Shared Prosperity Fund - frequently asked questions

What is the Shared Prosperity Fund?

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is part of UK government's commitment to level up all parts of the UK by delivering on each of the levelling up objectives:

• Boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector, especially in those places where they are lagging.
• Spread opportunities and improve public services, especially in those places where they are weakest.
• Restore a sense of community, local pride and belonging, especially in those places where they have been lost
• Empower local leaders and communities, especially in those places lacking local agency.
   

How long is the fund available for?

The end date for programme delivery is 31 December 2024.

Who is responsible for managing it in my area?

Swansea Council has been given the role to oversee the whole regional programme, but each local authority will co-ordinate and manage projects in their local areas.

How much funding is available in South and West Wales?

£132 million has been allocated to South West Wales.

Who benefits from Shared Prosperity Funding?

People, businesses and communities will benefit from a £132 million funding allocation to South West Wales from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity

Who can apply to the fund?

Any legally constituted organisation can apply for SPF funding. If multiple organisations will be involved in the delivery of a project, one must take the role of Lead Partner. 

Information about projects will be advertised online and shared with relevant stakeholders

Organisations located / registered outside the region are eligible to apply for funding, however all supported activity and project delivery must take place within Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire or Swansea areas of South West Wales.

What can be funded?

Both capital and revenue expenditure are eligible under SPF - but this will vary per theme and per open call for projects as to what is available.

Capital expenditure refers to funding used to acquire, build or upgrade physical assets. 

Revenue expenditure refers to ongoing organisational expenses specifically required in the running of the SPF interventions / activities set out in the approved application.

Examples of this include:

• Staff costs (including salary, NI and pension)
• Costs of project related travel and subsistence
• Costs of materials
• Marketing and publicity costs
• Training participant costs e.g. travel expenses, childcare

What can't be funded?

All projects funded under SPF must contribute to South West Wales Regional Investment Plan and relevant local economic plans.

Projects which duplicate the anchor projects cannot be considered.

In addition, the following costs are NOT eligible for support under SPF:

• Payments for works or activities which the Lead Authority, project deliverer, end beneficiary, or any member of their partnership has a statutory duty to undertake, or that are fully funded by other sources;
• Paid for lobbying; which means using grant funds to fund lobbying (via an external firm or in-house staff) in order to undertake activities intended to influence Parliament, Government or political activity; or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action;
• Using grant funds to directly enable one part of government to challenge another on topics unrelated to the agreed purpose of the grant;
• Using grant funding to petition for additional funding;
• Expenses such as for entertaining; specifically aimed at exerting undue influence to change government policy;
• VAT reclaimable from HMRC; VAT that cannot be recovered from HMRC is an eligible cost;
• Payments for activities of a party political or exclusively religious nature;
• Interest payments or service charge payments for finance leases;
• Gifts, or payments for gifts or donations;
• Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties;
• Bad debts to related parties;
• Payments for unfair dismissal or other compensation;
• Depreciation or amortisation costs;
• Contingencies and contingent liabilities;
• Dividends;
• Costs resulting from the deferral of payments to creditors;
• Costs involved in winding up a company;
• Legal expenses in respect of litigation;
• Costs incurred by individuals in setting up and contributing towards private pension schemes;
• Payments that breach or are contrary to the funding agreement or UK legislation;
• Stock to be sold on.

Can I apply in Welsh?

Yes you have a right to apply in Welsh. Applications received in Welsh will be dealt with to the same standards and timescales as those received in English.
 

Can the fund cover 100% of project costs?

Some applications will be approved with funding for 100% of project costs although match funding is encouraged to demonstrate alignment and add additional impact to other provision.

Private sector applications will have a requirement for match funding from their own resources. Match funding must be able to be verified - it cannot be based on estimates or lost opportunity costs / charge out rates. There is a match funding section that will need to be completed and submitted on the application form.

How is VAT accounted for within the grant?

If an organisation is registered for VAT, they cannot claim the VAT element of any expenditure. For example, if they are spending £60,000 (purchasing a machine for £50,000 + VAT) they can only claim against the £50,000 net cost. 

