Wyre: UKSPF summary evaluation plan
Published 4 April 2025
Applies to England
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Summary of the local place
Wyre District Council covers 283 square kilometres with a population of 116,994. The number of people per km² is similar to the county and national averages.[footnote 1] The number of deaths in the area has consistently exceeded births in recent years. Despite this, it is estimated that between 2018 and 2043 the population of Wyre will increase by 10.3%, which is above the 7.2% predicted for Lancashire, and is equal to the England figure.[footnote 2]
The 2019 Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) revealed that Wyre was ranked the 147th most deprived authority out of 317 district and unitary authorities in England. Of the 69 neighbourhoods in Wyre, 13 were among the 20% most income deprived in England, and just 6 were in the 20% least income deprived.[footnote 3]
Map of Wyre District Council
Overall, the employment rate in Wyre was lower than the national average in 2023 (67.7% compared to the UK overall 76.8%). Wyre also saw the North West’s joint third-largest percentage-point fall in the proportion of people aged 16 years and over (excluding full-time students) who were employed (from 51.9% in 2011 to 49.3% in 2021).[footnote 4]
The United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) in Wyre aims to improve how residents feel about their towns by encouraging community pride and enabling more people to live active and well lifestyles. The fund also aims to enhance levels of aspiration for children and young people by discovering their potential and exploring options in the world of work.
Unit of analysis
UKSPF funded interventions in Wyre focus on supporting people and businesses in the local community. The evaluation will follow a local authority wide, ‘top-down’ approach, assessing the impact on beneficiaries and then aggregating results at the local authority level. A ‘bottom-up’ approach was deemed unsuitable due to the small scale of the interventions. The evaluation will cover all areas of the district, with specific analysis for vulnerable groups. It will assess a sample of funded interventions across all three investment priorities in the process evaluation, with the impact evaluation focussing on a sample of interventions from the Communities and Place and the People and Skills investment priorities and providing case studies that showcase intervention-level impacts.
Methodological approach
We will adopt a mixed-methods approach that combines primary research and secondary data analysis, underpinned by a contribution analysis framework.
Process evaluation
The evaluation framework for Wyre aims to provide a robust evidence base by triangulating data from various sources, such as monitoring, secondary data, and primary research. The study will involve a document review of relevant local strategies and plans to understand the fund’s design, objectives, and implementation. Stakeholder interviews with Wyre UKSPF staff, local partners, and civic group representatives will gather insights into the effectiveness of programme delivery. Additionally, secondary and monitoring data, including the ‘Life in Wyre’ survey and the local footfall data, will be used to compare local challenges and assess how well Wyre reached its target beneficiaries.
Impact evaluation
Wyre’s UKSPF investment focuses on two key areas:
- Improving perceptions of a thriving community and community pride; and
- Offering training and employment support to boost confidence, skillsets and employability prospects among inactive residents and young people in the area.
The impact evaluation will assess how these goals are achieved through primary research methods. To evaluate the success of community interventions, we will interview volunteers and beneficiaries to gauge pride in their community, community impact, and perceptions of safety. Similarly, interviews with delivery providers will measure how effectively funding has supported local needs. For People and Skills interventions, interviews with beneficiaries will examine how services helped young people grow, gain confidence, and enhance their skillsets and prospects in the local job market.
Economic evaluation
The economic evaluation of Wyre’s UKSPF delivery will follow the National Audit Office’s 4Es framework: economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and equity.
For economy, the evaluation will assess whether inputs were purchased efficiently, mainly through interviews with project management staff, and determine if additional in-kind or financial support was leveraged. Efficiency will be measured by assessing how inputs are converted into outputs, using benchmarking against similar programmes and cost-per-outcome analyses, such as the cost per business supported or additional jobs created. Effectiveness focuses on how well outputs are translated into outcomes and impacts. To assess this, the use of a quasi-experimental approach was considered and subsequently discounted and a contribution analysis is proposed to help identify if UKSPF interventions directly led to positive results. Beneficiary interviews will also help measure effectiveness. Lastly, equity will assess how well the interventions benefited vulnerable groups, using programme monitoring data and interviews with delivery providers and beneficiaries to evaluate if support reached those most in need.
Data to support the evaluation
Primary data collection
The evaluation plan for Wyre’s UKSPF interventions relies on some level of primary data collection, primarily qualitative interviews with a sample of intervention leads, providers and beneficiaries.
- Interviews with beneficiaries will explore their experiences of service delivery, the quality of support received, achieved outcomes, and the attribution of any benefits to UKSPF funding. For vulnerable groups, telephone or MS Teams interviews will be offered.
- Interviews with a sample of Wyre Council staff, wider stakeholders and delivery providers to gather qualitative insights on implementation enablers and challenges, and intervention impacts. A sample of delivery providers who submitted unsuccessful funding bids, and those who expressed interest in UKSPF funding but did not submit an intervention bid, will also be interviewed to gather their views on the application process and criteria for assessment.
Secondary data sources
Census, IMD data, crime data, footfall data, visitor and tourism data and skills attainment and shortage data will help us, alongside monitoring data, to determine how far Wyre’s interventions have reached those in greatest need.