Research and analysis

South West Wales UKSPF evaluation: interim findings

Updated 3 December 2025

Applies to Wales

Executive summary: South West Wales interim findings

Introduction

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) provides a total of £3.5 billion of funding for local investment over 4 years (2022 to 2026), with all places in the UK receiving an allocation via a funding formula. Local decision-makers work with their local communities and partners to deliver interventions under three investment priorities: Communities and Place, Supporting Local Businesses and People and Skills.

This interim report presents the emerging findings from the place level evaluation for the South West (SW) Wales UKSPF programme, based on research conducted between November 2024 and February 2025. It outlines the progress made to date and presents interim evaluation findings.

Key process evaluation findings

In SW Wales, Swansea Council served as the lead local authority for UKSPF, acting as the central coordinating body responsible for managing regional-level reporting, financial oversight, and compliance. Each of the four local authorities retained responsibility for the implementation of UKSPF interventions within their jurisdictions. This included project identification, assessment and approval, contract management, and ongoing performance monitoring. At the regional level, the Economic Well-Being and Regional Economic Development Sub-Committee of the SW Wales Corporate Joint Committee provided high-level oversight, receiving regular updates on programme progress, performance, and emerging issues.

Intervention design

• UKSPF was built upon existing frameworks and preparatory work, notably the Regional Investment Plan. This was underpinned by engagement and consultation with key local stakeholders, which helped identify local needs and service gaps and enabled targeted intervention design and open calls that reflected regional priorities.
• The flexibility of the UKSPF funding model enabled SW Wales local authorities to target funding towards local needs while aligning interventions with long-term plans. However, the short timescales limited the feasibility of larger, more complex projects, including capital-based projects and those requiring cross-regional collaboration.
• The delivery model adopted in SW Wales, using Anchor projects delivered in-house for consistency and rapid deployment, open calls which enabled community-led interventions and direct commissions for more precisely defined interventions, was an effective approach to respond to local need.
• While the ambition was to integrate UKSPF with other funding streams, such as Welsh Government programmes, limited alignment at the national level posed practical challenges including areas of duplication.

Portfolio implementation

• The short-term nature of UKSPF funding created challenges recruiting, retaining and attracting skilled and specialised staff for Anchor projects.
• Intervention delivery teams found that the multi-channel communication strategy, particularly the use of existing partnership structures and voluntary organisations, was effective in promoting funding opportunities to key sectors and underrepresented groups, and in reaching both established organisations and new applicants.
• The appraisal process followed a broadly consistent structure across local authorities (involving multiple stages), ensuring fairness, transparency, and strategic alignment, while allowing for local flexibility in decision-making.
• The use of standardised legal contracts, procured by Swansea Council, was effective in ensuring consistency and compliance across the region; however, additional legal review stages at times caused delays in project start dates, placing pressure on delivery within UKSPF timeframes.
• The establishment of UK Subsidy Control Rules in 2022 and the lack of detailed guidance from the UK government was a challenge to programme implementation, particularly interpreting and implementing subsidy control requirements which was time-consuming.

Intervention delivery

• The flexibility within UKSPF enabled quick and effective programme adaptations to respond to challenges and opportunities, including reallocating funding.
• Delivery was of a high quality given the experience and skills that many interventions and the SW Wales teams had from previous delivery.
• A key strength of the UKSPF programme in SW Wales was the well-established culture of regional collaboration between local authorities, which facilitated consistency, shared learning, and efficient programme delivery. Pre-existing relationships and joint working structures meant that authorities were able to coordinate effectively.
• Delivery challenges included cash flow pressures caused by the payment-in-arrears model, staffing and recruitment issues due to the short funding window, effects of external factors on delivery such as cost of living crisis affecting project viability.

Data collection and monitoring

• Local authorities developed bespoke monitoring systems, feeding into Swansea Council’s regional reporting structure.
• Mid-programme changes to UK government guidance around output definitions and subsidy control rules required adaptation and reworking of monitoring frameworks, adding to administrative burden.
• Authorities used sampling to verify delivery, which was resource-intensive but necessary for quality assurance. Additionally, there were challenges in verifying outputs and outcomes with smaller organisations and new grantees, requiring additional support to meet evidence standards.
• While monitoring systems were effective, variability in reporting quality and timeliness was noted. Delays in submissions impacted payment schedules, leading to some local authorities requiring reports before payments could be processed.

Programme oversight

• A regional governance structure ensured UKSPF was aligned with broader regional development objectives, and that delivery was coordinated across local authorities.
• Stakeholders viewed the regional and local governance frameworks as robust, well-structured, and fit for purpose, providing clear accountability, structured decision-making, and strong coordination mechanisms.
• The framework facilitated good levels of engagement with a broad range of stakeholders, ensuring that UKSPF delivery remained transparent and responsive to regional priorities.

Progress to date: expenditure, outputs and outcomes

The UKSPF in SW Wales was allocated a total core budget of £114 million with an additional £18 million allocated to Multiply, bringing the total regional allocation to £132 million.

As of June 2024, local authorities reported a total of £31 million in UKSPF expenditure. This figure represents 40% of the profiled spend to that point (£77 million), with lower-than-anticipated delivery in the first 18 months of the programme. Delays in Investment Plan approval, late project starts, recruitment difficulties, and the longer lead-in times for capital projects were among the key drivers of underspend. Despite these challenges, stakeholders reported that financial management has remained strong, and confidence is high that spend will accelerate in the final year.

UKSPF outputs reported to MHCLG in September 2024 show varied progress across the 3 investment priorities. Communities and Place saw strong progress in engagement metrics (over 190,000 people reached), but lagged on improving amenities, commercial spaces, and neighbourhoods, with many projects still in progress. Supporting Local Businesses fell short of targets for grants and non-financial support, with yet limited impact on technology adoption, productivity, and job creation. People and Skills showed strong early progress on engagement, education, and life skills, but lagged on qualifications, employment, and retraining, with these outputs expected later in the programme.

Outcome data overall remains limited. While some early signs of impact are visible, notably in footfall and visitor numbers, most indicators have not yet been met. Project leads surveyed through this evaluation were more optimistic about performance: the majority anticipated meeting or exceeding their project-level targets by the end of the programme, although 27% expected to fall short. Given the phasing of delivery, reporting delays, and the nature of many outcome indicators, a full assessment of UKSPF impact will only be possible following the submission of final claims.

Early impact findings

Many of the impacts of UKSPF in SW Wales will take time to fully emerge, with most interventions still in delivery or nearing completion. The final evaluation will explore these and other areas of impact in greater detail, once full project delivery and reporting has concluded.

However, evidence from monitoring data and survey feedback suggests early signs of impact across several priority areas. Business growth and job creation has shown early signs of success, with 12 FTE jobs created and 60 safeguarded. 22 new businesses were created, and 39 individuals were supported to become enterprise-ready. Some projects report stimulated private investment and product development. Town centre activity saw near-target delivery for increased footfall and visitor numbers, boosting vibrancy and engagement. Early signs of improved perception of place and reduced vacancy rates are also evident. Employability and skills interventions show strong early engagement, with some participants moving into qualifications, education, and work placements. While employment and training outcomes are still to be fully observed, increased uptake suggests potential for future outcome realisation.