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Last updated on Wednesday 28 Jun 2023 at 12:36pm
The government is being warned that jobs and talent are at risk, and over 100 local innovation, skills and business support projects teetering on the brink, because of delays and complications as European Union funding for local skills and training partnerships ends.
University-led projects currently supported by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) scheme were set up to deliver growth in areas of the UK that most needed this support. They provide high quality skills training, and support local pay, employment, and productivity growth, with half working with small and medium size businesses. UK projects are now not eligible for this fund.
Projects can apply to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) which will award £2.6 billion of local investment by March 2025 – but there has been no guarantee that existing ESIF projects will be supported to continue. The initial process for applying to the UKSPF proved fraught, with complexity and short timelines making it difficult for projects to submit bids.
Confusion over the process, combined with the lower levels of investment available compared to the ESIF, has left many projects stepping over a cliff edge, uncertain whether they can continue their work once existing European Union funding runs out. Some are being forced to pause activity and other projects may soon need to cease altogether; undermining universities’ ability to support local skills, innovation and business.
Universities UK (UUK) called for urgent action on this earlier this year, and now says the situation is critical. UUK, in partnership with GuildHE, has written to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Simon Clarke MP, to warn that talent is being lost across all regions and nations of the UK, and that hundreds of jobs will need to be cut if there is not urgent action from government.
In the letter, the organisations call for short term bridging funding to allow these projects to continue, while offering to work with government to develop a clearer system of local funding for the long term.
Universities want to play our full part in the national growth strategy and are ideally placed to do so through high quality skills training, research, innovation and enterprise, apprenticeships and more.
“Our ability to do so this however is being seriously undermined. We need help and support to keep our business engagement services running, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that instead many of these valuable projects up and down the country will be forced to cease, at a cost of lost jobs, lost talent, and lost partnerships.
Professor Stephen Marston
Treasurer of Universities UK and Vice Chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire
At a time when investment and growth is top of the economic agenda, we are seeing projects which make such a valuable economic contribution in local areas across the UK facing closure.
“At Swansea University alone, we could see over 50 EU funded projects close, with the loss of 270 high skilled roles. These lost roles, lost talent and lost business support will hit the local economy hard.
Professor Paul Boyle
Vice Chancellor of Swansea University
Our partners have used ESIF funding to support well over 1000 Midlands businesses, leading to new products and services and to millions of pounds worth of increased turnover that businesses have reported as a result, as well as the hundreds of jobs that have been protected or created, and the gross value added.
“At a time when the country has ambitious plans to drive growth and productivity, tried and tested university-led business support programmes are in very real danger of ceasing.
“We are keen to urgently work with Government, UUK and others to make sure businesses remain supported at what is already a significantly challenging time for them, and to help the UK be able to realise its potential in driving further growth and productivity.”
Helen Turner
Director of Midlands Innovation, a partnership representing eight universities across the Midlands
The issue was raised at the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee by the Chief Executive of Universities UK, Vivienne Stern, MBE. She said:
“[University] facilities are designed for companies to access research expertise.”
“There is no funding available through UKSPF to keep this going, we need the Department for Levelling Up to understand that it now has a real stake in the research infrastructure system”.
Projects that were supported by the ESIF include 192 university-led projects in England, funded to the tune of £412 million and providing high quality skills training, supporting local employment and productivity growth. There are a further 53 in Wales, with £300 million investment from ESIF.
The majority of these will see their funding disappear within the year, and face no immediate solution with the government’s full replacement funding not in place until 2024/25.
Our monthly updates are a great way for you to stay up to date with our work, events, and higher education news.