UKSPF - Call for Proposals Guidance

1.    Introduction
2.    Call for Proposals
3.    Application Evaluation and Selection Process
4.    Gateway Assessment
5.    Application award criteria
6.    Quality assessment
7.    Scoring methodology
8.    Assessment panel
9.    Due Diligence
10.    Clarifications
11.    Allocation process
12.    Terms and conditions
13.    Expenditure and costs
14.    Revenue Funding
15.    Capital Funding
16.    Document Retention
17.    Delivery Partners
18.    Match Funding
19.    Outputs and Outcomes
20.    Reporting, Monitoring and Performance Management
21.    Evaluation
22.    Assurance and Risk
23.    Payment in Arrears
24.    Procurement
25.    Social Value
26.    Subsidy Control
27.    Branding and Publicity
28.    Eligibility
29.    VCSE Definition
30.    Additionality, Duplication and Displacement

This guidance document is a source of information for potential applicants, grant recipients and their delivery partners as well as Gateshead Council employees. It sets out the eligibility principles and practices to which we expect all UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) projects to adhere. In certain circumstances there may be variations relating to specific interventions and/or priorities, these flexibilities will be clearly set out in the calls for proposals.

The guidance will be regularly reviewed to ensure it remains accurate, adding value to the process and reflecting any amendments to national guidance on UKSPF. It is designed to standardise delivery practices to enable the Council to effectively manage the UKSPF programme in Gateshead.

The Council will publish fund specific criteria and the application process on the Council website, inviting project applications to meet specific funding needs. These will normally be issued via a call for proposals which will set out the strategic context and any specific project requirements.

Download this guidance as a PDF. (PDF, 784 KB)(opens new window)

1. Introduction

1.1 Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council (GMBC) is inviting applications to deliver projects which seek to deliver the aims of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

1.2 You are required to submit your application to meet the specification, failure to do so will result in your application being excluded and not evaluated further. It is essential that you comply with the following instructions in the preparation and submission of your application. GMBC reserves the right to reject any application that does not comply with these instructions.

1.3 Applications must be received by the date specified in the Call for Proposals. Any application not fully completed and/or submitted after this date and time will be disregarded by the assessment panel.

1.4 Applications must be submitted electronically to ukspf@gateshead.gov.uk including the name of the Investment Priority and Intervention number you are applying under in the subject line. For example, People and Skills E33.

1.5 If you have any questions about this application, please direct these to ukspf@gateshead.gov.uk including the Investment Priority and the Intervention number in the title. Please note that any questions you raise during this application process that are not commercially sensitive will be published publicly on GMBC's website daily in a frequently asked questions document.

1.6. GMBC may accept the application at any time within this prescribed period but shall not be bound to accept any application. Your application must be completed in full and in English. Your application must be submitted in Microsoft Word and be signed and dated where required.

1.7 If your application is deemed successful by GMBC, you will be required to enter into a grant agreement with GMBC. The grant agreement shall incorporate the terms and conditions published within this guidance.

2. Call for Proposals

2.1 Please see the specific Investment Priority - Call for Proposals document.

3. Application Evaluation and Selection Process

3.1 The assessment of this application is undertaken in stages, as follows:

Stage 1: Evaluation of the applicant's response to the Gateway Criteria. Applicants will either pass or fail at Stage 1. (See section 4 of this guidance for further details).

Stage 2: For applicants that pass Stage 1, the rest of their application will be evaluated by the assessment panel, using the criteria and designated weightings set out below in section 5.

Stage 3: GMBC will undertake due diligence prior to making recommendations for funding as set out in section 9 of this guidance.

Stage 4: Recommendations for final decision prior to an award of funding.

Please note the Council's decision is final and there are no appeals.

4. Gateway Assessment

4.1 All applications will be assessed against the core eligibility criteria for the call. Applications which do not meet the eligibility criteria will not progress to the next stage of the assessment process.

