The current funding package is set to come to an end
HEYCA Board meeting on March 4(Image: Hull Live)
Funding to help people into work in Hull and East Yorkshire is to change in a power shake-up. A new fund is to replace the outgoing UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), as the amount of cash made available to support employment projects is significantly cut.
UKSPF was created after the UK’s exit from the European Union, to replace funding which previously came from the EU. It was set up as a temporary fixture which will end this month.
The fund will be replaced by the Local Growth Fund, however this funding is considerably less than UKSPF. The allocation is just 62% of the previous scheme.
Adding further complexity to the situation, a second transition is also taking place. The funding now sits with the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority (HEYCA), led by Mayor Luke Campbell, rather than the councils, as was previously the case.
With the funding set to come to an end, earlier this year, two Hull councillors warned that people in UKSPF-supported projects could lose their jobs. Soon after, Hull’s three Labour MPs (Karl Turner, Emma Hardy, and Dame Diana Johnson) wrote a letter to the Mayor in which they accused Mr Campbell’s Combined Authority of having decision-making delays and argued that any gap between the previous and new funding amounts could be plugged with money already within the Combined Authority.
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At a meeting of HEYCA’s Executive Board, held on March 4, a decision was made to ease the transition. The board agreed that Hull City Council and East Riding Council will forward fund the organisations and initiatives that have been supported by UKSPF for an additional six months, from April 2026. The councils will be able to claim the cost back from HEYCA.
After the six months the Combined Authority will take on the role of administering the new Local Growth Fund. From then on, those receiving the funding will have to prove their objectives align with the Local Growth Plan.
In the meeting, Mr Campbell said: “If we can work with them all, that’s exactly what we’ll do. But we will align the ones that help us achieve for our plan.”
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