Apply for a UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) grant

The Feasibility Fund will provide funding for feasibility studies to support initial concept and business plan development: seed funding to help get project ideas off the ground.

The fund could help to unlock projects capable of securing further public and private investment in the longer-term.

The Feasibility Fund is intended to support projects that could deliver outcomes across our 2 priorities. All projects must align with one of the priority interventions.

The application process is looking for evidence of how the feasibility study generated will lead to a funded future project.

Medway’s Feasibility Fund will be a competitive fund. Grants of up to £5,000 are available per allocation.

What you’ll need

All applicants must:

• be appropriately legally constituted
• have a bank account in the name of the organisation
• agree that their application has been assigned to a Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) within their organisation (as part of the UKSPF scheme, all projects must be assigned to an SRO, who is the CEO or managing director of the organisation applying for funding)
• get their application signed off by the declared SRO before submission
• agree to provide regular reporting against outcomes and outputs proposed for delivery as part of their project
• be willing to share financial information (last year’s financial accounts) or justify why they have not included that information as part of their application
• be willing to provide a case study, showing how their organisation has delivered a similar project, or justify why they have not included that information as part of their application

Applicants must also declare that:

• their organisation agrees to follow Medway Council’s Procurement guidelines in association with The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for any procurement activities they intend to enter
• as an organisation they're willing to comply with relevant guidance and legislation in respect to subsidy control
• their organisation has the appropriate minimum insurance levels we demand for the activities planned as part of their project:
  • Public Liability Insurance - £5,000,000
  • Employer’s (Compulsory) Liability Insurance - £10,000,000 (not required for sole traders)
  • Professional Indemnity Insurance - £1,000,000 (if applicable).

For some projects, these insurance levels may not be needed. Discussions will be held with successful applicants on a case-by-case basis.

To receive funding, all organisations must sign a contractual grant funding agreement to partner with us to deliver UKSPF.

Apply

Applications are now closed.

What happens after

We may contact you if you do not provide enough information in your application.

Eligibility assessment

Financial due diligence checks will be completed as appropriate at our discretion.

Applicants must be legally constituted and if approved, the organisation will enter into a legally binding funding agreement and therefore will carry the liability for ensuring that the terms and conditions of the funding agreement are met.

We reserve the right to say a project ineligible if the application is incomplete, has insufficient justification or is not signed.

Key criteria assessment

Following eligibility assessments, the key criteria applications will be assessed on will include:

• how the intervention addresses local challenges and opportunities
• delivery of UKSPF outputs and outcomes
• alignment with Medway 2037 priorities
• value for money and availability of match-funding
• deliverability, both financial and technical.

If we consider that a bid to the Feasibility Fund may be better suited to our Pride in Place Fund, we will work with applicants to consider the options.

Application timeframe

Applicants will know if they have been successful by August 2023.