Gateway Core Eligibility

5. Application Award Criteria

5.1 The Applicants' responses to each of the Quality Assessment questions 1 to 5 will each be evaluated and a score from 0 (zero) to ten (ten) in accordance with the Scoring Criteria will be allocated to each response (set out in Section 7 below).

5.2 Each score will then be weighted in accordance with the weightings allocated to each question.

6. Quality Assessment

6.1 Applicants shall submit responses to the quality assessment questions set out in the application form. Applicants are not permitted to include any additional appendices that have not been issued or requested by GMBC. Any appendices submitted that were not issued or requested by GMBC will not be considered by the panel when evaluating. GMBC has the absolute discretion to disregard any appendices, either in part or in full, that contain information that is not relevant supporting information.

6.2 Responses to each quality question will be scored on a grading system from 0 (zero) to 10 (ten) as set out in Section 7 and that score shall then be weighted in accordance with the percentage weighting allocated to the individual quality assessment question. If any quality question scores a two or below the assessment panel will cease assessing and dismiss the application as not meeting the minimum threshold.

7. Scoring Methodology

7.1 Quality question scoring methodology

8. Assessment Panel

8.1 The assessment panel will score responses to the quality assessment questions in accordance with the above procedure. The panel will then discuss and produce a single score for each applicant's response to each quality assessment question.

9. Due Diligence

9.1  For non-public-sector applicants, financial checks will be made on the following documents to assess risk:

1. Certificate of Incorporation, Charity Registration, VAT Registration Certificate or alternate form of incorporation documentation to inform organisation status.
2. Where available financial statements for the last 3 financial years to inform trading and liquidity status. This may include, depending upon filing requirements, Profit and Loss Statement, Balance Sheet (Statement of Financial Position) and Cashflow Statement.

The results of these checks may exclude applicants from further consideration. These checks will include assessment of the applicant's financial trading and liquidity position including their ability to deal with cost overspends and to finance a project being funded in arrears. Applicants must be legally constituted at the point of signing the funding agreement. If the application is approved, the organisation will enter into a legally binding Grant Funding Agreement whereby the organisation will be responsible for ensuring that the terms and conditions of the funding agreement are met and will be liable for any financial implications of them not being met.

9.2 Where there are multiple organisations applying for the funds, a lead organisation must be selected as the applicant (and grant recipient) with the remaining organisation(s) acting as delivery partner(s). In this scenario the applicant must ensure the delivery partner(s) and themselves all comply with the terms of the financial agreement and will be liable for any financial implications of the terms not being met by either the delivery partner(s) or themselves.

9.3 During the application process the lead authority (GMBC) will consider the applicant's track record, both positive and negative. If the applicant has been involved in the delivery of previous grant funded projects and any irregularities have been identified, the lead authority will expect to see what steps have been taken to ensure that the risk of further irregularities in the future is mitigated. It is acknowledged that some organisations will be new and will not have a track record.

10. Clarifications

10.1 GMBC reserves the right to make an award decision without holding any clarification meetings with applicants. Should GMBC wish to enter into clarifications, meetings may be held with applicants to discuss applications in their entirety.

10.2 Alternatively, where clarifications are clearly identifiable, applicants will be emailed clarification questions. Where there are similar areas of clarification across multiple project submissions, all applicants will be contacted with clarification questions to ensure transparency and equality of opportunity.

10.3 In the event that clarifications are required, clarifications will not be scored, but the results of the clarification may impact upon evaluation scores in relation to relevant parts of an application. Clarifications will not be requested where any quality assessment question scores two or below.

10.4 The assessment panel submits decisions after clarifications and there are no grounds for appealing final decisions.

11. Allocation Process

11.1 The highest scoring applicant(s) will be considered for a grant award subject to the appropriate coverage of project Outputs and Outcomes, geographical location, target groups, successfully passing the due diligence process and having sufficient capability and capacity.

