UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF)
In 2022, Nottingham City Council was allocated over £8.5m to deliver our UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) Programme. The programme will run until 31 March 2025.
Nottingham’s programme focusses on six key themes:
- Supporting the development of Nottingham’s communities (including employment support)
- Improving Nottingham’s City Centre & neighbourhoods
- Supporting Nottingham’s visitor economy
- Supporting inward investment in Nottingham
- Supporting Nottingham’s businesses to grow
- Developing Nottingham’s skills (including digital skills and green skills)
The ambitions to become a carbon neutral city by 2028 and to remain a diverse and inclusive City were embedded in each of these themes.
UKSPF Open Call for 2025-26 Projects
In response to the Government’s announcement that further UKSPF funding will be made available to Mayoral and Local Authorities for the 2025-2026 Financial Year, Nottingham City Council held a workshop on Thursday 19th December 2024 to present its plans to ensure that delivery in two of the key areas of its existing UKSPF Investment Plan can continue from April 2025.
Through an Open Call process, organisations are invited to apply for grant funding to deliver projects that provide:
- Employment Support for Economically Inactive Individuals
- Support for Local Businesses
Details of the available funding, the type of activities to be delivered and the application process and timescales can be found in the presentation below.
Responses to questions asked at the workshop can be found in the FAQ document below.
- Click link to download the 2025-2026 UKSPF Technical Workshop presentation slides ppt
- Click link to download the 2025-2026 UKSPF Open Call FAQs v1 191224 word document
The Open Calls open on Friday 3rd January 2025. On this date the Invitation to Bid documents and the application forms for both calls will be posted on this webpage.
The deadline for submission of applications will be 23:59 on Sunday 2nd February 2025
Nottingham’s UKSPF funded projects
Local Organisations have been awarded grants through Open Call exercises to deliver projects relating to these themes.
Details of the support available to our residents and businesses through these projects can be found below.
Open Call 1 (OC1) – Community Development
This call focused on the UKSPF Investment Priorities within Nottingham City Council’s UKSPF programme of:
- People and Skills
- Communities and Place
Nottingham City Council will utilise approximately £4m of UK SPF funding to support its community development objectives. Within these combined Investment Priorities, we encouraged applications from organisations, groups and bodies whose activities support the development of Nottingham’s communities and the people who live within them.
With the key metric of Improving Pride in Place by 2030, we asked for applications that included:
- Strengthening the social fabric of Nottingham.
- Promoting social inclusion.
- Reducing social deprivation, reducing the cost of living and encouraging social mobility
- Developing community and neighbourhood infrastructure.
- Delivering life, vocational, financial and personal developmental skills.
- Offering engagement of Economically Inactive residents to support local regeneration and economic progression.
- Contributing to Nottingham becoming a carbon neutral city by 2028.
We aim to use this portion of the UKSPF programme funding to deliver tangible improvements to our local communities where people live, study and work, so that Nottingham citizens feel more proud, more connected and more invested in and towards our historic city.
The table below details the organisations that were successful in securing grants to deliver their proposed projects through this call.
|
Organisation |
UKSPF Investment Priority |
Project Start Date |
|---|---|---|
| Access Training | People & Skills | Apr 2024 |
| Bestwood Partnership | People & Skills | Dec 2023 |
| Evolve | Communities & Place People & Skills |
Jan 2023 Dec 2023 |
| Framework Housing | People & Skills | Apr 2023 |
| Futures | People & Skills | Dec 2023 |
| Nottingham City Council Housing Services | People & Skills | Apr 2024 |
| Places for People | People & Skills | Jan 2023 |
| Kings Trust | People & Skills | Dec 2023 |
| Renewal Trust | Communities & Place | Jan 2023 |
| Second Chance Learning Academy | People & Skills | Dec 2023 |
| St Anns Advice | Communities & Place | Jan 2023 |
| Transform Training | People & Skills | Dec 2023 |
| Volunteer it Yourself | Communities & Place People & Skills |
Jan 2023 Apr 2024 |
For more details about the Organisations and the projects that have now started, you can click on the links in the table above.
We will be posting more detail about the projects that each organisation will be delivering on this web-page in the near future.
UKSPF Nottingham Open Call 2 (OC2)
This call focused on the UKSPF Investment Priorities within Nottingham City Council’s UKSPF programme of
- Communities and Place
- Supporting Local Businesses
Nottingham City Council will utilise approximately £300,000 of UKSPF funding to support its visitor economy objectives. Within these combined Investment Priorities, we encourage applications from organisations, groups and bodies whose activities support the development of the visitor economy in Nottingham.
With the key goal of Improving Pride in Place by 2030, we asked for applications that included:
- Supporting events and culture with funding for arts and culture.
- Supporting the business, visitor and conference events sector.
- Campaigns to encourage visitors into the city.
Marketing Nottingham & Nottinghamshire were successful in securing the grant funding to deliver this activity.
For more details about this Organisation and their project, you can click on the link above.
