Research and analysis

Cornwall and Isles of Scilly UKSPF evaluation: impact and value for money findings – executive summary

Updated 28 August 2026

Applies to England

Introduction

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) was launched by the UK Government in April 2022. It provided £2.6 billion funding for local investment by March 2025, with an additional £900 million available for 2025-26. Local decision-makers worked with their local communities and partners to deliver interventions under three investment priorities: Communities and Place, Supporting Local Businesses, and People and Skills. UKSPF empowered places to identify and build on their own local strengths and needs, with a focus on enhancing community pride and increasing life chances.

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (CIOS) were allocated £132m from UKSPF for the period 2022/23 to 2024/25. The Good Growth Programme was established to oversee distribution and use of this funding locally. CIOS combines rural areas, small coastal communities, and several larger towns. The area’s history and economy have been shaped by Celtic heritage, maritime activity, and mineral wealth. While traditional industries like mining and fishing have declined, tourism now accounts for over a quarter of economic activity, and new sectors such as renewables, marine, and creative industries are emerging. The region faces challenges including an ageing population, lower qualification levels, below-average earnings, and limited infrastructure. Local development strategies focus on skills, decarbonisation, and economic diversification to drive future growth.

Key impact evaluation findings

There were 143 UKSPF funded interventions in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly under the Good Growth Programme. As well as interventions aligned to the UKSPF investment priorities, a set of Good Growth Principles were embedded across delivery and designed to maximise the breadth of benefits from the funding programme. Due to the scale and diversity of UKSPF-funded interventions in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, the evaluation focused on three main strands, which were agreed with local partners:

• Research and Development, which targeted business innovation through nine interventions and represented over £18 million in funding.
• Decarbonisation, embedded as a Good Growth Principle across most projects and directly addressed by eighteen interventions with £10 million in associated funding, this strand aimed to shift behaviours and delivery towards net zero.
• Skills and Wages, with twenty-six interventions and £33 million allocated funding, this strand included a Good Growth Principle designed to encourage the Real Living Wage across the region, as well as interventions to support skills improvement and engagement with the labour market.

This approach allowed the evaluation to concentrate on areas of strategic importance for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, though the findings presented below are therefore only a subset of all the UKSPF activity in the area.

Increased Innovation

The UKSPF interventions in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have led to a notable increase in business confidence to innovate. Surveyed businesses reported a rise in their self-assessed confidence to undertake innovation activities, moving from an average score of 6.2 to 8.1 out of 10 after receiving support. Innovation scores among supported businesses increased by more than a comparison group.

The Good Growth Programme further supported the creation of 167 new or improved products and services, as well as 377 new-to-firm technologies or processes. There was an improvement in Technology Readiness Level (TRL) from an average of 3.3 prior to support, to 6.0 after support and nearly one-quarter of businesses had progressed to TRL9 (operationalisation) and completed their research and development. Meta-evaluation findings showed that approximately 30% of supported businesses launched new offerings or entered new markets.

These impacts were achieved through a combination of targeted innovation training, knowledge transfer, and access to specialist facilities and equipment. The Good Growth Programme’s emphasis on direct engagement and tailored support helped businesses overcome barriers related to skills, knowledge, finance and equipment, while partnerships with universities played a crucial role in accelerating innovation.

Improved Productivity

Productivity gains were a key outcome from the innovation support, with 40% of surveyed businesses reporting improvements. These gains were primarily the result of investments in new equipment, digital adoption, and process improvements.

Embedding Environmental Considerations

Decarbonisation was a Good Growth Principles and encouraged environmental sustainability as a core consideration for many of the 98 delivery organisations funded by UKSPF. A total of 88 projects committed to reducing emissions, and 86 organisations developed decarbonisation plans. Stakeholders reported that the Good Growth Principles had helped to embed decarbonisation as a consideration within delivery and providing local leadership should be encouraged. While some of the interviewed project leads suggested that they were already committed to sustainable activities, emphasis on decarbonisation helped ensure that it was prominent, with additions or further changes being made in response to the encouragement by the programme, fostering greater environmental responsibility.

