CHANGES to a post-Brexit funding scheme could put 93 council jobs in Caerphilly at risk next year.
A new report outlines how Caerphilly County Borough Council will spend this year’s allocation of the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
Staff on-fixed term contracts are likely to be renewed until the end of March 2026, but after that face an “unclear” future.
Following the change of government in 2024, Westminster is expected to replace the UKSPF with a new model of structural funding, offering a greater role for the UK’s devolved administrations.
The UK Government has designated the next 12 months as a “transition” year, in which Caerphilly Council will receive an £11.4 million allocation.
That money will be spent on a variety of schemes, such as green spaces, town-centre events, public wifi, business support, and job skills training.
But the local authority doesn’t expect to learn what replaces the UKSPF until the summer, sparking uncertainty over longer-term planning – and staffing.
Caerphilly Council said “at this stage it is not known” what that future model will “resemble”, but expects the Welsh Government and the Cardiff Capital Region “will have a more significant role in the allocation and distribution of funding”.
The first changes are already in the pipeline, when the council cuts some roles in the government-funded Multiply scheme, designed to improve adult numeracy skills.
The remainder of the 93 fixed-term staff working on current UKSPF programmes in the county borough “will be at risk” while the changes are ironed out.
Any layoffs could cost the council up to £537,000 in potential redundancy packages, although money has been set aside from UKSPF-linked interest payments, in the event of this worst-case scenario.
The UKSPF was at the heart of then-prime minister Boris Johnson’s “levelling-up” agenda, and replaced the European Union structural funds which dried up after Brexit.
But the scheme drew early criticism from the Welsh Government, amid accusations the Westminster scheme was bypassing devolution.
When the fund was announced in 2022, Vaughan Gething, then the Welsh Government’s economy minister, said the plans failed to “reflect the distinct needs of Welsh communities” and had “implications for the role the Welsh Government is able to play” in economic development.
However, in recent evidence to the Senedd’s finance committee, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) said the UKSPF had “proven to be a flexible fund, enabling local authorities to support projects that are tailored to meet local need”.
It called the fund a “welcome change” from EU schemes which had to meet strict criteria.
But the WLGA did say three-way discussions between councils and the UK and Welsh governments would be helpful in developing a successor scheme.
“That will be the best way to ensure the funding allocated for economic development purposes in the Welsh Government budget complements the activities local authorities are involved in,” the WLGA explained.
Caerphilly Council’s cabinet members are expected to endorse the UKSPF spending plans for the coming year at a meeting on Wednesday March 19.
