UKSPF People and Skills Fund
The People and Skills Fund will provide funding for projects looking to tackle the challenges we face addressing people and skills in Medway.
It's intended to support projects that could deliver outcomes across our investment priority 'People and Skills'. All projects must align with this priority and one of its interventions.
The fund aims to address themes including:
- green skills
- not in education, employment, or training young people (NEETS)
- care leavers
- wider skills shortages
- long-term unemployment.
The themes are deliberately broad to encourage diverse and innovative applications.
We expect the fund to be competitive. Grants of up to £20,000 are available per allocation, with potential flexibility in certain circumstances.
The application process closes on Wednesday 5 June 2024.
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 (all UKSPF 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. Talks will be held with successful applicants on a case-by-case basis.
All organisations must sign a contractual grant funding agreement to partner with us to deliver UKSPF.
Apply
Download and complete a People and Skills Fund application form.
Send your completed application form and supporting evidence by email to skills@medway.gov.uk.
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 is 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 2040 priorities
- value for money and availability of match-funding
- deliverability, both financial and technical.
If we consider that a bid to the People and Skills Fund may be better suited to our Pride in Place Fund or Feasibility Fund we will work with applicants to consider the options.
Application timeframe
The UKSPF People and Skills Fund application process closes on Wednesday 5 June 2024.
Applicants will know if they have been successful by end of summer 2024. Please be aware application assessment time depends on the number of applications received.