11.2 From the initial submissions received, if GMBC does not have sufficient coverage of project Outputs and Outcomes, geographical location, and target groups GMBC will enter discussions with bidders to discuss their initial submission and ensure that there is sufficient coverage. This will be done on a ranking basis with the highest scoring applicant(s) contacted first.

11.3 GMBC will use total score obtained through questions 1- 5 in the evaluation process to prioritise allocations. Overall scores will be ranked from highest to lowest and grant agreements will be awarded on this basis until the indicative total funding value is fully committed. GMBC reserve the right not to allocate the full indicative funding value.

11.4 Where two or more applicants have identical scores for quality questions 1-5, and the GMBC budget will not allow for all of those applicants to be awarded grant agreements, the unit cost calculation will be used to select projects. This will be done on a ranking basis, with the lowest unit cost ranked the highest.

12. Terms and Conditions

12.1 GMBC will issue a grant funding agreement to be signed by both GMBC and the successful applicant.

13. Expenditure and Costs

13.1 Eligible Expenditure Date: Projects can begin to incur costs and spend at risk from the date of grant approval. The date of approval is the date confirmation of grant funding is issued in writing from GMBC. Any expenditure incurred before the date of approval is not an eligible project cost.

13.2 A project can contain four types of costs:

• direct costs: Non staffing costs which are directly related to the delivery of the project activity (They will be subject to audit and must be capable of being traced back to the source transaction)
• direct staff costs: The salaries and on costs for those staff delivering the project or engaged in activity directly related to the implementation and management of the project
• indirect costs: A fixed cost calculation using a 12% flat rate applied to Direct Staff costs, this would cover costs which are not or cannot be attributed directly to the project activity, meaning an actual cost cannot be attributed to the project
• capital costs: Costs which include buying a new asset or add value to an existing asset that will last for more than one year

13.3 It is important to define the types of costs within a project and ensure that there is no overlap to avoid any costs being double funded such as wrongly classified as Direct Costs (and included as such) when they are Indirect and will be covered by the flat rate calculation.

13.4 Direct Costs: All eligible non staffing costs which directly relate to the delivery of the project. These may include:

• premises costs and associated running costs which are exclusively used for the project - that is to say costs that are not shared or apportioned across multiple projects or other activities of the organisation
• equipment used exclusively for project purposes
• materials and consumables purchased solely for project activity
• other costs such as marketing, publicity, and evaluation where these can be clearly identified and directly attributable to the project
• procured goods/services/works (used exclusively by the project) essential for the delivery of project activity
• cost of business trips, other travel, and subsistence required for project activity 

13.5 Indirect Costs: Costs which do not fall within the Direct Staff Costs or Direct Costs categories are Indirect Costs and will be covered within the flat rate calculation. Such costs do not have to be itemised or listed within an application.

13.6 Indirect Costs, often referred to as 'overheads' are those costs which are linked to activity that supports the delivery of a project but cannot be easily attributed to the project and cannot be evidenced by invoices or other transactions. These may include:

• cost of support function staff who are not engaged in activity directly related to the project (HR, finance)
• other costs which are not solely associated with the delivery of the project, such as the shared premises costs including rent, utilities, cleaning, IT maintenance or insurance

This means that unless a premise is used solely for the project outlined in the business case then the costs would be covered by the flat rate. There should be no apportionment methodology used to share the cost of premises and running costs over projects as a direct cost.

