Guidance

Supporting Local Growth 2017 England European Social Fund Programme

Updated 28 November 2023

European Social Fund Investment – an Introduction

The European Social Fund (ESF) programme in England contributes to local growth by increasing labour market participation, promoting social inclusion and developing the skills of the potential and existing workforce. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is the Managing Authority for the programme.

ESF is part of a broader England European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Growth Programme; which also comprises the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government; and part of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) managed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The ESIF funds form a small but significant part of the Government’s overall growth activity. A range of partners, including Local Enterprise Partnerships, other Government Departments and bodies across public, private and third sectors, advise on and support the roll out of the programmes.

EU funds require national co-financing from either public or private sources. ESF funding opportunities are published on GOV.UK through an interactive and fully searchable ‘funding finder’ tool; and through tendering opportunities published by ESF Co-Financing Organisations (CFOs), including the DWP, Education and Skills Funding Agency, Big Lottery Fund and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. ESF funding contributes to the cost of delivering activity at set percentage rates; the balance of cost, known as match funding, must be met by the organisation receiving the funds.

By the end of September 2017 £1.33 billon of ESF funding had been allocated to over 450 projects – comprising Direct Bid projects and Memorandums of Understanding with the four national CFOs. These projects are:

Improving access to the labour market for:

• job-seekers and inactive people

• young people, including those living in areas with high youth unemployment

• people with multiple and complex barriers to employment

Improving the skills of the workforce to support economic growth by:

• improving access to lifelong learning for all

• increasing the labour market relevance of education and training systems

The European Social Fund also incorporates Youth Employment Initiative funding for a number of areas with very high rates of youth unemployment.

In this booklet we have highlighted the activities and achievements of some ESF-funded projects across the country. A full list of projects funded can be found on the ESIF useful resources page of the programme website on GOV.UK.

Working with Local Partners

The current ESF programme is improving skills to meet employer needs. Each of England’s 38 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas has developed an ESIF Strategy to ensure funding focuses on local needs. These strategies inform the ESF funding calls for that area, published by the Managing Authority; and all ESF CFO tendering opportunities in that area. ESF projects can have delivery partners from across public, private and voluntary sectors. This helps ensure local and sectoral labour market needs are addressed. Some projects are working with local industry to determine skills gaps and they then offer provision that fills those gaps. This approach marries up the needs of the local economy with the local workforce that is able to fill those gaps.

Place 21 projects A, B and C work together to improve employment opportunities and training systems in West Suffolk. Each project is working with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Micro Businesses to upskill their staff and design industry-relevant training systems. The projects, managed by West Suffolk College, encourage a wider participation in learning from local people and give local SMEs and micro businesses the opportunity to influence training systems. The projects work in the following ways to meet their joint objective.

The projects work in the following ways to meet their joint objective.

Place 21 A provides training to people employed mostly (but not exclusively) in SMEs and micro businesses. It provides them with enhanced work experience opportunities and allows them to gain extra qualifications.

Place 21 B focuses on systems and design rather than learning. It engages SME and micro business employers, encouraging them to support the design and development of training systems that are industry relevant. Students participating in Place 21A benefit from this project as it brings businesses closer to the ‘training table’.

Place 21 C supports people furthest from the labour market who face multiple barriers to labour market entry. Through learning centres located in deprived areas across West Suffolk, it provides a range of discrete joined up services which develop skills, build confidence and lead to a transformation in people’s life chances. Participants are offered ‘wrap around’ support with clearly identified progression opportunities to mainstream courses and work opportunities.

The projects are in their start-up phase. First results are expected at the end of 2017.

Bounce Back, is a construction training organisation and a decorating Social Enterprise operating in London that receives ESF funding and is co-financed by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).

Bounce Back has had over 800 people complete their programme as of June 2017, and with its focus on employment after release from prison, it is constantly looking for new skills to train that respond to the local skills gaps in the construction industry, improving employment prospects for ex-offenders.

On 20 June 2017 Dr Catherine Blair, Head of the European Social Fund Division at the Department for Work and Pensions, visited a Bounce Back workshop at HMP Wandsworth where offenders approaching release are taught practical skills.

Catherine said: “Today I have seen the importance of giving people a perspective for life outside prison. The project was teaching prisoners how to put up partition walls which provides them with a practical skill. It was great to see the passion from one of the students who wanted to pursue this as a career after realising his mathematical skills could be of use”.

The HMPPS ESF contract for London is operated by Shaw Trust who, through projects such as Bounce Back, are working with ‘hard to reach’ offenders, including men with learning difficulties and disabilities.

