Research and analysis

Wyre UKSPF evaluation: interim findings

Updated 3 December 2025

Applies to England

Executive summary: Wyre 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 Wyre, based on research conducted between December 2024 and March 2025. It outlines the progress made to date and presents interim evaluation findings.

Key process evaluation findings

Intervention design

• The Wyre investment plan was developed from a range of existing strategic frameworks, which were informed by stakeholder and public consultation as part of the Wyre Local Plan prior to UKSPF.
• Stakeholders felt the investment plan reflected local needs across the town centres and rural areas in Wyre but noted that UKSPF programme guidance was too broad in scope and lacked detail needed to inform intervention design and rollout.
• Funding criteria and time constraints created challenges and some stakeholders felt that a more focused prioritisation exercise could have produced a more manageable portfolio for a small local authority with limited experience of delivering large scale, multi-project funding programmes.

Portfolio implementation

• A multi-stage bidding process was followed in Wyre. This process was appropriate for the scale of funding, however the second stage caused challenges for suppliers with limited resources and those with less experience of large scale funding programmes. Changing and unclear bidding criteria also created confusion among suppliers, as did UKSPF specific terminology around outputs and outcomes.
• In general, suitable contractors with the necessary capacity and capability to deliver and achieve the intended outputs and outcomes were commissioned. However, suppliers working with multiple local authorities across Lancashire would have benefited from a consolidated, multi-authority application approach to regional interventions.

Intervention delivery

• Wyre’s UKSPF team received strong praise for their support and management of interventions. Effective working arrangements, including secondments, temporary recruitment and partnership working, successfully supported project delivery.
• Stakeholders identified several delivery challenges including procurement limitations, resourcing issues, timescales, unrealistic ambition and regional complexities. Initial skills gaps, for example, legal and contractual experience in smaller or voluntary organisations and delivery timescales also affected delivery.
• Wyre achieved notable successes in partnership working, utilising experienced and committed staff, capitalising upon their pre-planning and the flexibility of Wyre’s UKSPF team.

Data collection and monitoring

• Collectively, the project monitoring processes were working well, providing good quality evidence of progress, supporting payment claims, and helping to ensure UKSPF funding was being used effectively.
• However, stakeholders experienced initial confusion around MHCLG’s requirements. This related to the definition of output and outcome measures and the frequency for reporting spend and performance data.

Programme oversight

• Stakeholders considered the governance and oversight arrangements established for the programme to be working well, providing clear oversight of the programme and the interventions within it. This enabled mitigating actions to be taken where progress or performance were below expectation.
• The UKSPF team in Wyre were praised for their supportive and proactive approach.

Progress to date: expenditure, outputs and outcomes

Wyre was allocated a total UKSPF budget of £3.9 million for the 3 investment priorities, 89% was allocated to Communities and Place, 9% to Supporting Local Business, and 1% to People and Skills. At the end of December 2024, 55% of this allocation had been spent, 51% of Communities and Place, 52% of Supporting Local Businesses, and 68% of People and Skills allocations.

Performance against the programme output targets to end December 2024 was mixed, with some already met or exceeded and good progress being made towards others. However, some interventions are significantly below target, although many interventions are still delivering, and additional outputs are expected later in the programme.

Communities and Place have met or exceeded several targets, including neighbourhood improvements, site improvements, green space creation, events, and volunteering opportunities. Supporting Local Businesses saw mixed results, with the target for the number of organisations receiving grants met and non-financial support near target, but decarbonisation plans lagging, due to lower than anticipated demand and difficulties adopting plans due to financial constraints. People and Skills, despite starting in 2024, showed strong progress, especially in engaging the economically inactive and supporting them to find work, engaging in job searches, sustaining employment, and engaging in volunteering.

Outcomes mirrored output trends. The outcomes achieved to end December 2024 present a mixed picture across the three investment priorities, although as delivery continues further outcomes can be expected before programme end. Communities and Place exceeded targets for facility users, visitor numbers, job creation, and community events. Supporting Local Businesses reported limited outcome data, with low progress on job creation and business support (4% and 3% of target achieved, respectively). People and Skills demonstrated positive early outcomes, nearing the target for sustained engagement and exceeding targets for job search, engagement with the benefits system, and basic skills support. Continued delivery is expected to yield further outcomes.

Early impact findings

The initial fieldwork provided early insights. For Communities and Place, there is early evidence of positive performance in terms of increased footfall in areas of the town centre, increased visitor numbers, an improved local arts and cultural offer, and participation in local volunteering opportunities. Further data on perceptions of the area, and of community safety, will be available from the Community Life and Life in Wyre survey and local crime and ASB incident data. For the People and Skills interventions, there is evidence of positive performance to date, which will be explored in the final report.