Subsidy Control Guidance and Services

Subsidy Control Business Advice Service

Edale advises public authorities on subsidies and subsidy schemes under the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

Edale has vast experience in advising public authorities on subsidies and subsidy schemes under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. With the introduction of the UK’s new subsidy control regime following Brexit, ensuring compliance with the complex regulatory framework is critical for public authorities, especially when dealing with large or high-impact subsidies. Public authorities face increasing scrutiny when it comes to subsidies, particularly those of significant value or impact.

Our services include:

  • Assessment Preparation: We help you prepare subsidy reports that meet the Subsidy Control Act’s requirements, especially for high-value schemes of particular interest.
  • Non-Binding Advice: We provide non-binding evaluations of subsidies, ensuring they comply with the Act and are defensible against scrutiny from the SAU or other regulatory bodies.
  • Ongoing Monitoring: We assist with the continuous monitoring of subsidy schemes, helping to ensure ongoing compliance with subsidy control regulations.
  • Regulatory Guidance: Our team keeps you updated on the latest developments in subsidy control, ensuring you have access to the most current advice and insights.

Common Shortcomings for Local Authorities in Subsidy Control

Despite detailed guidance in the Subsidy Control Act 2022, the first annual report from the Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) outlined some of the most common issues that local authorities faced in their cases referred to the Subsidy Advice Unit. These issues can result in delays, mistreatment or misclassification of parts of a subsidy measure, or financial penalties. Here are the most frequent areas of concern:

Policy objective: Each firm or applicant referred for a targeted subsidy must have a clear policy objective, which must be either cleanly specific to the referred subsidy or to the addressed market failure/concern and equity objective. The policy objective must be unique to the specific subsidy being referred—this is a crucial first building block that will set the context for the assessment.

Market failures: the term market failure has a very precise economic meaning that is not necessarily mirrored in a public authority’s assessment. The rationale for providing the subsidiary needs to be clearly explained.

Competition and Investment: This is a frequent area that is thin in assessments. The focus should be on how the subsidy is designed to minimise distortions.

Balancing Exercise: This part should combine the positives and negatives. Focus on explaining why the benefits (in relation to the policy objective) outweigh the negatives. This will result in a stronger assessment rather than one that minimises the negatives.

Evidence: Assessments should cite relevant supporting evidence at each step, considering confidential information. To minimise the need for redacting confidential information and, therefore, maximise transparency, the reports should, where practicable, be drafted without reference to confidential information, provided that this does not detract from the comprehensibility and accuracy of the report.

How Edale Help on Subsidy Control

At Edale, we provide independent advice and hands-on support to ensure subsidy work and assessments meet the requirements set out in the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Our team of experts helps local authorities identify and rectify common issues, ensuring that subsidies are correctly categorised, compliant, and fully defensible against evaluations.

Free Subsidiary Control tools

We have provided a few online tools to support Subsidy Control functions.

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