If an organisation is not VAT registered, they are entitled to claim against the gross cost. In the above example the full £60,000 would be treated as the eligible cost. 

Are there limits on certain kinds of costs e.g. salary and overheads?

Salaries included as project expenditure must be actual costs and cannot include day rates. We encourage applicants use a simplified cost methodology to calculate salaries in order to standardise processes and reduce administrative burden to parties. 

Staff working 100% of their time on the proposed project can include their full gross salary within project claims. This will include gross salary (before deductions) plus on costs such as employer's national insurance contributions, employer's pension contributions, and any extra costs included within the employees' contract. 

Staff costs related to individuals who work part of their time on a project may be calculated as a fixed percentage of the gross employment costs, in line with a fixed percentage of time working on the project per month, with no requirement to complete time sheets. 

Project Deliverers can claim overheads based on 15% of staff costs only. We will not accept any other methodologies for calculating overheads.  This covers those costs incurred in the delivery of a project but not easily attributed to it through invoices or other transactions e.g.  

• support staff/functions not directly related to the implementation and management of the project 
• shared premises costs or use of equipment 

No evidence is required to demonstrate how the contribution to overheads has been used. 

The tracing/auditing of all costs to individual supporting documents is not required - this is the key point of simplified costs as it significantly alleviates the administrative burden. 

There is no limit on the value of salary cost or the percentage of any project that can be allocated to salary costs directly involved in the delivery of the project. However, the salary rate paid for any given post needs to be set at levels commensurate to the tasks being undertaken and evidence that the selected salary rate is comparable with other similar roles in the applicant organisation and/or the wider labour market will be required.   

What are the rules around procurement? 

All costs claimed by the lead applicant and/or named delivery partners must be on an actual cost incurred basis. Where the grant is to be used to procure third party contractors, all costs must be incurred in compliance with the following minimum standards: 

• The lead applicant (regardless of whether or not they are a contracting authority) must ensure that the procurement of all contractors is transparent and demonstrates value for money; 
• Where the lead applicant is a contracting authority, they must ensure that all procurement activity complies with Public Procurement Law (currently contained in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015); All other applicable laws to the activity undertaken, including without limitation Modern Slavery Act 2015, IR35 (Intermediaries Legislation), Equality Act 2010, Subsidy Control Act 2022, etc; and  
• Other compliance areas such as Fraud Risk Assessment and Due Diligence. 
• Minimum Procurement Procedure for Non- Contracting Authorities 

The procurement and appointment of all contractors to be funded by the proposed grant will be subject to audit and verification and any irregularity will result in a financial penalty of up to 100% of the grant paid. 

It is strongly recommended that applicants review their own procurement procedures to ensure they are in line with UKSPF guidance available here. 

The rules for procurement can be found on our procurement page. Make sure you read this and respond appropriately to Part 4 of the application form, which is related to procurement.  

Applicants do not need to complete the procurement process prior to submission of their application, but you must ensure you build enough time to procure into your project timescales. 

Lead applicants will need to retain evidence to evidence procurement rules have been followed which will be part of the monitoring process. 

How will we pay grants once they've been approved?

Our claim process operates quarterly in line with UK Gov reporting window. The standard practice will be for grants to be paid in arrears once actual expenditure has been incurred and money has been defrayed. 

Once a complete claim is received against eligible expenditure as described in the application, the we will pay the grant to projects (subject to verification checks).  

In exceptional circumstances an agreement may be reached whereby the part of the of the grant, can be paid in advance of expenditure being defrayed. Where grant recipients request special payment terms we will carry risk assessment taking into account the financial health of the organisation. 

What financial checks will Swansea Council carry out?

Project applicants must be able to provide an audit trail to evidence that expenditure has been incurred and defrayed (paid out of the applicant organisation's bank account). As part of the quarterly claims process, the Council will undertake a minimum sample check of 5-10% of expenditure, selecting a number of transactions from each claim. Recipients will be required to provide supporting evidence to verify expenditure.

Evidence will include but is not limited to:

• Invoices
• Payslips
• Secondment Letters
• Screenshots of finance systems
• Bacs reports
• Bank statements

What are the rules around subsidy control?