• costs of services, equipment or assets not exclusively used by the project where an actual cost cannot be identified

13.7 Indirect Costs will be calculated by applying a set flat rate of 12% to direct staff costs. Therefore, applicants need only itemise direct costs and direct staff costs. There would be no need to itemise indirect costs as they would be covered in the following cost calculation:

Indirect Costs (£) = Direct Staff Costs x 12% flat rate

13.8 Indirect Costs will not be audited - only direct costs and direct staff costs will be checked and verified.

13.9 Ineligible Costs: The following costs should not be included:

• paying for lobbying, entertaining, petitioning or challenging decisions, which means using the Fund to lobby (via an external firm or in-house staff) in order to undertake activities intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, government or political activity including the receipt of UKSPF funding; or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action
• payments for activities of a party political or exclusively religious nature
• VAT reclaimable from HMRC
• gifts, or payments for gifts or donations
• statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties
• payments for works or activities which the lead local authority, project deliverer, end beneficiary, or any member of their partnership has a statutory duty to undertake, or that are fully funded by other sources
• contingencies and contingent liabilities
• dividends
• bad debts, costs resulting from the deferral of payments to creditors, or winding up a company
• expenses in respect of litigation, unfair dismissal or other compensation
• costs incurred by individuals in setting up and contributing towards private pension schemes
• profit

13.10 This list is not exclusive and any queries about the eligibility of costs not included in the list above should be addressed to GMBC.

14. Revenue Funding

14.1 Revenue expenditure is eligible where the activity fits within the scope of a specific call for projects. Eligible revenue costs should fit within the following expenditure headings:

14.2. Salaries are costs associated with staff members employed to deliver project activity. Salaries included as project expenditure must be actual costs and cannot include day rates.

14.3. The simplified cost methodology falls into three categories:

• staff working 100% of their time on the project
• staff working a fixed proportion of their time on the project (Fixed Hours)
• staff working intermittently on the project (Hourly Rate)

14.4 Staff working 100% of their time on the project can include their full gross salary within project claims. This will include gross salary (before deductions) plus on costs such as employer's national insurance contributions, employer's pension contributions.

14.5. Fixed Hours are staff costs related to individuals who work part of their time on a project. This may be calculated as a fixed percentage of the gross employment costs as defined in 14.4 above, in line with a fixed percentage of time working on the project per month, with no requirement to complete time sheets.

14.6. The employer must issue a document for employees setting out the fixed percentage of time for working on the project. This could be, for example, in the form of a job description or a letter from HR detailing the new contractual hours of work. The key requirement is that it must be formally documented.
Personnel working flexibly across a number of projects where hours fluctuate would not be able to use this methodology. They would need to keep time sheets and use a '1720' hours calculation (see 14.9).

14.7 Hourly Rate is the cost per hour of a project staff member whose time needs to be recorded on time sheets because either:

• they do not spend 100% of their time working on the approved project (the activity within the grant funding agreement) and do not work a fixed percentage of their time on the project
• they work flexibly on more than one UKSPF funded project

14.8 The underlying principle is that the project pays for the hours of work it receives. It allows an organisation to make use of existing staff as well as newly appointed staff on a temporary or ad hoc basis whilst being appropriately compensated. Sick or maternity pay can be claimed if it is in line with the organisation's staff policy or on the individual's contract of employment. Alternatively, an organisation may claim for replacement staff costs but only if maternity or sick pay is not being claimed.

14.9 The hourly rate is calculated by:

• dividing the 'Latest Gross Annual Employment Costs' by 1720
• 'Latest Gross Annual Employment Costs' refer to the individual's gross salary + Employer's National Insurance Contributions + Employer's Pension Contribution plus any other contractual costs to the organisation relating to the post
• 1720 hours assumes a working week of 33 hours - it therefore overcompensates by between 4 and 9 hours depending on an organisation's standard working week to take account of annual leave costs

14.10 If an individual works part time, their hourly rate must be calculated by using a corresponding pro-rata of 1720 hours. This means that if an individual's working
pattern is 0.5 FTE the gross employment costs would be calculated using 1720 x 0.5 = 860.

15. Capital Funding

15.1. Capital Spend and Assets.

The Council defines a capital spend as:

• the acquiring or creation of a tangible asset or spend which increases the value or useful economic life of a tangible asset, and for that asset to have an asset life greater than one year
• spend on a group of assets that individually may not be classed as capital spend can also be classified as capital if for the same purpose and location

For the purposes of UKSPF, GMBC will require grant recipients to maintain an asset register for tangible assets funded in full or part from UKSPF with an asset value of over £5,000.

