£250m EU replacement fund payments begin after charities criticised delays

The government has confirmed it will begin distributing over £250m to local authorities from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) this month after charity bodies criticised delays. In the autumn
statement, £400m of EU replacement funding that the government previously pledged to distribute in the current financial year appeared to have been removed. But the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has now confirmed that over £250m worth of grants to local authorities will be made by the end of March 2023, still around £150m shy of what was pledged in the spring statement. Charity sector think tank New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) welcomed the news, while other organisations urged the government to distribute the funds quickly as charities are hit by the cost-of-living crisis.