Research and analysis

Tamworth UKSPF evaluation: interim findings

Updated 3 December 2025

Applies to England

Executive summary: Tamworth 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 of UKSPF in Tamworth, based on research conducted between July and November 2024. It outlines the progress made to date and presents interim evaluation findings.

Key process evaluation findings

Intervention design

• A core group of officers from Tamworth Borough Council’s Economic Development and Regeneration team developed the investment plan, by drawing on internal consultation and strong local evidence to assess challenges and ensure the plan was grounded in Tamworth’s specific needs and opportunities.

Portfolio implementation and intervention delivery

• The approach to identifying intervention projects evolved over time to ensure the best-suited interventions were selected and to improve commissioning practices.
• In year 1, the team adopted a pragmatic approach due to tight timescales, focusing on achievable projects and building on existing plans.
• In years 2 and 3, the process became more open and transparent, including the development of a prospectus and a formal tendering process to invite project proposals.
• Fund flexibility and loosely defined project outlines were particularly useful for Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise organisations, enabling them to tender to deliver activities to address local needs.

Programme oversight

• A multi-agency Partnership Board was established to provide oversight and approve funding decisions. Its diverse membership composition ensured fair and transparent processes, and held partners accountable for delivering quality outcomes.
• A dedicated Shared Prosperity officer handled day-to-day management.
• A major enabler of successful delivery of UKSPF in Tamworth is the strong partnership working that exists among stakeholders. The relatively small size of Tamworth facilitates good communication and collaboration, which is crucial for the success of the governance arrangements for UKSPF, allowing effective use of community engagement knowledge for cross-referrals and signposting without any sense of competition.

Data collection and monitoring

• A local data and monitoring approach has been established to collate data for six-monthly reporting to MHCLG. This involves quarterly performance reports from all intervention projects, a process that is working well.

Progress to date: expenditure, outputs and outcomes

As of September 2024, Tamworth had made significant progress in terms of UKSPF expenditure. The total allocation for the period was £2.5 million. By the end of year one, 94% of the allocated funding for 2022/23 had been spent, suggesting the pragmatic allocation of funding to intervention projects which were ready to go was successful.

In year two, 74% of the allocated funds were spent and for year three, 31% of the allocated funds have been spent as at September 2024. The majority of interventions are two-year projects intended to run across both years, local authority stakeholders expect that all allocations will be spent by March 2025.

Notable output achievements include the number of people reached by Communities and Place intervention (over 1 million people), principally due to a tourism television advert delivered as part of a campaign to encourage visits. In the Supporting Local Businesses investment priority, 99% of targets have been achieved for outputs relating to training delivered and enterprise support provided. The People and Skills intervention projects were commissioned to deliver from year three (2024/25), and there is evidence of good progress being made, with 50% of outputs related to job search support achieved and 95% of the target for individuals engaging with keyworker support achieved. These activities represent steps on a progression journey towards employment and as a result will more than likely support achievement of job output targets.

Analysis of programme MI suggests good progress has been made in achieving the outcomes reported to government. The Communities and Place priority is performing strongly with over 90% of targets achieved across nine of the outcome areas. Notably, as a result of the local tourism campaign, 82,000 web searches have been recorded, 98% of the target. In the Supporting Local Businesses investment priority, two outcome areas were close to reaching the forecast value at this stage of delivery. There has been 212 enterprises supported (99% of the target) and 18 enterprises have adopted technologies or processes that are new to the firm (94% of the target). People and Skills investment priority interventions were only delivered from April 2024, and there is early evidence of progress towards achieving outcomes. Outcomes around sustaining engagement with keyworkers (83% of target, 29 people) and engagement of economically inactive people (87% of target, 13 people) are performing strongly. These positive indicators show early progress toward achieving subsequent outcomes on employment and qualifications.

Early impact findings

More evidence is needed to assess UKSPF’s contribution to a number of the impact areas including improved perceptions of the town centre, citizen wellbeing, and new businesses and jobs created.

At this stage of the evaluation, there is moderate evidence to suggest UKSPF has made a positive contribution to increased footfall in Tamworth town centre. Footfall data from 2024 shows noticeable increases on UKSPF event dates, suggesting the events may have boosted visitor numbers.

The outcomes and impact of UKSPF in Tamworth will be explored in more depth in the final evaluation report.