UK nations and regions
Yorkshire and the Humber, England
Yorkshire and the Humber benefits from strong property price growth, greater affordability compared to other UK regions, and robust economic potential in key sectors like offshore wind and advanced manufacturing.
The region is a major hub for scale-up businesses and has a proactive approach to supporting companies. Its strategic location provides access to global markets, with the Humber ports being a major UK trade hub. Growth sectors, such as health tech and green energy offer a variety of investment opportunities, whilst its diverse economic base includes leading hubs for financial services.
Key facts for Yorkshire and the Humber
Special Economic Zones provide enhanced government support for businesses
9 business centres
565 creative and digital companies
43,000 employees in professional and business services
Largest wind farm Largest offshore wind farm in the world
600 health and life science companies
An industrial strategy for the whole of the UK
The modern Industrial Strategy is a new economic approach – a whole-of-government effort to back the UK’s strengths, with ambitious plans for 8 high-growth sectors (‘IS-8’) and the frontier industries at their leading edge, from quantum to pharmaceuticals. It is a 10-year plan, built on stability and openness, to make the UK the best country to invest in.
Building on Yorkshire and the Humber's strengths
Yorkshire and the Humber already has a huge amount to celebrate and the Industrial Strategy’s Sector Plans promote its wide-ranging strengths to investors.
Advanced manufacturing
The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in South Yorkshire CA (Combined Authority) has catalysed a cluster now including Rolls-Royce, Boeing, McLaren, and Sheffield Forgemasters. York and North Yorkshire CA hosts leading agri-tech innovation institutions including the University of York, and there are innovative space capabilities in satellite technologies and radio frequency communications across the region.
Clean energy industries
The region has a range of strengths across clean energy industries including skills, manufacturing and innovation at United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), and a high concentration of CCUS (carbon capture, usage and storage), hydrogen suppliers and tech developers, like ITM, Carbon Clean, Chesterfield Special Cylinders, Nuada. It's also home to heat pump manufacturing where the government's Heat Pump Innovation Accelerator Competition has supported Ideal Heating's £12m investment into heat pump production, creating over 200 jobs and securing over 150 existing jobs.
Creative industries
The production Park in Wakefield, host of a CoSTAR Live lab, deploys pioneering technology to develop arena tours, film and TV, while Channel 4's Leeds HQ equips regional talent with industry-leading training and opportunities. West Yorkshire is also home to Game Republic Ltd, which operates two leading games networks across the North of England.
Defence
Yorkshire and the Humber is a key region for the development and engineering of high integrity, precision materials for the civil and defence sectors, with relevance to next generation maritime capabilities and land and air systems. It is home to the University of Sheffield's world-leading Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Sheffield Forgemasters and BAE Systems' new artillery factory.
Life Sciences
Yorkshire and the Humber is home to 570 sites, 21,900 employees and is the second highest regional employment in MedTech (14,800 employees). South Yorkshire drives health-manufacturing convergence, while West Yorkshire hosts one of the world's largest pathology labs. The West Yorkshire Investment Zone is scaling HealthTech with new facilities in Huddersfield and Leeds, including a £250 million innovation campus and the refurbishment of the historic Old Medical School.
Professional and business services
West Yorkshire CA is home to specialised industries generating high-value professional and business services (PBS) opportunities including Health Innovation Investment Zone, FCA Leeds office and regional construction projects. The Northern 'Square Mile' in Leeds boasts a growing number of international professional services companies along with related tech and data analytics companies. Microsoft's regional hyperscale data centre will secure cloud infrastructure serving the PBS sector's increasing digital transformation and enable high value-add, AI-enabled tech and innovation.
Financial services
West Yorkshire has a historic banking and building societies sector, with Halifax, Leeds Building Society and Yorkshire Building Society all headquartered in the region. Leeds is home to a thriving fintech hub, with more than 100 firms operating in the city. The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority have both established and recently increased their presence in Leeds, expanding the city's diverse financial services ecosystem. The region is home to a skilled workforce, particularly in cities such as Leeds and Bradford that benefit from high quality universities.
Foundational industries relevant to IS-8 supply chains
Steel sites in Scunthorpe and Sheffield are vital for local areas, and chemicals production in the Humber is a major employer. Yorkshire and the Humber has a number of ports and construction is spread across the region.
Driving regional growth in Yorkshire and the Humber
The Industrial Strategy introduces ambitious policies to drive growth and investment across every nation and region of the UK. This is a 10-year strategy which will be a living document. We want to continue to work with local government, Mayoral Strategic Authorities and devolved governments to ensure they can drive growth across the UK.
More policies will be delivered over time, but below are some of the specific interventions in Yorkshire and the Humber that form part of our strategy.
Locally targeted investments in the IS-8 growth driving sectors
- West Yorkshire will receive devolved funding from the £150 million Creative Places Growth Fund to support creative businesses and freelancers in their region
- A new Professional and Business Services Hub for West Yorkshire to support local PBS businesses, connect local investment projects with potential investors, and support the adoption of AI
- £64 million pilot scheme in the North of Yorkshire, and advanced manufacturing in South Yorkshire
- Enhanced support for the Humber Freeport, specialising in clean energy industries
Tools to help city regions and clusters attract private investment
- £100 million expansion of the British Business Bank's Nations and Regions Investment Funds. New Cluster Champions for West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire will support this by strengthening local financial networks and helping to connect firms with investors
- A strategic partnership between West Yorkshire and the National Wealth Fund, providing enhanced, hands-on support to help develop and secure long-term investment opportunities
Devolved funding for the local leaders who know their places best to help deliver their Local Growth Plans
- At least £30 million earmarked each for West Yorkshire CA and South Yorkshire CA through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. This will empower local leaders to decide how to target research investment in the region and unleash its full innovation potential
- Recommitting £160 million investment to support tax relief and bolster Investment Zones for life sciences and digital and technologies in West Yorkshire, and advanced manufacturing in South Yorkshire
Connecting city regions and clusters
- Over £420 million of additional funding in Sheffield Forgemasters in South Yorkshire, securing 700 existing skilled jobs and creating over 900 new construction roles
- Delivering on commitments for the TransPennine Rail Upgrade, improving rail connectivity between York and Manchester via Leeds and Huddersfield. £240 million also committed to upgrade Leeds station
- £2.1 billion in West Yorkshire and £1.5 billion in South Yorkshire through the Transport for City Regions funding, to allow mayors to improve public transport connectivity in their city region. In West Yorkshire, this will support the West Yorkshire Mass Transit, including through new bus stations at Bradford and Wakefield. In South Yorkshire, this includes £530 million to renew the tram network, and £350 million to reform South Yorkshire's buses, with franchised buses operating in Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham by 2027 and across the whole of South Yorkshire by 2029
- £30 million has been devolved to support South Yorkshire CA and Doncaster Council to invest in critical infrastructure to realise the 'South Yorkshire Airport City'; alongside their ambitions to re-open Doncaster-Sheffield Airport as soon as next year