What is the UK Shared Prosperity Fund?

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025.

The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK by investing in communities and place, supporting local business and providing opportunities to boost people and skills.

UKSPF has replaced the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) such as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). These funds previously helped support job creation, skills programmes, innovation and carbon reduction in the city-region.

The main aims of UKSPF are to:

• Boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards
• Spread opportunities and improve public services
• Restore a sense of community, local pride and belonging
• Empower local leaders and communities

Greater Manchester UKSPF funding allocation

Greater Manchester has been allocated a total of £98,235,287 UKSPF funding, with £83,850,59 for core UKSPF funding and £14,384,692 for GMCA’s Multiply programme.

Core UKSPF funding will be used to support communities and place, local businesses and to boost people and skills, while Multiply is a new government-funded national programme to help adults aged 19+ who do not already have a Level 2 in Maths/Numeracy (or equivalent) to improve their numeracy skills. 

Greater Manchester's funding allocation is shown below. A full list of UKSPF funding allocations can be found on the UK Government website.