Apply for a UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) grant

The Pride in Place Fund is open to applicants looking to promote a rich cultural experience for residents and visitors alike, to support the social enterprise sector, and to help businesses deliver transformation in alignment with the goals and objectives of ‘Medway 2040’.

We welcome bids from organisations looking to fund a range of projects that align with our identified priorities of 'Community and Place' and 'Supporting Local Business'. All projects must meet at least one of these priority interventions.

Grants of up to £15,000 are available per application, with grants of up to £24,999 available in exceptional circumstances. This would include offering significant value for money and achieving a high level of outputs and outcomes.

All grants applying for over £15,000 must be able to demonstrate a minimum 30% capital expenditure. A capital expenditure is defined as expenditure undertaken on an asset that can be used for more than one year. For example, any materials to support an event that can be used multiple times, or physical infrastructure including improvements to an existing asset but that does not include repairs or maintenance costs.

We expect the fund to be competitive.

Who can apply

UKSPF recipients may include:

• the local authority
• public sector organisations (if the intervention is relevant to their area of work)
• higher and further education institutions
• private sector companies
• voluntary organisations
• charities.

What you’ll need

All applicants must:

• be appropriately legally constituted
• have a bank account in the name of the organisation
• agree that their application has been assigned to a Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) within their organisation (all UKSPF projects must be assigned to an SRO, who is the CEO or managing director of the organisation applying for funding)
• get their application signed off by the declared SRO before submission
• agree to provide regular reporting against outcomes and outputs proposed for delivery as part of their project
• be willing to share financial information (last year’s financial accounts) or justify why they have not included that information as part of their application
• be willing to provide a case study, showing how their organisation has delivered a similar project, or justify why they have not included that information as part of their application.

Applicants must also declare that:

• their organisation agrees to follow Medway Council’s Procurement guidelines in association with The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for any procurement activities they intend to enter
• as an organisation, they're willing to comply with relevant guidance and legislation in respect to subsidy control
• their organisation has the appropriate minimum insurance levels we demand for the activities planned as part of their project:
  • Public Liability Insurance - £5,000,000
  • Employer’s (Compulsory) Liability Insurance - £10,000,000 (not required for sole traders)
  • Professional Indemnity Insurance - £1,000,000 (if applicable).

For some projects, these insurance levels may not be needed. Talks will be held with successful applicants on a case-by-case basis.

Apply

The Pride in Place application process closed on Wednesday 5 June 2024.

What happens after

We may contact you if you do not provide enough information in your application.

Eligibility assessment

Financial due diligence checks will be completed as appropriate at our discretion.

Applicants must be legally constituted and if approved, the organisation will enter into a legally binding funding agreement and therefore will carry the liability for ensuring that the terms and conditions of the funding agreement are met.

We reserve the right to say a project is ineligible if the application is incomplete, has insufficient justification or is not signed.

Key criteria assessment

Following eligibility assessments, the key criteria applications will be assessed on will include:

• how the intervention addresses local challenges and opportunities
• delivery of UKSPF outputs and outcomes
• alignment with Medway 2040 priorities
• value for money and availability of match-funding
• deliverability, both financial and technical.

Application timeframe

The Pride in Place application process closed on Wednesday 5 June 2024.

Applicants will know if they have been successful by the end of summer 2024. Please be aware application assessment time depends on the number of applications received.

If we consider that a bid to the Pride in Place Fund is better suited for the People and Skills Fund, we'll work with applicants to consider the options.