Applications should set out the types of assets to be purchased through the project and applicants should be aware that the Council may wish to hold restrictions on those assets as part of a Grant Funding Agreement.

15.2. Contingencies: Inclusion of contingencies in capital projects is standard practice in project development and planning to allow for cost fluctuations and unforeseen costs. The Council will therefore allow a contingency budget to be identified at application stage for capital projects only under the following circumstances:

• a risk analysis should have been undertaken to establish all significant risks to a project, identifying uncertainties within the estimated budget to ensure the proposed figure for contingency is reasonable
• the value of a contingency budget can be used to determine the total eligible costs. This should be clearly identified and quantified within a detailed breakdown and should be included within the relevant budget heading - for example the building and construction line, or other appropriate cost category within the finance tables
• there will be no reimbursement of costs against the heading 'contingency' as such costs will be claimed within the relevant cost category under which they are agreed and contracted. Submitted claims cannot include contingency as an eligible item. Only actual costs relating to the agreed budget headings should be included in any breakdown of expenditure

15.3. Eligible Capital Expenditure

Capital expenditure is eligible where the activity fits within the scope a specific call for projects. Eligible capital costs should fit within the following expenditure
headings:

15.4. Ineligible Capital

The following would not be eligible:

• costs not directly linked to the project. Where only part of the capital development fits with the scope of the funding priorities, costs will need to be apportioned

15.5 Sustainability: There will be an expectation on the awarding of grant funding that a plan setting out the operational, management and care/ maintenance costs for any capital assets funded through UKSPF will be submitted. Depending on the nature of the capital asset, the plan may be limited to care and maintenance costs only. Maintenance is the routine work that is necessary to keep the fabric of a building, monument, park or garden in good order. When carried out on a planned basis, maintenance helps to limit the deterioration of the fabric and prevent the types of failure which would otherwise occur over time. Maintenance differs from repair. Repair is work carried out to put right defects caused by decay, damage or use. In contrast to maintenance, repair implies work to return a property to a good condition on a long-term basis.

15.6 The plan should cover a minimum period of ten years from the practical completion of the capital project. Project applicants should note that whilst the plan is limited to a ten-year period, grant recipients will be expected to maintain the benefits of the project for the lifetime of the asset. The UK Government and the Council, as Lead Authority for UKSPF in Gateshead, expect grant recipients to make sure that the work funded by UKSPF is kept in good condition.

16. Document Retention

16.1. Project applicants need to ensure robust systems are in place to record and retain project records. This includes but is not limited to financial and procurement information, Output and Outcomes data, publicity and communication material and evidence of compliance with subsidy control.

16.2. The UK Government has not yet defined a retention period. Projects should retain project documentation for a period of at least 7 full financial years following the closure of the UKSPF Programme, currently estimated to be by 31 December 2025. This means a document retention period ending no earlier than 31 December 2032.

16.3. Project applicants must not to destroy any project records without seeking
advance permission from GMBC in writing.

17. Delivery Partners

17.1. GMBC encourages collaborative projects and the inclusion of delivery partners within project applications. Delivery partners are defined as organisations that support a lead applicant to deliver the project, actively undertake activities and incur expenditure on behalf of the project. All delivery partner costs should be included in the project budget, and it is expected that delivery partner expenditure will be claimed as per sections 14 and 15.

17.2. It is the responsibility of the lead applicant to verify costs, Outputs and Outcomes of delivery partners. Lead applicants are expected to enter into partnership agreements or service level agreements with delivery partners that pass down the terms and conditions of the GMBC UKSPF grant funding agreement.

17.3. Any organisation that is charging a fee for a service must be procured and would not be considered a delivery partner.

