Targeted, funded, delivered: making local investment work

New evidence from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund shows how investment in community facilities, employment  support and help for local businesses can contribute to positive outcomes.

Frontier Economics and BMG Research evaluated selected UK Shared Prosperity Fund projects for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The interventions were designed and delivered locally to respond to local needs, so the support varied from place to place. The findings capture relatively short-term outcomes, but across three very different areas they provide a useful initial evidence base on how local investment creates change.

Across the three reports, a common message emerges: what is funded matters, but so does how support is targeted, delivered and experienced by the people and places it is intended to benefit.

Communities & Place: investment can benefit more direct users

Investment in community facilities can influence how people feel about their area, even when they do not directly use them.

Following refurbishment of community buildings, pride in place increased by around four percentage points among local residents and by 11 percentage points among people who knew about the facility but did not use it.

Other outcomes were more closely linked to use. For example, reductions in perceptions of anti-social behaviour were more closely linked to people actually using improved playgrounds.

People & Skills: start with the barrier rather than the solution

Personalised one-to-one support helped economically inactive participants overcome barriers and move closer to work.

Around a month after support ended, 35% had entered employment and a further 53% had made progress towards it. For people further from the labour market, progress could include gaining skills, confidence or qualifications.

Local Businesses: advice and funding work well together

Businesses face different challenges and barriers to growth. Tailored, one-to-one advice can help identify these and the right investment to address them, while grant funding helped turn plans into action.

Among businesses receiving grant support, 62% said the activities supported would otherwise have been delayed and 20% said they would not have happened at all.

Our key findings

Our three reports highlighted lessons that, in combination, are key to the successful delivery of local investment initiatives:

• Communities & Place: visible investment can change perceptions of a place, while behavioural and social outcomes appear more closely linked to people using the refurbished facilities.

• People & Skills: effective employment support needs to recognise where people are starting from and tailor support accordingly.

• Local Businesses: understanding what is preventing a business from investing can be as important as the support ultimately provided.

• Across all: local interventions can deliver benefits to individuals, communities and the local economy that significantly exceed the costs, especially where they contribute to increasing productivity, skills and employment

Click here to read the final UK Shared Prosperity Fund reports