A North Staffordshire council has been allocated a further £4.4 million of funding to distribute over the next 12 months – with around £1.8 million of it expected to go to local businesses and projects helping to boost residents’ skills.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is in line to receive the sum from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Funding (UKSPF) scheme, which has been extended to the end of March 2026.
If approved by the council’s cabinet next week – and pending the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government – the money will be used for a variety of projects.
They have been chosen by an expert investment board and are detailed in a report published ahead of the cabinet meeting which takes place on 29 April.
The report says the funding will allow businesses to ‘grow and employ’ while other projects will upskill residents to ‘take advantage of increased employment and improved community places to increase the visitor economy’.
A funding request from the organisation Jobs, Enterprise and Training (JET) seeks £363,059 to extend its Inclusive Employability Hub which supports people to find work.
The city council’s Stoke by Numbers numeracy skills initiative for residents over the age of 16 could receive £276,525 while £244,721 has been requested by the YMCA for its YES consortium which helps 16 to 24-year-olds unlock their potential.
Other projects relating to support for local businesses and people and skills, include:
- £229,659 to continue a grant programme encouraging inward investment, premises growth and product development.
- £30,000 towards consultancy to investigate the viability of enterprise centres as start-up space.
- £134,720 to support Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce’s Promoting Innovation Pathways programme, which helps SMEs, social enterprises, and early-stage start-ups across Stoke-on-Trent to develop new products, services and processes.
- £35,000 for the city council’s Family Learning Matters campaign raising awareness of the importance of family learning.
- £262,575 to provide AI-focused training through Wavemaker’s DigitALL project.
- £135,671 to University of Staffordshire to provide work-based learning options to upskill or reskill city residents in areas of leadership and management, digital, marketing or Net Zero.
- £65,997 for Disability Solutions to continue its Support to Work scheme.
- £103,333 to Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce for the Stoke-on-Trent Skills Hub which helps organisations upskill their workforce and support their economic growth.
If the funding and proposals get approval, thousands more pounds will be spent on increasing visitor numbers to the city with a £200,000 boost to the centenary celebrations, art projects and canal-side murals, £145,000 for a small grant scheme to help the hospitality and tourism sector.
£534,000 could be allocated to a Making Great Places project to increase local civic pride and ‘support communities and businesses to flourish and feel safer within the city’ while £92,000 has been earmarked to support heritage attractions Ford Green Hall and Etruria Industrial Museum and another £25,000 could be used to extend a small grant fund for community events to attract new visitors.
Councillor Jane Ashworth, Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “This extra UKSPF funding gives us a fantastic opportunity to work with residents, businesses and community organisations to benefit the city as a whole and build on the work of the last two years.
“It is a mix of funding the continuation of successful ongoing projects, which are making a real difference, and providing a boost to a range of new initiatives.”
