Employment charity reacts to Shared Prosperity Fund

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is vital to the charity sector, especially in the wake of funding gaps for those delivering skills and employment programmes. However, although this is a step in the right direction, more needs to be done.

Paul Cadman, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Steps To Work:

‘’The Shared Prosperity Fund is vital to the sector, especially in the wake of funding gaps for charities delivering skills and employment programmes.

‘’Furthermore, with unemployment rates rising across the West Midlands,^[1] supporting charities that, help local economies to thrive and transform the lives of communities is essential. This is especially critical in the Black Country.

‘’The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a central pillar of the government’s levelling up agenda. Unlike other funds, the UKSPF includes funding for social programmes, which charities run focused on investing in skills and tackling problems like social exclusion.

‘’Although the fund is a great step in the right direction, more needs to be done to support charities, and consequently the local community.

‘’It is concerning that the funding will not be made available until next year, even though existing Europe Union funding has ended. Therefore, although this is a step in the right direction, we fear that some charities would still face a funding gap, forcing some to close.

‘’At Steps To Work, we are fortunate to have a suite of commercial trading arms allowing us to deliver our vision: to help local people find meaningful, rewarding and sustainable work. Our sister company, Starting Point Recruitment also offers a pioneering approach to recruitment, with 100 per cent of its profits being reinvested into the community through charitable giving, enabling the charity to affect positive change on the lives of local people.

‘’Despite the UKSPF, we are concerned that some of our partner organisations and employment support charities across the nation will struggle to survive, meaning communities will be left behind and talent left uncovered. Therefore, it is important for us to work with local authorities and partners to leverage our strengths, share best practice and find ways of bypassing funding issues.’’

For further information, please visit: https://www.stepstowork.co.uk/