The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) aims to help kickstart economic growth and promote opportunities in all parts of the UK by investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. The UKSPF replaces the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund, with all areas of the UK receiving an allocation.
The Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) is a top-up to the UKSPF and succeeds EU funding from LEADER and the Growth Programme which were part of the Rural Development Programme for England. The REPF supports capital projects for small businesses and community infrastructure. This will help to improve productivity and strengthen the rural economy and rural communities.
Lead local authorities have flexibility over how they deliver the UKSPF and REPF. Westmorland and Furness Council will use a mix of competitions for grant funding, procurement, commissioning or delivery through in-house teams.
Investment priorities and funding allocation
We received UKSPF funding of £2,017,798 in 2023/24 and £5,286,627 in 2024/25. We have a further £2,719,672 for 2025/26 only.
We also received REPF funding of £547,413 in 2023-24 and £1,642,238 in 2024-25. We have a further £726,439 for 2025/26 only.
The UKSPF and REPF run until March 2026. We expect wider local growth funding reforms in the 2025 Autumn Statement.
The Council’s investment priorities for the UKSPF and REPF are:
- improvements to town centres and high streets
- arts, cultural and creative activities
- Active Travel
- voluntary and social action projects
- improvements to sports facilities
- business start-up, growth and innovation
- business decarbonisation
- support to access employment
- support to help people in employment access education and training
- small scale investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas
- growing the local social economy and supporting innovation
- improvements to cultural, historic and heritage institutions and assets
Projects
We have supported many projects through the UKSPF and REPF. These include:
- improvements to town centres in Kirkby Stephen, Barrow-in-Furness and Kendal
- small, medium and start-up business support and grants from Enterprising Cumbria
- support and grants for rural land-based businesses from Cumbria Chamber of Commerce
- social enterprise and community business support from Cumbria Social Enterprise Partnership
- Cumbria Action for Sustainability’s Green Enterprise Hub, helping businesses become more sustainable
- grants to support businesses recovering from the devastating fire in Kirkby Lonsdale
- grants for sports clubs and facilities from Active Cumbria
regeneration of the Lancaster Canal Towpath Trail - grants for cultural, creative and heritage organisations from us (PDF, 319KB)
- support to help people access employment from Inspira
- improving adult numeracy skills through the Multiply programme
- Cumbria Tourism’s Welcome to Work in the Visitor Economy and Let’s Go Culture projects
- help with household energy efficiency from Groundwork’s Green Doctor
- addressing barriers to accessing education and training by PHX Training
- the First Line Manager programme from the Centre for Leadership Performance
- improving voluntary opportunities through This Is Us from Cumbria CVS
- helping young people reengage with education through Brathay Trust's Elevate project
- Path improvements on the Lake District fells through the Fix the Fells project
Funding in 2025 and 2026
As all funding has been allocated to the above projects, there won't be another call for brand new projects in 2025/2026.
Local businesses and communities can apply for support by contacting the delivery organisation.
If you have any questions on the available support you can contact us at econ.dev3@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk
Further guidance to support projects:
- UKSPF and REPF Scheme Guidance (PDF, 118KB)
- UKSPF branding and publicity guidance (PDF, 311KB)
- UKSPF Outputs and Outcomes Definitions
- REPF Outputs and Outcomes Definitions
- UKSPF and REPF – challenges and opportunities for Westmorland and Furness (PDF, 447KB)
For more information on the UKSPF and REPF: