Agentic UK Subsidy Control Act 2022 self-assessment report, subsidy basis statement, and Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) referral preparation pack service for small local authorities, housing associations, and public-sector grant-making bodies (1–50 staff) required to assess and publish subsidy decisions on the government's transparency database. Replaces the public law solicitor or state aid consultant who charges £1,500–£5,000 to conduct the six-principle subsidy assessment, draft the basis statement, and submit to the SAU — a process most small public bodies are getting wrong and the CMA is beginning to scrutinise.
Why now
No fresh signal batch provided today; justified by the CMA's Subsidy Advice Unit publishing its first formal reviews in 2024–2025 and local government sector press (LocalGov.co.uk, MJ) reporting widespread confusion among small councils about the six-principle self-assessment obligation under the Subsidy Control Act 2022.
Commercial value
Estimated 5,000–8,000 subsidy decisions are published annually on the UK transparency database; many small councils and housing associations lack in-house legal capacity. Solicitors charge £1,500–£5,000 per assessment. A £499–£999 per-decision agentic service replaces a clear professional fee. Annual retainer model (£2,400–£4,800/year for unlimited assessments) is attractive to councils making multiple grant decisions. Budget line: 'legal/compliance spend' in council procurement.
Go-to-market
Target local authority procurement and legal officers via the Local Government Chronicle, CIPFA networks, and LinkedIn. Hook: 'Subsidy Control Act self-assessment in 2 hours, not 2 weeks.' First 10 customers via direct LinkedIn outreach to council solicitors and monitoring officers. Price: £699 per assessment or £3,600/year retainer.
2-week MVP
A structured intake form collecting the subsidy details (beneficiary, amount, policy objective, market effect); an LLM that applies the six statutory principles and drafts the self-assessment basis statement in the format required for the transparency database upload. Delivered as a Word document. Cut: automated database submission, SAU referral pack, and multi-subsidy tracking dashboard. Day-1 outcome: a council monitoring officer pays £699 and receives a defensible, publishable subsidy basis statement they would otherwise commission a solicitor to produce.
Agent score
0.58 — Commercial score solid: clear incumbent fee (£1,500–£5,000), identifiable budget line, and recurring need — but the customer base (small councils, housing associations) has slow procurement cycles, capping speed of revenue. Speed score slightly lower because reaching council legal officers requires B2B outreach rather than community forums, adding weeks to first sale. Defensibility modestly higher than average: accumulating a library of approved basis statements and SAU-reviewed precedents creates a proprietary knowledge base that compounds over time.
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