UK Shared Prosperity Fund Pillar 2: Supporting local business

The UKSPF Supporting Local Business pillar 2 is designed to create jobs and boost community cohesion, by supporting local businesses through networking, collaboration, and stimulating innovation and growth.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF or the Fund) is a central pillar of the UK government’s ambitious Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) agenda and a significant component of its support for places across the UK. It provides £2.6 billion of new funding for local investment by March 2025. It replaces European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) such as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF).

West Yorkshire has been allocated £83,054,057 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

There are three UKSPF Pillars:

  • Pillar 1 - Communities and Place
  • Pillar 2 - Supporting Local Business
  • Pillar 3 - People and Skills 

Pillar 2 – Supporting Local Business

The UKSPF Supporting Local Business pillar 2 is designed to create jobs and boost community cohesion, by supporting local businesses through networking, collaboration, and stimulating innovation and growth.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority, following stakeholder consultation, allocated over £25 million of UKSPF of its funding to this priority.

Following an invitation to bid call, for lead providers and delivery partners, for a number of areas, such as export, innovation, business resilience and growth, the below projects are now available to deliver support for businesses across West Yorkshire.

Pillar 2: Supporting local business Projects

  1. Good Growth Programme

    Designed to provide businesses with actionable and practical advice to stimulate immediate business growth, the project offers tailor-made support by pairing SMEs with a coaching expert specifically chosen to meet unique business needs; supporting business leaders to take a longer-term view of their business.

  2. Business for Good West Yorkshire

    Business for Good West Yorkshire (BFGWY) is a free service offering specialist training, coaching, and funding to support good ideas, and businesses to grow and overcome challenges.

  3. Supply Chain West Yorkshire

    This project can support all businesses, covering any sectors, with an extra focus on the health tech, advanced manufacturing, creative, and digital sectors.

  4. Scientific Instrumentation for Business Leadership in Innovation and Growth (SIBLING)

    Do you want to access equipment and knowledge to develop product/manufacturing design and testing?

  5. Huddersfield Health Innovation Partnership

    Are you a West Yorkshire business in the health and wellbeing sector in need of support to innovate?

  6. West Yorkshire Business Boost: Export

    The project is available for West Yorkshire businesses at any stage in their export journey, to provide them with the knowledge needed to identify and remove existing barriers to export, and support them to sell their products and services across the globe.

  7. West Yorkshire Business Boost: Innovation and Leadership

    This innovation project supports SMEs in combating challenges and barriers to growth.

  8. Growing the Green Economy

    This project provides specialist support and advice to existing or new businesses in the green tech and services sector, establishing a robust, competitive supply chain that will enable local businesses to transition to net zero with local, trusted partners.

  9. Business Productivity

    The Business Productivity Service provides a route to fully understanding and unlocking enhanced productivity improvements in your business through access to fully funded consultancy support.

  10. Digital Enterprise

    This project aims to support businesses across West Yorkshire on their digital transformation journey to enable them to improve performance, productivity and competitiveness, reduce environmental impact, and ultimately achieve sustainable growth by investing in digital.