Research and analysis

Highland UKSPF evaluation: impact and value for money findings – executive summary

Updated 28 August 2026

Applies to Scotland

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.

Highland Council was allocated £7.8 million of UKSPF funding across the three priorities, with funding evenly distributed across all priorities (£2.5 million per priority), with £0.4 million allocated to management and admin fees. A further £1.6 million was provided through the Multiply programme. An additional £3.1 million was allocated through the UKSPF for the year 2025-26.

Highland covers around one third (33%) of Scotland’s land mass and, with a population of approximately 235,900 people, has the lowest population density of any local authority in Scotland. It has a distinct geography, character and culture and a rapidly growing economy. Its natural assets hold the potential for the region to play a significant role in the UK’s transition to net zero by 2050. This is a summary of findings from the place level evaluation in Highland, based on research conducted between December 2024 and September 2025.

Key impact evaluation findings

Communities and Place

Increased uptake in active travel and sustainable transport options

UKSPF financed a package of active travel improvements in areas of social deprivation, and new or expanded infrastructure in areas of demand. This included work to improve cycleways and pathways, expansion of an e-bike scheme, installation of bike storage, bus shelters and Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, and a community transport scheme. All delivery targets were met and some were exceeded. There was evidence of increased use of cycleways and pathways following investment in new and improved infrastructure. Interviews with delivery partners showed that, in some cases, enhancements to active travel infrastructure were reliant on UKSPF funding.

Increased capacity to deliver Area Place Plans, Local Place Plans and associated feasibility studies

Communities and Place funding supported different areas to create a Local Place Plan, a community-led document describing proposals for the development and use of land. Highland Council also used UKSPF funding to develop an Area Place Plan for each sub-region within the local authority. Adoption of these plans will ensure that community views are taken into account in local development decisions. In interviews, recipients of funding directly linked their ability to finance staff costs, procure expert services (e.g. graphic design) and run public consultations to UKSPF funding. Interviewees also stated that the Local Place Plans would not have happened at the same scale or would have taken much longer to achieve in the absence of UKSPF funding.

Supporting Local Businesses

Business births

There is evidence that the UKSPF funded business support had directly led to the creation of new enterprises. The data reported shows that grants and support schemes led to 476 new enterprises being created, exceeding the forecast of 355. A survey carried out with Business Start-up Grant beneficiaries provides evidence that the grant had helped them to get their business up and running to at least some extent. Interviews with the Highland Council core delivery team and partners suggested that the number of enterprises created as a result of support was higher than expected and that these outcomes would likely not have been achieved without UKSPF funding.

Business growth

Monitoring Information indicates that the Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SME) development grants and support schemes ran by Business Gateway led to 565 enterprises receiving grants, of which 89 were engaged with the Business Growth Grant funding programme. Business beneficiary survey findings provide evidence to suggest that the support package enabled recipients to invest this grant funding in aspects of their business that facilitate growth. Interviews with business beneficiaries further support this claim, with interviewees saying that their growth would have been slower without the grant funding.

Increased visitor numbers

UKSPF supported the Downhill Mountain Biking events as part of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships; the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup; and the 2024 Na Trads (Scots Trad Music Awards). Monitoring Information shows that the number of people attending events supported by UKSPF in-person was 33,127, exceeding a forecast of 25,000. In-depth interviews with delivery partners noted the importance of these events for attracting visitors to the Highland region, and for the local economy. The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup has been estimated to have generated approximately £3 million in direct spending within the local economy, including money spent by visitors with accommodation providers, restaurants, and retailers.

People and Skills

Increased skills

UKSPF helped to establish the first dedicated heat pump training facility in the Highlands and enabled the Access to Engineering and Green Engineers training programmes. UKSPF interventions contributed to 266 people being supported to gain a qualification (forecast 136 people) and Green Skills courses led to 45 individuals receiving support to gain a vocational licence (lower than the forecast of 50). A range of evidence (Monitoring Information, project-level evaluation reports, and interviews) demonstrates that UKSPF support led directly to participants gaining industry-recognised qualifications and created durable training capacity that will continue to deliver outcomes over time. Delivery partners interviewed for this evaluation highlighted the additionality of the funding, for example stating that the Access to Engineering employability programme would not have been delivered at all in the absence of UKSPF support.

Individuals move towards employment

UKSPF funded programmes supported 323 people to gain employment (forecast 105), led to 99 people engaging in job searching (forecast 70), and led to 119 people in employment, including self-employment, following support (no forecast). Interviews with external delivery partners highlighted the additionality of UKSPF funding and that it helped accelerate the process significantly.

More inclusive workforce

There is evidence that UKSPF-funded employability and skills programmes have reached groups facing particularly high barriers to labour market participation, thereby contributing to a more inclusive workforce. Highland Council evaluations and interviews with delivery partners and stakeholders suggests that UKSPF-funded programmes have supported individuals with disabilities, long-term health conditions, or extended periods of unemployment to progress towards employment. Delivery partners emphasised that the scope and effectiveness of provision would have been significantly reduced in the absence of UKSPF funding.

Key economic evaluation findings

The UKSPF programme in Highland demonstrated adequate value for money across the 4Es framework.

• Economy – Adequate: Procurement and award processes generally adhered to Highland Council’s established practices, with value for money considerations embedded in decision-making. While supplier markets were limited in some rural and specialised areas, the council applied procurement mechanisms to maintain competition where possible, such as mini-tenders and Challenge Funds.

• Efficiency – High to Adequate: Monitoring evidence indicates that most outputs were delivered as planned or exceeded forecasts. Delivery teams also adopted strategies to maximise outputs within budget, including leveraging existing resources, combining funds, and reallocating budgets to high-demand activities.

• Effectiveness – High to Adequate: Outcomes achieved were strongly aligned with Highland’s strategic needs, such as addressing youth out-migration, skills shortages, low productivity, and community resilience. Evidence shows that beneficiaries gained new skills, employment, and business support at a scale that exceeded initial expectations in several areas. However, gaps in monitoring data and the absence of counterfactual analysis mean outcomes cannot be definitively attributed to UKSPF funding alone, and some indicators were not systematically measured.

• Equity – High to Adequate: Interventions were largely delivered to the intended target groups although there were some gaps. These were relatively limited in scale and were partly mitigated by adaptive delivery approaches.

Key learning

The following key learning and lessons have been identified, which will support design and delivery of future local growth funds:

• Allowing sufficient time for the process, particularly for the initial design of funding interventions. Having adequate time can also help accommodate wider partnership and stakeholder engagement in the design and implementation.

• The importance of flexibility was a strong message in Highland and suggests that this should be built into future funding models, allowing some funding decisions to be made at a local level in response to needs occurring on the ground.

• While this evaluation has made use of a range of quantitative and qualitative data sources, there were some issues with data which prevented a full assessment of all the potential evidence. Challenges with data collection processes, including around the systems themselves (such as the reporting app) and some of the definitions of outputs and outcomes, therefore provide some learning for future place-level funding.

• Many of the positive outcomes from the UKSPF in Highland were described as having improved on existing initiatives, made them more effective or impactful, or helped them reach more people. This reflects Highland Council’s pragmatic approach, identifying areas in the region where there was existing potential and which would benefit most from funding. This approach provides some positive learning that could be applied for decisions around funding allocation.