The North East Combined Authority (now the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority) commissioned Ortus Economic Research, working in partnership with Kada Research, to undertake an independent evaluation of the North of Tyne UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) programme. The programme comprised £51.2 million of investment across Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland between 2022/23 and 2024/25, supporting more than 50 projects across three interconnected investment priorities: Communities and Place, Supporting Local Business, and People and Skills, alongside the Multiply adult numeracy programme. The evaluation was designed to assess delivery, impact, value for money and wider strategic contribution, while generating practical learning for future devolved investment programmes. Additional funding was invested during a ‘transition year’, from April 2025 to March 2026 (with delivery being extended in a small number of projects to September 2026).
The study began with a review of programme documentation, investment plans, project business cases, monitoring data, quarterly reports, external project evaluations and relevant national and regional evaluation frameworks. A bespoke programme logic model was developed and aligned with the national UKSPF evaluation framework, enabling assessment of how a diverse portfolio of projects collectively contributed to inclusive growth, productivity, employment, skills, community resilience, pride in place and social value.
A substantial programme of primary research was undertaken across the complex delivery portfolio. This included surveys of project leads and beneficiaries, group discussions and one-to-one interviews with Combined Authority staff, local authority officers, delivery organisations, community partners and project beneficiaries. The approach also involved coordination with project-level and national evaluations to avoid duplication, reduce respondent fatigue and draw together evidence from across the wider evaluation landscape.
Detailed analysis was undertaken of programme expenditure, contracted and achieved outputs and outcomes, delivery performance by investment theme, partnership working, inclusion, sustainability and lessons learned. The evaluation also implemented a Green Book-compliant economic impact and value for money assessment, monetising impacts arising from jobs created and safeguarded and rehabilitated land, and applying assumptions relating to additionality, multipliers, persistence and discounting. This estimated net additional GVA impact of £219.9 million over five years and a benefit-cost ratio of 4.9:1, while recognising that these figures exclude significant non-monetised social, community and environmental benefits.
The final report concluded that UKSPF made a substantial contribution to inclusive economic growth, business development, labour market participation, community capacity and place-based regeneration across North of Tyne. It identified important lessons around flexible and trust-based programme management, partnership delivery, person-centred support, devolved community funding, monitoring, sustainability and the challenges created by short-term funding cycles. This assignment demonstrates Ortus’ ability to evaluate a large-scale, multi-theme public investment programme involving diverse interventions, extensive stakeholder networks and complex economic and social impacts. We continue to evaluate the programme through its transition year, covering delivery during 2025/26 and capturing additional evidence on impact, sustainability and future programme design.