18. Match Funding

18.1. Whilst UKSPF does not require match funding, leverage of match funding is encouraged to demonstrate added value for money. All match funding must be auditable and attributable. Therefore, match funding for projects must relate to actual project expenditure. There is no fixed proportion of match funding.

18.2. Match funding can be provided from the applicant, delivery partners, or third parties such as businesses or other funding bodies. Applicants must be able to provide evidence to GMBC that match funding is in place prior to the project commencing.

Loans from banks, building societies and other institutions may also be used as match funding. The loan should be secured prior to contracting to ensure project delivery in line with the agreed timescales.

18.3. Match funding should be clearly shown in the financial tables submitted and be included in total project costs. Levels of match funding will be taken into consideration under the value for money assessment criteria.

Contributions in kind are not eligible as match funding. In-kind contributions, such as services offered free of charge or the donation of staff time or equipment that has a notional but not actual value, may be included in project applications as added value and to support the value for money statement, but they cannot be included within the project budget. The only in-kind contribution that may be accepted is the donation of buildings or land where an independent valuation can be provided. If you are preparing a project that involves the donation of land or buildings as a project cost, it is essential you discuss this with the Council at the earliest opportunity to agree the process.

19. Outputs and Outcomes

19.1. Output and Outcome measurements are a key accounting tool to measure the impact of the UKSPF programme. UKSPF Outputs and Outcomes Definitions are provided in Annex A to help applicants propose Output and Outcome volumes and to provide verification criteria in advance.

Applicants should ensure appropriate systems and processes are put in place to:

• collate claim documentation and supporting evidence
• compile data for statistical analysis or evaluation
• track progress against contracted Output and Outcome targets

19.2. Output and Outcome measures need to be defined during both project design and delivery. Care should be taken to:

• understand the resources needed to manage and collate the Outputs and Outcomes
• develop systems and processes that record project Outputs and Outcomes

When designing projects, applicants must consider which Outputs and Outcomes are relevant to the type of activity you intend to deliver.

19.3. Applicants should read applicable UKSPF Intervention description(s), Output, Outcomes in the Call for Proposals and Annex A (including the applicable unit of measurement) carefully before completing the tables.

• applicants should complete the tables in the UKSPF Outputs and Outcomes tab within Annex B, with the projected Outputs and Outcomes that you intend to deliver. Applicants are required to deliver against every Output and Outcome relevant to the chosen intervention detailed in the Call for Proposal
• if you intend to deliver Outputs and Outcomes which are applicable to multiple UKSPF Interventions, please include values under each intervention. It is not possible to claim the same Output or Outcome for the same beneficiary under the same intervention
• approval of contracted Outcomes and Outputs will be agreed between GMBC and successful applicants and will remain subject to the publication of further government guidance

20. Reporting, monitoring and performance management

20.1. The UKSPF operates on a financial year basis. Grant recipients are required to submit four grant claims per year as set out reporting schedule:

20.2. Claims will not be paid until the monitoring and verification process has been undertaken by GMBC. Claims will normally be paid within 30 days of this process being completed. This means that the UKSPF contribution to expenditure defrayed on the first day of the claim period may not be reimbursed for six months. Grant recipients must be able to manage the cash-flow requirements of this payment cycle.

20.3. Grant claims must include financial and performance information. With every grant claim grant recipients must provide:

• expenditure summary
• detailed list of every transaction that is claimed and defrayed within the claim period
• details of the Outputs and Outcomes achieved in the claim period
• progress report for the claim period

21. Evaluation

21.1. The UK Government have developed a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for UKSPF. It is intended to undertake evaluations at three levels:

• Intervention Level (to measure impact on pride of place and life chances with standardised surveys and methodology to measure change)
• Place Level (where the UK Government will commission 36 placed based evaluations)
• National/Programme Level

UK Shared Prosperity Fund additional information (opens new window)

If applicants wish to undertake individual project-specific evaluations, these can be included as part of the project costs. However, you should discuss the design and scope of the evaluation with Council officers to ensure complementarity with the scope of wider UKSPF evaluation intentions.

