UK subsidy control regime: statutory guidance
Guidance for public authorities on their legal obligations when awarding subsidies.
Documents
Details
This guidance provides a framework for designing and giving subsidies in a way that is consistent with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.
It is designed to help public authorities award subsidies in a way that minimises any negative impact on competition and investment, and to help ensure public money is used in an effective and efficient way.
January 2025 update
This version of the statutory guidance includes several minor amendments as well as the following changes:
- additional commentary provided on when an organisation may take economic activity while not being considered an enterprise (Chapters 2 and 15)
- addition of ‘coordination failure’ as a type of market failure (Chapter 3)
- clarification of when a subsidy control scheme is deemed to be ‘made’ (Chapter 3)
- additional guidance provided on ringfencing measures (Chapter 3)
- new examples of how subsidy awards of Minimal Financial Assistance and Services of Public Economic Interest Assistance cumulate together (Chapter 7)
- clarification of the steps to take during the cooling-off period after the Subsidy Advice Unit has issued a report (Chapter 11)
- redrafting of the chapter concerning transparency obligations to reflect enhancements to the transparency database (Chapter 12)
- removed paragraph concerning the provision of free goods and services (previously paragraph 15.16, Chapter 15)
If you would like a copy of a previous version of the statutory guidance, contact DBT’s subsidy control team.
Updates to this page
Published 11 November 2022Last updated 29 January 2025 + show all updates
-
Statutory guidance updated for January 2025. Footnotes added in Chapters 2 and 15 to provide additional commentary on when an organisation may undertake economic activity while not being considered an enterprise. Chapter 3 updated to provide further clarity on when a subsidy control scheme is deemed to be ’made’, to provide additional guidance on ringfencing measures, and to include ’coordination failure’ as a type of market failure. Chapter 7 updated to include new examples of how subsidy awards of Minimal Financial Assistance and Services of Public Economic Interest Assistance cumulate together. Chapter 11 updated to clarify the steps to take during the cooling-off period after the Subsidy Advice Unit has issued a report. Chapter 12 redrafted to reflect enhancements to the transparency database. Paragraph regarding the provision of free goods and services removed from Chapter 15. The guidance includes a number of other minor amendments.
-
Update to guidance: Chapter 3 updated to introduce the ‘scheme document’, a record of a scheme’s terms and conditions that a public authority should prepare for internal purposes when designing a scheme. Chapter 3 also includes further guidance on assessing the subsidy control principles when making schemes. Chapter 9 includes clarifications on modifying existing subsidies, and Annex 1 has been updated to further clarify the definition of an ‘economic actor’ for the purposes of limb B1 of the subsidy test. There is also a new annex (Annex 2), that gives practical guidance to public authorities designing and assessing small subsidies and schemes. The guidance includes a number of other minor amendments.
-
Chapter 12 has been updated to reflect the new requirements for uploading information to the subsidy control database, as set out in the Subsidy Control (Subsidy Database Information Requirements) Regulations 2022. Annex 3 now includes additional guidance on how public authorities should calculate the value of subsidies, as set out in the Subsidy Control (Gross Cash Amount and Gross Cash Equivalent) Regulations 2022.
-
First published.