to sign the grant agreement and memorandum of understanding for the funding, when they are received from Government.