All projects receiving UKSPF funding will be required to contribute and participate in Intervention, Place and Programme level evaluations where appropriate.

All projects £100,000 or over should use up to 5% of the grant allocation for evaluation. Please consider this when costing your projects.

22. Assurance and risk

Risk assessments must be completed as part of the application process.

23. Payment in arrears

23.1. GMBC's UKSPF claim process operates quarterly in arrears. Projects can claim for expenditure incurred on a quarterly, retrospective basis. Applicant organisations are required to fund the project prior to receiving the payment for the first claim; this needs to be factored into project planning and financial profiles included within the project application.

23.2 If the project cannot be delivered on this payment basis, please contact GMBC before applying to discuss alternative funding and payment arrangements. Any alternatives are at the discretion of GMBC are subject to due diligence and may be withdrawn at any time.

23.3 Submitted claims will be audited, and verified against eligible expenditure, GMBC will then make the appropriate payment to the project. Where match funding is also approved, the Council will pay claims based on the approved project intervention rate.

For example, a project with a total value of £1m with £500,000 of UKSPF and £500,000 of match funding would have a 50% intervention rate. If a project submitted a claim for £200,000 of eligible expenditure, then the Council would pay 50% of those costs (£100,000).

23.4 In exceptional circumstances, where UKSPF is matched with 'other' funding subject to specific conditions, the Council may agree to adjust the profile of payments, this should be discussed and agreed in advance of associated expenditure being incurred. In all circumstances the lifetime approved project intervention rate must be achieved by project completion.

24. Procurement

24.1. All costs claimed by the lead applicant and/or named delivery partners must be on an actual cost incurred basis.

Where the grant is to be used to procure third party contractors, all costs must be incurred in compliance with the following minimum standards:

• the lead applicant (regardless of whether or not they are a contracting authority) must ensure that the procurement of all contractors is transparent and demonstrates value for money
• where the lead applicant is a contracting authority, they must ensure that all procurement activity complies with Public Procurement Law (currently contained in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015)
• where the lead applicant is not a contracting authority, they must comply with the minimum procurement procedures as set out below
• all other applicable laws to the activity undertaken, including without limitation Modern Slavery Act 2015, IR35 (Intermediaries Legislation), Equality Act 2010, Subsidy Control Act 2022, etc; and
• other compliance areas such as Fraud Risk Assessment and Due Diligence

24.2. The procurement and appointment of all contractors to be funded by the proposed grant will be subject to audit and verification and any irregularity will result in a financial penalty of up to 100% of the grant paid.

24.3. It is strongly recommended that applicants review their own procurement procedures to ensure they are in line with UKSPF guidance available on the Government's UKSPF webpage UK Shared Prosperity Fund: procurement (8) (opens new window).

24.4. Grant recipients should also consider and implement wherever possible:

• sustainability and green measures in procurement plans, aligned with the Government's net zero strategy
• innovative procurement, including the factoring in of social value into procurement; and
• Government initiatives, guidance and policy such as the Sourcing and Consultancy Playbooks, Construction Playbook, the Outsourcing Playbook and Government guidance on Resolution Planning

24.5. Minimum Procurement Procedure for Non-Contracting Authorities

25. Social Value

25.1. Providers must consider Social Value in their proposals as set out below:

25.2. The Public Services (Social Value) Act places a requirement to consider how economic, environmental, and social well-being might be improved by what we're buying.

25.3. The statutory requirements of the Act only apply to public service contracts above EU thresholds; however, GMBC look to extend our social value expectations to include all our mainstream commissioning, grant-funding, and procurement, where proportionate and practicable.

