Guidance

UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF): application guidance for Northern Ireland

Published 14 December 2022

Applies to Northern Ireland

Introduction

Prior to completing the application form, applicants should read the UKSPF Prospectus, the Northern Ireland Investment Plan, this application form guidance and the additional guidance for applicants .

This guidance note supports applicants in completing their applications, but please note that this document is a guide, rather than an exhaustive list of requirements. Indicative word counts are included for some questions, these are provided as a guide although we encourage applicants to keep to these where possible and succinctly answer the questions posed.

You should describe your project in clear and non-specialist language, so that it can be understood by assessors. Do not use technical terms and explain any acronyms. If an assessor cannot understand the activity(ies) it cannot be assessed against the selection criteria and the bid may be rejected.

The assessment of bids will be based on the information provided in the application Form and supporting documents only. The UK government will not contact bidders to clarify any aspect of submitted bids.

Applicants are also required to complete the supplementary information annex, providing details of:

• Outputs and Outcomes (Annex A)
• Financial Tables (Annex B)
• Milestones (Annex C)
• Risks (Annex D)
• Procurement (Annex E)

In addition, the following documents should also be provided where relevant:

• match funding forms for each co-funder
• joint bids forms for each participating organisation where a collaborative bid is submitted
• the 2 most recent full financial year’s accounts and the current year’s management accounts for the lead applicant.
• a customer journey for projects benefiting people or businesses

For online applications, bids will be allocated an application number as part of the online application form in Citizen Space. This application number and the project name must be quoted in any additional documents submitted.

Part 1 - Lead applicant information

1 to 10 Details of the lead applicant’s organisation and applicant manager must be provided. This could be the individual who submitted the bid, or someone who will have day to day responsibility for managing the project. We will contact this individual with the outcome of the application. For commissioned activity, we will also contact this named individual during the application period if required.

11 Where a joint bid is submitted, a joint bid form must be provided for all partner organisations. One organisation will be required to act as a lead applicant. Lead applicants must ensure that all partner organisations are eligible to receive UKSPF funding and comply with all UKSPF requirements as set out in the prospectus and additional information. Please ensure that the legally registered names and registration numbers are provided for each partner organisation.

The following are not classed as partner organisations:

• organisations procured to provide goods, services or works as part of the project
• partners involved in project governance e.g. members of a project board or steering group

Part 2 - Project summary

This section provides key information on the proposed project.

13 In under 100 words, you should describe your project in clear and non-specialist language. Avoid using technical terms and explain any acronyms.

15-16 You should select all appropriate investment priorities and interventions that you intend to deliver, as described in the project competition or commission document. There is a space to identify other interventions that may be delivered, but these will only be consider on an exceptional basis and there is no guarantee DLUHC will accept these.

17 Enter the total amount of funding you are requesting for each financial year of the application.

19 You must ensure and confirm that you have provided all the required additional documents and statements that apply to your application. Audited financial statements covering the last three financial years (or audited annual accounts for registered charities) must be provided for all non-public sector applicants.

Please note:

As a public funding body DLUHC has a duty to assess the level of risk associated with any funding proposal or projects that we support. To monitor and manage this risk, a series of checks are undertaken throughout the process that help us to assess the level of risk associated with applicant organisations (unless they are deemed to be exempt).

All participating applicants for bids except for those where the sole or lead applicant is a public sector organisation will be subject to a financial due diligence check. If a joint bid application is submitted with a lead applicant, the lead applicant must be satisfied that all the non-public sector applicants meet the necessary risk and due diligence checks (as identified in this technical note) as they will not be subject to additional financial due diligence checks by the department.

DLUHC has a zero-tolerance policy towards the misuse of public funds and fraud. If we establish a fraud risk during our evaluation of the application, we will decline the application and may report this to Police and National Crime Agency. If the application is successful and it is established that fraudulent activity has occurred whilst managing the grant, we will implement measures to recover the funds. We will also withdraw any future payments and will report this to authorities. Project assurance and due diligence checks will be undertaken by us at key stages throughout. The applicant must not provide false or misleading information in the application or at any point in the life of the grant project.

Grant recipients must ensure they have adequate governance and financial controls in place to prevent and mitigate fraud or misuse of the grant funds, including measures to avoid and mitigate conflicts of interests. We expect recipients (including project partners) to adhere to ethical and professional standards and best practice principles set out in the Code of Conduct for Public Grant Recipients.

We will undertake audit checks as part of our project assurance measures, further information on this will be provided to successful applicants when we set up the grant. Applicants are required to describe the governance procedures under the Deliverability section within the application form.