Working Futures is a Liverpool City Region programme, which offers a personalised, flexible package of support to help young people, aged 16 to 29 who are currently not in employment, education or training (NEET), to move towards a better future. Everyone enrolling on to the programme is assessed to identify the help that they require. Once the programme is complete participants are supported to move on to employment, self-employment, apprenticeships, Further Education, training or volunteering.

Delivered by a partnership of 22 voluntary, community and social enterprise providers across the Liverpool City Region, the project offers short, medium and long term support, using funding from ESF and the Youth Employment Initiative.

Sarah, 25, joined the Working Futures programme, offered by YouthFed, with low self-confidence and a lack of direction for the future.

Through the one-to-one support available on the programme, she came to realise that she has lots of great skills and gained enough confidence to join group sessions. Here, she took a leading role and offered support for others.

Sarah also decided that she wanted to return to hairdressing. Since September 2017 she has been undertaking NVQ Level 2 Hairdressing at West Cheshire College, combining study with the care of her son.

“Working futures really helped to motivate me, develop my skills and confidence and get me to where I am today”

European Social Fund Priorities

The ambitions for ESF funding include tackling barriers and achieving real benefits for individuals, enterprises and local communities. ESF must only be used where there is a demonstrable need; for example where there is market failure or where ESF will add value to and not duplicate existing nationally funded provision.

The programme contributes to policies to increase the employment rate, by increasing the numbers of unemployed and economically inactive people entering sustainable jobs. The strong focus on those at a disadvantage in the labour market helps improve social inclusion. It also supports efforts to reduce the gender employment gap by ensuring an appropriate proportion of participants are women and tackles youth unemployment in areas where the rate is particularly high.

Additionally, the fund can be used to prepare young people for working life, in particular by reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET.

The programme contributes to policies to develop a skilled and adaptable workforce and to increase productivity, by helping people tackle their basic skills needs and develop the intermediate and higher level skills they and their employers need.

Each target group for ESF provision has been selected to complement national and European priorities.

Access to employment for job-seekers and inactive people

Even though unemployment is falling, employment rates are lower among groups at a disadvantage in the labour market; including those with disabilities or from ethnic minorities among others. These disadvantaged groups are amongst the most ‘at risk’ of not being able to compete for work. Where an activity isn’t covered by national funding, an ESF-funded project can provide valuable support to these target groups.

Funded by the Big Lottery Fund CFO and the European Social Fund, Who Dares Works is run by Active Plus and based in West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The project brings together a partnership of 17 Cornwall based social enterprises, and aims to help a minimum of 850 people who need support to connect with work, education and training. Joining the project gives participants the chance to:

• join a course delivered by military veterans to build confidence, motivation and teamwork.

• team up with a mentor for 1-2-1 support.

• access a range of specialist help – including money management, mental health, learning disabilities, substance misuse, domestic abuse and parenting.

• try out a host of work related activity – including taster days, work experience, volunteering and developing community projects.

• get involved in project delivery, evaluation and management through co-production.

• take advantage of in-work-support.

The Single Parent Employment Pathway ESF project, managed by Gingerbread, is supporting single parents into employment, education, training and job search in the Liverpool City Region. Individual information, advice and guidance sessions with a support worker help each participant to identify their needs, then guide them to relevant opportunities which include:

• volunteering with partner organisations.

• ‘Job Club’ employment sessions including CV writing and interview skills.

• linking participants with the appropriate educational support.

The project has seen 400 single parents taking part in the programme by October 2017 – 64 of these having found employment and 76 moving onto further training or job search. By the end of the project in 2018 it is expected that 460 single parents will have taken part with 40% moving into employment and 60% going onto further training.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is one of the Co-financing Organisations (CFO) for the European Social Fund. DWP procures and contract manages provision aimed at: improving employment opportunities; promoting social inclusion; and helping people to fulfil their potential.

Department for Work and Pensions (on GOV.UK)

Help to Work is a project provided by Kennedy Scott in the South East of England’s Coast to Capital LEP area and is co-financed by DWP. The project uses an innovative approach to provide support to up to 800 unemployed adults, removing their barriers to work and enabling them to enter sustainable employment.

The project’s target groups include lone parents, those with language barriers and individuals with disabilities and complex health conditions. All participants are given access to the Help to Work e-Circle of Support; a highly innovative digital platform designed to enable individuals to purchase wellbeing and employment services to support them towards work.

Each participant is given £100 to spend on services including work clothes, skills classes and qualifications. The project also offers more traditional support like CV writing and condition management.

24-year-old Donnisha from Brighton has recently secured a position as a HR Advisor in the NHS following just two weeks of employability support.

Donnisha joined Kennedy Scott’s Help to Work programme in the South East in May 2017.

She had recently returned from Dubai after giving up her life in the UK for a job that didn’t materialise. On her return she was unemployed and homeless, staying on a friend’s sofa. She was also suffering with both physical and mental health conditions, worsened by her circumstances.

