European Social Fund

2007 - 2013

 
This Programme is worth approximately £174 million for the East Midlands region over the Programme period.  Activity falls under two priority areas:

 

·         Priority Area 1 - extending employment opportunities;

·         Priority Area 2 - developing a skilled and adaptable workforce.

 

The funds are co-financed in the East Midlands by three Co-financing Organisations (the Learning and Skills Council, Jobcentre Plus and the Local Authority Consortium), meaning that delivery organisations do not have to supply match funding.  Two strands, Technical Assistance and the ESF Innovation and Transnationality, sit outside co-financing arrangements.

 

Learning and Skills Council (LSC)

 

With the first call for the 2007-2013 Programme, the LSC invited project proposals under four themes:

 

Adult responsive - Skills for Jobs, Priority 1 actions and Foundation Learning Tier, Priority 2;
Youth - divided into pre- and post-16, including NEET (not in education or training) and potential NEET activity and youth unemployment;
Employer responsive - Train To Gain brokerage and provision and Union Learning;
Other - including OLASS, Continuous Professional Development and Voluntary and Community sector apprenticeships.

 

During the autumn of 2008, the Government announced that nationally over the next three years £100 million of funding from the European Social Fund and the Department for Innovation and Skills will be used to help people affected by the economic down turn.  The funding will support upskilling and re-training of those either unemployed or under threat of redundancy to help them move back into sustainable employment. 

 

Careful targeting of resources will ensure that those sectors most severely affected by the current economic climate will receive extra funding.  Learning and Skills Councils will work with local colleges and training providers and Jobcentre Plus to achieve results.  Part of this funding is an extra injection of cash following a re-valuation of the € against the £, worth some £13m in ESF to the East Midlands region to be spent by the end of 2010.

 

The ESF contact at the Learning and Skills Council is Henry Kukiewicz, e-mail - henry.kukiewicz@lsc.gov.uk  or tel: 0116 228 1964.

 

 

Department of Work and Pensions (Jobcentre Plus)

 

For the 2007-2013 Programme, the European Social Fund will be co-financed by the Department of Work and Pensions to support the Jobmaets (Multi Agency Employment Teams) initiative.  This aims to tackle worklessness by providing a regional network of outreach Jobmaets advisors to provide comprehensive support which includes help with housing, health and education as well as financial and advocacy issues.  The objective is to provide a seamless transition into work for the unemployed, including the long term unemployed, those moving off invalidity benefit, carers and single parents.

 

Activity is delivered through large sub-regional contracts and successful delivery will be determined by the establishment of effective partnerships with local agencies and organisations, including colleges.  Details of the prime contractors are as follows:

 

Working Links Employment Ltd                   

Derby City, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, High Peak, Derbyshire Dales, Amber Valley, Erewash and South Derbyshire

 

Phoenix Enterprises Ltd
Chesterfield, Bolsover and North East Derbyshire

 

In Training Ltd 
Leicestershire and Northamptonshire

 

TNG Ltd

Lincolnshire and Rutland       

 

To find out more, contact Chris Beech, Regional European Social Fund Manager, chris.beech@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk

 

Local Authority Consortium

 

The LA Consortium delivers ESF co-financed activity under both priorities, more specifically:

 

Priority One - improving employability and skills of the unemployed and economically inactive (including supporting them, where appropriate, to become self-employed) to enable them to gain, retain and progress in work.

Priority Two - developing a skilled and adaptable workforce by:

·         reducing the number of workers without basic skills;

·         increasing the number of workers qualified to level 2 and, where justified, to level 3;

·         reducing gender segregation in the workforce;

·         developing managers and workers in small enterprise.

The Consortium has identified specific regionally targeted actions under these priority areas.  Within the new programme, between 2008-2010, there will be four local authorities within the Consortium operating Co-financing tenders.  These will be:

·         Lincolnshire County Council

·         Derbyshire County Council

·         Leicester City Council 

·         Derby City Council

 

Other local authorities within the region are part of the consortium but will not be actively tendering until the second half of the Programme.  To access the Local Authority Co-financing Plan and Co-financing Prospectus Framework and to find out about any new funding calls, click here. 

 

ESF Innovation and Transnationality Funding

 

In addition to co-financed ESF, there is also funding available for an Innovation and Transnationality strand with two to three projects to be supported in each region. As opposed to co-financed activity, applicants will need to provide at least 50% of the costs of any project in public match funding.  The first call for proposals was launched on 31 October 2008 with six themes for proposed project development.  These are:

 

·         Active Inclusion - Priority 1

·         Engaging with Employers - Priority 1 or Priority 2

·         ICT and the Digital Divide - Priority 1 or Priority 2

·         Meeting New Challenges - Skills for Climate Change and Sustainable Development -       Priority 2

·         Meeting Challenges - Demographic Change (Older Workers and Migration) - Priority 1 or 2

·         Social Enterprise - Priority 1 or Priority 2

 

Innovation, transnationality (with the involvement of a minimum of one partner from another EU member state which must bring real benefits to the project) and subsequent mainstreaming are the three key elements to any approved project. 

 

The first round closed on 16 January 2009 but it is expected that a further call will be made during this Programme period.  For more about the ESF Innovation and Transnationality theme, click here: 

 

 

The Co-ordinating Body for this funding stream is Birmingham City Council - tel: 0121 303 3064.

 

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