Part 3 - Project details and impact

20 In this section you should clearly explain what the project intends to do and how it will be done. Make this as clear as possible. Provide enough detail to enable the assessor to clearly understand the impact your project will have, including how it meets the specific needs and opportunities and other requirements set out in the competition or commission you are responding to.

24 Beneficiaries – Please describe the communities, people or businesses that are expected to benefit from the project. If any particular groups are identified in the competition document or commission, please detail specifically how the project will engage with one of more of these groups. Describe how the number in each group has been estimated.

If the project will work with people or businesses, please supply a customer journey using a flow chart, summarising engagement activities, specific project activities, post activity follow up and referral relationships with other projects.

26 You must complete the output & outcomes targets in the Supplementary Information Form - Annex A. In this section, you are required to explain how you calculated these outputs and outcomes and the extent to which they could be achieved without UKSPF support.

30 Where there is other provision available or planned, you should explain what steps you have taken to ensure that your project will not duplicate this provision or displace existing demand?

32 All proposed activities should be based on low or zero carbon best practice and support the growing skills and supply chains in support of Net Zero where possible. As a minimum, investment under this fund should meet the clean growth principle and must not conflict with the UK’s legal commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. You should explain in this answer how you will meet this requirement.

34 For capital projects only: Please use this section to describe how you have considered the principles set out as part of the design of the proposed activities. For example, provide evidence to demonstrate how community engagement helped in the shaping and designing the project.

Part 4 - Funding package

35 This section relates to the proposed funding model of the project, a description of the project budget and how this has been estimated, and how costs will be monitored during delivery. You are required to complete supplementary information forms and confirm that you will not incur any costs on items that are not eligible for UKSPF support.

37 Co-funding - this is any funding other than funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund that will be used to meet activity(ies) costs. This includes from the activity(ies) applicant or other organisations including income from beneficiaries. Please set out who co-funding will come from, where relevant. If the activity(ies) relies on co-funding and it is not secured, explain when it is expected to be secured and what the impact would be if it is not secured. Evidence of secured match funding needs to be submitted along with completed applications.

38 Estimated project budget – Explain how you have ensured costs are reasonable and commensurate to the activities being delivered (for example benchmarked against market rates, QS reports, procured services, experience of similar projects, salaries benchmarked against market rates/salary bands).

Examples of the types of headings to use are:

• staff costs - salaries and contractual benefits, National Insurance and superannuation contributions
• business travel, subsistence and accommodation
• fees of contractors and consultants
• costs of materials or venue hire
• marketing and publicity costs
• grants provided to end beneficiaries
• training participant costs e.g. allowances, travel expenses
• dependent care costs of training participants
• small items of equipment
• evaluation

Describe how the costs have been estimated. For example

• staff costs of X posts at salaries of £Y pro-rata for Z months of activity
• grants of between £X and £Y at an average of £Z per grant multiplied by the number of expected beneficiaries
• materials at a cost of £X per beneficiary multiplied by the number of expected beneficiaries

39 If the project covers more than one intervention, please explain how the costs have been apportioned between them. For projects funded by more than one funder, it is expected that costs will normally be apportioned on a percentage basis in line with funding contributions. Where costs are to be apportioned, the method of apportionment should be clear and transparent.

40 Explain what has been done to test the budget is accurate and how any unexpected costs or cost increases would be managed and impacts on delivery mitigated.

41 Refer to the competition document/commission for the earliest eligible date for expenditure. If you expect to incur any expenditure before you have the Funding Agreement, please provide details of the anticipated costs. Please note any such expenditure is at risk until formal approval is secured in the form of a Grant Funding Agreement, Grant Determination Letter or Memorandum of Understanding.

42 In order to ensure an appropriate range of activities across Northern Ireland, DLUHC reserves the right to fund scaled down projects with a reduced UKSPF funding allocation. You should therefore indicate whether the project would be deliverable at a smaller scale and if so, describe the major changes to the project design and activities, and outputs and outcomes. When approaching the maximum available budget, the remaining funds will be allocated to the next best scoring project, if it can be delivered on a smaller scale. Please indicate here if this could be a viable option for your proposal.

Part 5 - Applicant experience and capacity

43 The deliverability of activity(ies) is a significant element of the criteria that will be used to assess applications for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It is important that we can have confidence that organisations that are offered funding are able to implement their activity(ies) quickly and effectively. It is essential that organisations can draw on relevant experience and are able to demonstrate they have or will have access to the resources and expertise they need to deliver the activity(ies).

45 Give details of the staff already in place to deliver the project and, details of any additional staff or contractors you will need to appoint (this should be included in the activity(ies) milestones). Describe the contingency plans that are in place to manage the risk if there are delays.

46 Project costs must be based on the actual expenditure incurred in delivering the activity(ies), evidenced through invoices or other transactions. Describe the process and controls the organisation would use to ensure only costs related to the activity(ies) are included in grant claims.

