The chancellor has announced that £220m will be allocated in 2021-22 to help local areas prepare for the introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This falls far short of the £1.5bn currently received through European structural funding though the Chancellor has said that spending will eventually be ramped up to match European funding levels. The voluntary sector typically receives about £500m of such funds each year.
The UKSPF will replace European Union structural funding following the UK’s departure from the EU. The withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU keeps structural funding until the end of 2020, after which funding that has already been agreed will continue to be paid, but no more applications for funding can be made.
Outlining the spending review today, Rishi Sunak told MPs that the whole of the UK will benefit from the UKSPF, and the government “will ramp up funding so that total domestic UK-wide funding will at least match EU receipts, on average reaching around £1.5bn a year”.