25.4 GMBC want to understand how your project will impact Gateshead in the longer term.

26. Subsidy Control

26.1. Applicants must ensure that projects comply with the law on subsidy control.

Please see UKSPF subsidy control guidance. (opens new window)

26.2. As a public authority, GMBC is required to comply with the new Subsidy Control Act 2022 (which took effect on 4 January 2023) when awarding funding or other support. Please note that, where a provisional decision is made to award support to your organisation, and GMBC considers that support may involve a subsidy, you will then be required to provide further information regarding the subsidy position of the project. To allow GMBC to assess the subsidy control position additional clarification will be requested prior to the award of grant funding.

26.3. Please note that any funding decisions by GMBC will not be made until such times as a subsidy compliant route has been identified. Any provisional decisions remain entirely conditional on the subsidy control position being satisfactorily resolved prior to any final decision by GMBC to award any funding or support.

26.4. Gateshead Council as lead authority is not able to give legal advice on subsidy control. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the project is subsidy control compliant. The Council will however welcome discussions concerning the use of potential subsidy exemptions and justifications following approval in principle.

27. Branding and Publicity

27.1. It is a mandatory requirement of the UKSPF that projects and the support they have received from the funds are actively publicised.

The Government have provided guidance on branding and publicity for the UKSPF projects. (opens new window)

27.2. Applicants must adhere to the guidance and any updates subsequently released by the Secretary of State or HMG on communications linked to UKSPF or wider Levelling Up Funding.

27.3. Applicants must confirm in applications that they have read and will comply with the UKSPF branding and publicity guidance.

27.4. Applicants will also be asked to describe in detail the systems and measures that have been or would be put in place to manage branding and publicity and provide evidence to show that it would be managed in a compliant way.

27.5. The project audit, verification and monitoring process will look for evidence that publicity has been undertaken in line with the requirements and that activity accurately references the UKSPF support received.

27.6. Projects must retain evidence of compliance with publicity requirements.

28. Eligibility

28.1. Gateshead Council's UKSPF eligibility rules apply to all project expenditure within the eligible costs, including match funding.

28.2. Applicants are directed to familiarise themselves with the relevant documentation prior to submitting an application (Please see Key Documents listed in Section 10 of the Call for Proposals document). If successful, applicants will enter into a grant funding agreement and must abide by the standard terms and conditions contained therein. Once a funding agreement has been issued it should be signed and returned within 30 days, unless otherwise agreed with the GMBC.

28.3. Eligible applicants:

Any organisation can apply for funding including public sector, private sector, voluntary community and social enterprise organisations (VCSE) and further/higher education institutions. Organisations must be legally constituted and have a bank account with at least two signatories.

Please note for the People and Skills Live Well, Work Well Call for Proposals only VCSE organisations can apply.

29. Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise Organisation Definition

29.1 GMBC define an VCSE organisation as an incorporated, voluntary, community or social enterprise organisation which serves communities within England, and which is either:

(a) a charity, Community Interest Company or Community Benefit Society, registered with the relevant registry body; or

(b) an unregulated organisation which:

• has a clear social mission which, in the reasonable opinion of the Fund Administrator, is analogous to a recognised charitable purpose
• distributes less than 50% of post-tax profits and reinvests at least 51% surpluses into pursuing its social mission
• has a constitutional or contractual lock on its social mission, its dividend and surplus distribution policy and "asset-lock"
• carries out, or has ambitions to carry out, trading activities in support of, and which are causally linked to, its social mission
• offers its products and services for general public benefit without restrictions and barriers, such as affordability
• is open to undertaking an independent social impact audit
• has remuneration and benefits policy which it is willing to make publicly accessible, and which is reasonable and proportionate relative to the market practice for VCSEs.
• in the case of a sale of the organisation, the directors make best efforts to preserve the social mission under new ownership; and
• can demonstrate that no private benefit will arise from the Grant

30. Additionality, Duplication and Displacement

30.1 Applicants must be able to demonstrate that project activities funded by UKSPF adds value to new or existing activity.

UKSPF cannot support activities that duplicate existing provision / services within Gateshead.

30.2 Applicants need to identify and explain how the project does not displace other relevant activities available to beneficiaries.