Part 6 - Project and risk management

47-48 Please complete Annex C of the Supplementary Information Form as part of this section to demonstrate key milestones in delivery of the project. These key milestones must link specifically to the proposed activity(ies) and demonstrate that the activity(ies) is deliverable by 31 March 2025. Do not include milestones relating to the approval of the bid. Consider:

• securing internal approvals for the activity(ies) or any other funding
• establishing the activity(ies) team
• procurement for external services/suppliers
• activity(ies) launch and recruiting beneficiaries
• key points on the beneficiary journey

Projects will be monitored against these milestones so be realistic, activity(ies) rarely run exactly as planned. The activity(ies) must demonstrate that risks have been considered and appropriate plans are in place to keep the activity(ies) on track.

49 Complete Annex D of the Supplementary Information form for Risk Management. This should provide a clear summary of the key risks to delivering the activity(ies) activity and achieving the activity(ies)’s objectives. Describe how the risk identified in Annex D will be monitored, what systems will be used, who is responsible.

50 Governance - All applicants are required to describe what governance and assurance procedures will be put in place to manage the grant and project. This may include (but not limited to):

• Delegated authority – including Project Board or Committee approvals
• Financial controls
• Audit
• Counter fraud, corruption, and anti-bribery. This should consider the risk of the fraud by beneficiaries, contractors or members of staff. If the activity(ies) involves grants, describe how fraud risk will be managed at key stages of the grant process.
• Procedures to avoid Conflict of Interests
• Cyber security, and data management
• Code of conduct setting standards for ethical and professional behaviour.

Applicants should also consider how to communicate and inform governance policy and procedures to partners working on the project, how progress will be reported and reviewed, and the involvement of the board and senior management in decision making. In responding to this question applicants are encouraged to refer to the HM government published Code of Conduct for Recipients of Government General Grants

UK Shared Prosperity Fund activity(ies) may be selected for audit visits by the UK Government.

Part 7 - Subsidies and/or State Aid where relevant

51-57 If UKSPF money is used to provide a subsidy, expenditure must be compliant with the UK’s obligations on subsidy control. All bids that have the potential to be a subsidy must consider how they will deliver in line with subsidy control principles or State Aid, as per UK Government guidance. All applicants must establish if the direct award of funds could constitute a subsidy. It is vital that all applicants complete this section of the application form.

If the activity(ies) would involve the award of subsidies or State Aid explain how this will be managed in line with the UK’s obligations. For example - small scale awards can be managed under the threshold for Minimal Amounts of Financial Assistance (or De Minimis where State Aid applies).

If the activity(ies) provides support to businesses but you feel this does not constitute a subsidy or State Aid explain why.

Please note that the current rules in respect of subsidy control will be amended by the Subsidy Control Act 2022, due to come into force on 4 January 2023.

Part 8 - Procurement

58-60 If the project involves procurement, detail how the contracts listed in Annex E will be procured in accordance with the UKSPF guidance.

Part 9 – Monitoring and evaluation

61-62 If you intend to evaluate your project, outline the approach and why this is the most applicable methodology. Include your research questions and justification and a plan on how findings will be used and disseminated. If DLUHC needs to carry out evaluation of the UKSPF, confirm that you will provide relevant data and set out how you’ll do it. The governance arrangements will need to specify clear accountability with identified resources and committed to enable to achieve the project objectives within the timeframe set out.

Submission of supporting documents

Depending on the application, the following supporting documents are required:

• Supplementary Information Form (required for all applications)
• Customer Journey – where projects are supporting individuals or businesses
• Evidence of secured match funding
• Completed joint bids form for each partner organisation

Any supporting documents must be submitted via email to UKSPFNIApplications@levellingup.gov.uk.

To allow us to easily link supporting documents to applications, the subject of the email should be in the following format:

“Competition/Commission Reference Number” – “Application number” - Supporting Information

The competition/commission reference number will be found in the competition/commission document. The application number is the unique identifier generated through Citizen Space or notified to you as part of a commission.

All documents should be attached to a single email where possible. If, due to size constraints, it is not possible to attach all supporting documents to a single email, please use the format described above followed by “email 1 of 2” as applicable.

Document file names should include the application number followed by the file name for example: Application number – Supplementary Information Form

Checklist for additional documents required

• Annex A: Outputs and Outcomes Targets
• Annex B: Project Costs and Planning Workbook
• Annex C: Project Milestones
• Annex D: Risk Register / Management
• Annex E: Procurement
• Joint Bids form for each partner
• Match funding form for each funder
• The 2 most recent full financial year’s accounts and the current year’s management accounts for the lead applicant
• Customer Journey (where relevant)