European Social Fund in England
2007 - 2013
2007-2013 ESF Funding Opportunities
ESF funds are distributed through 'Co-financing Organisations' (CFOs). CFOs are public bodies which bring together ESF and domestic funding for employment and skills so that ESF complements national programmes. The Learning and Skills Council and the Department for Work and Pensions Delivery Directorate are CFOs in every region of England. In some regions, Regional Development Agencies and some local authorities are also CFOs.
CFOs contract with the providers that deliver ESF projects on the ground. Providers can be from the public, private or third sectors. CFOs make ESF available through a process of open and competitive tendering. Successful providers do not have to find their own 'match funding', as CFOs are responsible for both the ESF money and match funding.
CFOs launched their first tendering rounds in autumn 2007. As a result of there tendering rounds, 750 new projects will start in spring and summer 2008, funded by £770 million from the ESF. Links to information on current and forthcoming CFOs tendering rounds are below.Learning and Skills Council
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) CFOs are awarding contracts for about £500 million of ESF funding under the first LSC e-procurement process. The list of successful providers will be made available after contracting is completed.
The LSC invited further expressions of interest for delivery of its learning and skills provision to be tendered in 2008/09. This included tendering for the LSC's remaining ESF allocations under Priority 1 and Priority 2 of its 2007-2010 ESF Co-financing Plan. Activity under Priority 1 is targeted at extending employment opportunities for the unemployed and economically inactive or young people who are not in education employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET. Priority 2 supports activities aimed at creating a skilled and adaptable workforce.
LSC regions started awarding contracts in May/June and this process is expected to continue until September.
Regions tendering for remaining ESF funding are the East of England, North East, North West, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber.
Further details for this round can be found at http://www.lsc.gov.uk/providers/provider-procurement/
Department for Work and Pensions
The results of the first DWP ESF Co-financing funding round are now available on the DWP website, including details of organisations which have been awarded contracts. Projects are starting from late June.
DWP is issuing revised specifications for four tender rounds which did not result in the award of contracts. These are in London and the North East. Opportunities to tender to deliver ESF funded provision in the two districts of South London and West London have been published. The deadline for the submission of tenders is 12 noon on 18 July. Further information can be found on the DWP website.
South East England Development Agency
The South East England Development Agency tendering round has now closed. It focused on helping unemployed and inactive people start-up enterprises or move into self-employment or to establish a business or social enterprise. It also provided for re-skilling and up-skilling the workforce in small and medium size enterprises at Level 3 and above to address identified skills gaps in several key sectors, working with businesses to provide solutions to these needs.
The results of the tendering rounds are available on the SEEDA website. A future tendering round for uncontracted areas will be held at the end of Spring and details will be posted on the ESF pages of SEEDA's website.
London Development Agency
The results of the first London Development Agency's tendering round will be published on the LDA website shortly.
It is anticipated that a further tendering round will be launched in September 2008.
London Councils
The London Councils tendering round closed on 11 January 2008. All tenders have now been assessed and providers informed of results. Contracts are being agreed with successful projects and some projects have already started. Once contracting has been completed a list of successful projects will be placed on the London Councils Website.
Luton Borough Council and Bedfordshire County Council
Luton Borough Council and Bedfordshire County Council announced plans to use ESF to extend employment opportunities and develop a skilled and adaptable workforce in their areas. They launched a 2008-2010 joint prospectus for Luton and Bedfordshire on 29 January 2008, with a closing date of 3 April 2008.
At the close of bidding on 3 April, 67 tenders had been received covering all specifications except homeless support for which no bids were received. Following the appraisal of tenders, and contracting with successful applicant organisations, it is hoped that projects will start activity in May or June 2008.
Luton Borough Council announced details of successful tenders on 16 May and they are now available on its website.
For more information, please see the Councils’ websites www.luton.gov.uk/esf and www.bedscc.gov.uk/europe.
East of England Development Agency
On Monday, 2nd June EEDA launched the latest ESF project tender under its new Co-financing Plan 2007-11.
The project is titled 'English Language Training for Migrant Workers' and the Invitation to Tender (ITT) invites submissions from organisations and consortia that can deliver this activity across the East of England.
The tender is available via the EEDA website and will close on 14th July. The expected project start is September 2008 and all activity has to be completed by 31st March 2011. For more information, please visit the website or email cofinancingenquiries@eeda.org.uk
EEDA has already tendered for two ESF projects – ‘Inspiring Women's Enterprise’ (ESF Priority 1) and ‘Improving Capabilities’ (Priority 2). The deadline for both was 18 April and it is expected that both projects will commence by early June. The combined total value for both projects is about £6.93 million, of which £3.4 million comes from the ESF.
East Midlands Local Authority Consortium
The East Midlands Local Authority Consortium ESF tender application round has ended. The consortium are currently in a contract negotiation process. The results of the tendering round will be published once this process is complete.
Activities that will be delivered include: support for people with disabilities to get back into the labour market, a range of activities centred around worklessness, support for pre-business start up and upskilling the Third Sector on public sector contract activity.
Further information is available from the Consortium's website.
Links to other CFO tendering rounds will be placed here when they are announced.
Merseyside ESF Complementary Funding Strand
In May 2008, the Government Office for the North West invited bids for a total of over £16 million of European Social Fund (ESF) money from the transitional ESF Complementary Funding Strand which operates alongside Co-financing in Merseyside until 2010.
This investment will support individuals with employability skills and help them into work providing a range of advice and guidance in areas such as pre-employment support, transition to work, outreach and engagement, employment retention and skill building, and career progression. Community Grants in Merseyside are also being coordinated outside of co-financing.
Information on successful applicants, activities targeted and funding allocated
is available from the Government
Office for the North West website from mid-July 2008.
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
In the Convergence Programme a Higher Education (HE) and Higher Level Skills Delivery Plan for ESF has been developed to operate alongside the co-financed activity.
The plan has been developed by Cornwall HE partners in collaboration with colleagues in the Learning and Skills Council, Regional Development Agency, Regional Skills Partnership and Government Office South West. It will support five themes: research, graduate placement; developing entrepreneurship & enterprise; employer demand led provision and raising aspirations.
The delivery of the Graduate Placement theme has successfully been tendered for by Cornwall College.
Tenders have now been invited for the remaining four themes. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday 11 July 2008.
Technical Assistance
Information about ESF technical assistance funds is available here.
Call for proposals for co-ordination of innovation and transnational activity
The Managing Authority has issued a call for proposals for a co-ordinating body to assist with the co-ordination of innovation and transnational activity. The co-ordinating body will be selected and part-funded through ESF Technical Assistance.