Hundreds of jobs created and millions in investments made under West Midlands Legacy Fund

Bosses at the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) said the Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund had seen almost £70 million was distributed in just two years to a number of areas across the region.

The money was ‘unspent contingency’ cash for the 2022 Commonwealth Games and WMCA successfully persuaded the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DMCS) to allow it to be kept in the region.

Councillors and officers at WMCA then decided how and where the money should go.

In December 2022, WMCA Board agreed that the fund was to be allocated across four thematic pillars relating to economy, trade and tourism (£38.9m), culture and heritage (£4.07m), inclusive communities (£20.8m) and wellbeing and sustainability (£4.07m).

In a presentation to the WMCA Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Ed Cox, Deputy Chief Executive & Executive Director for Strategy, Economy & Net Zero, set out highlights of the fund’s success. These include:

• Global West Midlands programme (delivered by West Midlands Growth Company) landed 133 inward investment projects, creating or safeguarding 9,400 jobs. 17 business conferences and 11 major events were also delivered.

• High Growth Accelerator worked with 50 businesses to secure over £5.1 million additional investment, over £11 million of new sales value and create 71 jobs.

• ’Social Economy’ delivered a specialised business support programme, providing 115 social enterprises of varying sizes with specialist development support. Businesses participating saw a 48 per cent increase in trading income, and increase in confidence of 33 per cent and the creation of 175 new jobs

• United By 2022 delivered a number of programme as part of their Trailblazers initiative which delivered £2,759,214 of social value across all programmes

• A jobs, skills & wellbeing programme saw 2,859 people access targeted job support across the region, resulting in 2,167 engaging in job searching activities, 5531 young people accessed regional careers support, with 1,056 going on into education or training, 125 people benefited from a paid work placement, with 18 securing full time employment and 550 young people benefited from mentoring support with 396 remaining in education or training.

• Volunteers Collective provided 2,306 volunteer places resulting in 24,270 hours of volunteering at events across the region.

• Major Events Fund (MEF) invested £6m in major & locally important events across the region

• The Inclusive Communities Grant Fund saw £11.8 million handed out to 388 organisations

• And more than £916,000 of funding was awarded to 27 community groups across the West Midlands, creating social value of £3.8m and a £4.14 social return for every £1 invested.

Mr Cox said: “From July 2023 to March 2025, we’ve spent £70 million in a coherent and meaningful way that would bring additional legacy benefits to the region.

“I’m delighted to say we’ve just had this externally evaluated and it would suggest we have done an incredibly good job in being able to spend that money effectively.

“To deliver in that short period of time and to be able to demonstrate all these benefits, I think it has been a huge success for the region.

“To get to deliver so many diverse outcomes across the region is I think a remarkable success.”