Applicants must ensure that any project/programme put forward is compliant with the UK Subsidy Control regime and will require all project applicants to provide a statement confirming whether the award of funding classifies as a subsidy and if so, how their project is compliant with the new UK Subsidy Control regime. In some cases, a legal opinion may also be requested to provide the required assurance.

Please note the statement provided, and where appropriate supporting legal advice, should cover both the applicant's receipt of the Funding from the Council and any subsequent transfer of that Funding to third parties.

What is the maximum funding a project can apply for?

Each call for projects will indicate what funding is available as it will vary per theme.

What kinds of match funding are eligible?

Unlike some funds, match funding will not be required in all cases, although match funding from private, public and third sectors would maximise value for money, improve the impact of SPF and demonstrate alignment with other national, regional or local priorities.  Projects from the private sector may require match funding (minimum approximately 10% of total project cost subject to subsidy control advice and nature of the investment) - please contact SPF@Swansea.gov.uk before submitting your application.

How does the application process work?

Your application will be received via the SPF@swansea.gov.uk inbox and will be acknowledged by the team by email. The application will be checked for eligibility before being passed to the relevant Assessment Panel to be scored and ranked using the Assessment Form. The Regeneration Team will then make recommendations to Cabinet for sign off and approval before the applicant being advised of the decision.

Is any help available with the application process?

The Application Guidance provides help in answering each of the application's questions. If additional help is required, applicants may email SPF@swansea.gov.uk to request. A member of the SPF team will be happy to explain any aspects of the form that is unclear and will signpost you to relevant local team or anchor project lead, however please be aware that individual detailed mentoring is not available.

Who assesses applications to the fund?

The assessment of grant applications will be carried out by the members of the SPF Assessment Panel for each local authority. The panel is made up of individuals from across a range of sectors and interest groups.

How long does the assessment process take?

It is anticipated that the process will take up to 12 weeks to complete.

Can I make more than one application?

Organisations can make multiple applications to the Shared Prosperity Fund. This could be one organisation seeking funding for two different projects that fit under separate open invitations or one project that is seeking funding for different elements of that project under different open invitations.

Applicants should be mindful that each submission will have a separate application form, will be appraised individually, and have a separate funding agreement with specific outputs and outcomes to deliver.

Applicants cannot double count outputs and outcomes, e.g. if one job is created and reported within one project it cannot be counted again in another. If you intend to make more than one application for the delivery of individual parts of a larger project, please email the relevant authority prior to submission. 

We are unable to accept one application form to cover combined applications to multiple invitations to bid.

How do projects claim their grant?

Projects make quarterly retrospective claims to their Local Authority. Claims schedules will be provided to successful projects detailing when each claim is expected.

What are the reporting requirements?

As well as a quarterly financial claim, all projects must submit a quarterly progress report to their Local Authority. This should include milestones reached, outputs achieved, and evidence of outputs.

What outputs and outcomes are projects expected to achieve?

Projects will be expected to achieve the outputs and outcomes stated in their application which are outlined in the Annex A of the SPF application. These will of course vary between projects. It is anticipated that the number of outputs and outcomes achieved will be appropriate for the level of funding requested.

Is there a requirement for evaluation within projects?

Yes it will be up to each local authority to arrange for their evaluation. The WLGA will be looking at the process and how it is implemented. There will be an Evaluation Panel made up of volunteers to meet in February for Anchor projects and mid/late March for open call and provide more detail.

How long is the required document retention period?

Applicants must have Data Sharing Protocols in place and that sample based monitoring will be done by each local authority and Swansea Council as regional lead.

All documents (including examples such as monitoring records, learner records, procurement information, invoices etc) must be retained for 7 years from the end of the project. If you are keeping only digital records, you must ensure that you have a secure and backed-up electronic filing system in which all files are date stamped and cannot be later amended or deleted. PDF copies are preferred. All documentation must be easily accessible and in a format that is suitable for external audit.

If a project requires planning permission which has not been formally approved, can a funding application be submitted?

Yes, you can submit an application without all planning permissions formally approved, but the more statutory permissions you have in place such as planning, landlords' consent, and listed building consent, the better your application will score in terms of deliverability.