UKSPF Nottingham Open Call 3 (OC3)
This call focused on the UKSPF Investment Priority within Nottingham City Council’s UKSPF programme of:
- Supporting Local Businesses
Nottingham City Council has added a local intervention to its UKSPF programme to specifically support inward investment, recognising the importance of this to creating jobs and prosperity within the city. It will utilise approximately £300,000 of UKSPF funding to support inward investment activities including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Marketing Nottingham & Nottinghamshire were successful in securing the grant funding to deliver this activity.
For more details about this Organisation and their project, you can click on the link above.
Open Call 4 (OC4) – Business Growth 1
This call focused on the UKSPF Investment Priorities within Nottingham City Council’s UKSPF programme of:
- Supporting Local Businesses
Nottingham City Council will utilise approximately £700,000 of UKSPF funding to support its business growth objectives.
We requested applications which support:
- Start-up businesses.
- Businesses with innovation and R&D.
- Businesses within key sectors.
These support interventions will help to grow business productivity, increase the local business pool and drive growth in the economy.
The table below details the organisations that were successful in securing grants to deliver their proposed projects through this call.
| Organisation | UKSPF Investment Priority | Project Start Date |
|---|---|---|
| Medilink Midlands | Supporting Local Businesses | Apr 2023 |
| NBV Enterprise Solutions | Supporting Local Businesses | Apr 2023 |
| University of Nottingham – Institute of Advanced Manufacturing | Supporting Local Businesses | Jul 2023 |
| Nottingham Trent University | Supporting Local Businesses | Apr 2024 |
| Nottingham City Growth Hub | Supporting Local Businesses | June 2024 |
We will be posting more details about the projects that each organisation will be delivering on this web-page in the near future.
This call focused on the UKSPF Investment Priority of Supporting Local Businesses within Nottingham City Council’s UKSPF programme.
Nottingham City Council has awarded approximately £595,000 of UKSPF Revenue and Capital funding to support its business growth objectives from April 2024 to March 2025.
Through this Open Call, Nottingham City Council awarded grant funding to deliver 4 separate projects (or lots). These projects will help to grow business productivity, increase the local business pool and drive growth in the economy.
Nottingham Trent University was successful in securing the grant funding to deliver Lots 1, 2 and 3
- Lot 1 Supporting Enterprise Infrastructure, Incubators and Accelerators.
- Lot 2 Growing the Local Social Economy.
- Lot 3 Developing Angel Investor Networks.
The University of Nottingham was successful in securing the grant funding to deliver Lot 4.
For more details about this Organisation and their project, you can click on the links above
This call focused on the UKSPF Investment Priority of People & Skills within Nottingham City Council’s UKSPF programme.
Nottingham City Council has awarded £189,750 of UKSPF Revenue and Capital funding to support its Employment & Skills objectives from April 2024 to March 2025.
Nottingham College was successful in securing the grant funding to deliver this project which will:
- Help to meet local skills needs.
- Deliver Green Skills courses.
- Supporting the delivery of life and career skills courses.
- Promote social inclusion.
- Reduce social deprivation and encouraging social mobility.
- Engage economically inactive residents to support their economic progression.
- Contribute to Nottingham becoming a carbon neutral city by 2028.
For more details about this Organisation and their project, you can click the link above
In addition to these, Nottingham City Council has also used UKSPF funds to deliver the following grant schemes to support our residents, communities and businesses.
Winter Support Grant
Nottingham City Council is committed to supporting Nottingham households. We are looking to support organisations to help households in their communities to reduce the impact of the increased cost of living, particularly with the rising cost of household energy bills.
Crowdfund Nottingham
Nottingham City Council in partnership with community fundraising platform Spacehive has developed this scheme to empower local people raise money to improve community venue across Nottingham. UKSPF funds will match what is raised by local communities.
Business Support Grants
Nottingham City Council is committed to supporting the city’s business community. We are targeting a portion of our UKSPF allocation to support our local businesses, particularly those operating in the city centre and key local retail districts.
Digital Capital Grant
Nottingham City Council will utilise funding from its UK Shared Prosperity Fund to enhance community venues, facilities, and digital services for its users.
Cultural, Heritage and Creative Capital Grant
This grant aims to support the flourishing cultural, heritage, and creative sectors of Nottingham, ensuring they continue to thrive and contribute to our city's rich tapestry of experiences.
Programme Progress
The document provides a summary of the progress and impact of our programme in its first two years. Including details of the impact of the projects and grant schemes above and examples of how UKSPF funds have been used to support improvements and events in the City Centre and our neighbourhoods.
Further Information about UKSPF
For further information about Nottingham’s UKSPF Investment Plan and the UKSPF’s interventions, outputs and outcomes please click on the links below.
- Nottingham’s UK SPF Investment Plan
- Nottingham’s UK SPF Investment Plan Indicative Deliverables
- Nottingham’s UK SPF Investment Plan Expenditure Profile
- UKSPF England Outputs & Outcomes
- UKSPF Indicator Guidance
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