Employment Creation

Support was provided to 1,141 people to gain basic skills and 900 individuals underwent career retraining, while 1,225 people received support to gain employment. There was some indicative evidence to suggest that UKSPF interventions had moved some of the 2,245 economically inactive individuals engaged with the programme towards economic activity. Three of the project level evaluations suggested 294 economically inactive people had found employment and among the skills and employability support initiatives 84 jobs were reported in the management information. Further, 407 jobs were created by other interventions across the Good Growth Programme and 251 jobs were safeguarded.

These outcomes were achieved through both the types of training and support on offer, such as digital training and employability guidance, and the targeted nature of support focused on disadvantaged groups including young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). Strong partnerships with local providers and a focus on removing barriers to labour market participation were central to this success.

Promotion of the Real Living Wage

A significant achievement of the Good Growth Programme was the commitment of all 142 funded projects to being Real Living Wage employers, with 17 organisations increasing pay to meet this standard. This was accomplished by making the Real Living Wage a requirement for funding for delivery organisations as part of the Good Growth Principles towards encouraging better pay. This drove behavioural change among organisations, including those who were already paying this level and encouraged their delivery to raise wage expectations within the local economy and businesses they were supporting. As with decarbonisation, stakeholders praised the Good Growth Programme for pushing the market with public funding in this way.

Key economic evaluation findings

The Good Growth Programme in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly mostly achieved good value for money across the 4Es framework.

• Economy – high: The Good Growth Programme in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly attracted a high volume of potential suppliers, with around 1,500 expressions of interest and 487 bids for 42 funding calls, resulting in contracts with 110 organisations. Robust procurement and appraisal processes ensured quality and value for money, and most projects delivered within set timeframes and budgets. However, while all £132m was spent, some projects exceeded or fell short of their original allocations, making it difficult to fully assess whether initial expenditure expectations were consistently met.
• Efficiency – adequate: Efficiency was generally strong, with most projects delivering expected outputs within budget, though some targets were ambitious and not always achievable within the available time. The programme reallocated underspend and used additional calls to maximise outputs, and many projects built on previous schemes to ensure readiness and feasibility. The programme was well-managed and achieved a relatively cost-efficient delivery.
• Effectiveness – adequate: The programme delivered a good proportion of its intended outcomes within the evaluation period, with 65 out of 122 outcome targets met and expectations that more will be achieved by 2030. While only a small proportion of projects had met all their outcome targets at the time of evaluation, stakeholders noted that outcomes were generally well aligned with local needs and many would be met in the future. The programme’s flexible management and use of existing expertise supported outcome delivery, and there was good dialogue between the programme team and project leads.
• Equity – adequate to high: UKSPF interventions were delivered broadly across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and inclusively, reaching a wide range of beneficiary groups as set out in the initial plans. Interventions were well aligned with recipients’ needs and the breadth of interventions ensured wide coverage. The same breadth however, may have limited targeting to maximise impact for the most appropriate groups, though the evidence suggests that support was equitably distributed. There was a strong match between funded projects and target beneficiaries.

Key learning

The following key learning and lessons have been identified by the evaluation, and should inform the design and delivery of future local growth funds:

• Short timescales created pressures on the Good Growth Programme to distribute funding quickly, and for project leads to delivery outputs and outcomes. This often resulted in continuing to fund projects that had been delivered previously or were shovel ready, which were potentially less impactful.
• Impacts often take time to materialise, particularly for individuals facing multiple barriers to employment or businesses engaged in innovation programmes, so should incorporate longer-term monitoring and improved data capture on participant progress. Consideration also needs to be given to how impacts can be attributed given access to multiple support initiatives by individuals or businesses along their journey.
• Including Good Growth Principles such as decarbonisation and Real Living Wage is an effective way of encouraging added value to public spending and reinforces in the market the behaviours and attitudes that policymakers are pushing.
• Value for money is hindered when timescales are tight as it favours projects that can quickly be initiated rather than considered for strategic benefits. While the process for procuring interventions in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly was robust, more time should be given in future programmes to allow interventions to be planned in greater detail.
• The processes put in place by the Good Growth Programme, from engagement with potential suppliers to procurement and relationships with project leads all supported qualitative value for money and economic and efficient use of resources with good practice that should be adopted going forwards.