What to do when your subsidy is reviewed

So, you have awarded a grant or set up a scheme and, as far as you are concerned, everything complies with the Act. But you find that you have received a request for pre-action information from an interested party and that your subsidy may be subject to review. What does this mean? And what should you do next?

Under section 70 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022, an “interested party” can make an application to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) for a subsidy scheme or award to be reviewed.

An interested party means the secretary of state or a person whose interests may be affected by the giving of the subsidy or the making of the subsidy scheme. This may include those who have lost out on a subsidy award to another or those who would be excluded under a scheme if it were to be set up. The Secretary of State may intervene if they consider that the scheme or the subsidy interfere with competition or don’t comply with the framework of the act.

The content required of an entry in the subsidy database is set by regulations under S34 of the Act. These are the Subsidy Control (Subsidy Database Information Requirements) Regulations 2022, which can be viewed here.

The Regulations provide an extensive list of information which must be provided in an entry relating to a subsidy or scheme. Much of this information will not be required for most subsidies, but the list is a helpful tool for authorities, as it sets out clearly what information they will need to gather in order to update the Subsidy Database.

Authorities will already be used to making entries to the subsidy database under the TCA. In practice, we do not anticipate that the process will be particularly different now that the operative provisions of the Act have come into force.