Assisted areas in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

are those areas selected for the application of regional policy to support employment. They date back to depressed ''special areas'' identified before WWII for specific assistance. Over time the support systems have changed, as have the designated areas. While the UK was a member of the European Union, the coverage and schemes were regulated as part of the EU's regional state aid regime. During

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

negotiation much new grant support was suspended. As of 2021 a new UK levelling up policy is being developed.

2007-2013 map

The assisted areas of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

are based upon a map drawn up and agreed with the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

in October 2006. The map was approved by the European Commission in December 2006 and will run from 2007 until 2013. Under new EU guidelines, the proportion of the UK population covered by Assisted Areas has been reduced from 30.9% in the period from 2000 to 2006, to 23.9%. This reduction is a result of recent

EU enlargement The European Union (EU) has expanded a number of times throughout its history by way of the accession of new member states to the Union. To join the EU, a state needs to fulfil economic and political conditions called the Copenhagen criteria ( ...

and the success of the UK economy leading to 2016. The basis of the map is to provide Tier 1 and Tier 2 areas for Regional Selective Assistance grants (RSA), recently re-titled as

Selective Finance for Investment Selective may refer to: * Selective school, a school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria ** Selective school (New South Wales) Selective strength: the human body transitions between being weak and strong. This ran ...

in the

English Regions The regions, formerly known as the government office regions, are the highest tier of sub-national division in England, established in 1994. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within government. While they no ...

(SFI), but remaining as RSA in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, and additionally large areas of the UK, where a lower level of grant aid can also be made available to

small and medium-sized enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

. These areas are classified as Tier 3 (see tab England Tier 3), - this grant scheme is known as Enterprise Grant Scheme (EGS) for English companies, Assembly Investment Grant (AIG) for Welsh companies and Invest for Growth Scheme (IFG) for Scottish companies. However,

government aid A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

can be only be provided by these current

grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom * Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama * Grant, Inyo County, ...

scheme within the constricts set out the European Commission, which among other constraints require a degree of proof that a project will not proceed without the requested grant aid.

England

Responsibility for delivery of the schemes in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

is mainly from 1 April that of the regional development agencies for RSA grants, whilst the Small Business Service handles both EGS and SMART, although larger RSA applications still have a direct involvement in the decision taking process by the DTI (over £2M).

Scotland

Scotland has its own variant schemes of RSA and the smaller grant, IFG scheme, both administered by the Scottish Executive. Again, this is a

devolved Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...

department, directly under the auspices of the Scottish Parliament.

Wales

In Wales, both RSA and the new AIG, small grant scheme, are administered by the

Welsh Assembly Government Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

from offices in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Swansea for South Wales, and Colwyn Bay for North Wales areas.

References

{{reflist Economy of the European Union Politics of England Politics of Scotland Politics of Wales