Her Caseworker supported her through the application and recruitment process, helping her to apply for two positions. One of the vacancies Donnisha applied for was a HR Advisor role within the NHS. She was successful in securing the position and her Caseworker coached her through next stages with things like gathering references.

Donnisha’s financial situation meant she wasn’t in a position to purchase work clothes nor could she afford the travel to and from work prior to receiving her first paycheck. Instead, she utilised Help to Work’s innovative digital platform to support her return back to work. This enabled Donnisha to purchase retail vouchers for work clothes and travel cards for her to commute to her new job.

Donnisha is now receiving in-work support from her Caseworker. She is doing remarkably well, having sustained work for 5 months and is a valued member of the team.

Donnisha is now financially stable, has her own home and is looking forward to her future.

Young people and the Youth Employment Initiative

Young people are a priority for the ESF programme because youth unemployment is high, and many young people lack the basic skills to enable them to enter the workforce. ESF also aims to contribute to continuing efforts to reduce child poverty in low income households. The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) provides a separate European funding source that complements ESF funding in areas where there is higher youth unemployment.

The Youth Employment Skills (YES ESF project is an initiative run by REED in Partnership and co-financed by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). The project works with disadvantaged young people in London, with no previous work experience, or very little work experience, to help them understand the benefits of apprenticeships and how to find and sustain employment.

There are different streams of the project, with the targeted intervention for young people NEET with Mental Health difficulties, drug or alcohol abuse issues or suffering from homelessness, focused on reducing the number of participants who are NEET for extended periods. The participants are therefore less likely to suffer from reduced opportunities in the labour market due to long-term NEET status.

The targeted intervention to support young people from disadvantaged Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities is supporting workless young people (aged 18-24) from particular BAME groups that perform least well in the labour market, to enter and sustain work at the level of the London Living Wage.

Participants are recruited onto the programme through an active marketing strategy and social media campaigns. All young people who join the programme are allocated a Personal Adviser who works with them to overcome barriers to securing work or an apprenticeship. This includes access to employability and vocational training, support to access external provision, help with costs for interview clothes and travel and in-work support to sustain employment.

The project runs from September 2016 to March 2018 and aims to recruit 612 young people onto its Mental Health programme and 1587 onto its BAME programme. In October 2017 it had recruited 1112 and 2680 participants onto its Mental Health and BAME programmes.

For young people, who are aged 14-19 and are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and those at risk of becoming NEET, we buy and manage training and support through ESF. We do this as a shared service for the Education Funding Agency (EFA).

Education and Skills Funding Agency (on GOV.UK)

The MyGo project in Greater Ipswich, New Anglia is provided by Suffolk County Council and uses ESF funding to tackle youth unemployment in rural areas, helping young people to find and sustain employment and return to education. MyGo coaches work closely with DWP coaches in order to help young people get back into work and to prevent a young person from becoming NEET (not in education, employment, or training).

MyGo has a wide variety of services on offer to complement national provision.

• My-path helps young people learn the essentials for finding, preparing and moving into a new career.

• Courses that young people can do with their work coach such as CV and application writing and interview techniques/mock interviews.

• Young people may be prevented from meeting with Work Coaches due to poor transport links, or be afraid of being seen in a Jobcentre and therefore the MyGo work coaches are able to travel to a more convenient location for the participant.

• MyGo also has strong employer relationships, with some employers only using the MyGo service to fill their vacant positions. MyGo coaches will also look through jobsites and contact the employers directly and secure the interview for project participants.

For most people, getting up and leaving the house in the morning, getting a bus or talking to cashiers is a natural part of our day, but for Chloe, these are major hurdles that she has to overcome. Suffering from learning difficulties, dyspraxia, dyslexia, severe anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, Chloe encountered issue after issue impacting her confidence and self-esteem.

Only 18, not in employment education or training (NEET) and lacking key functional skills and qualifications, Chloe attended an appointment at Sudbury Jobcentre Plus and met MyGo Coach Sam. After a strong level of trust was established Sam and Chloe steadily worked on improving her confidence and employability skills and she is now studying for Maths and English qualifications.

Chloe is interested in nature and wildlife, and has now been referred to MyGo partner Green Light Trust, where she will take part in their outdoors focused confidence-boosting course while learning key wildlife sustainability skills.

“MyGo has helped me so much with my confidence and knowing there is someone there who wants to help me. Finding an organisation that has seen my journey through to the end is something I have not experienced before and for this I am thankful.”

Young Ambition Tees Valley provides young people aged 15 to 29 of NEET (not in employment, education or training) status with caseworker support to progress on personalised routeways to education, employment and training.

The project, run by New College Durham across 43 locations, uses a combined ESF, Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and UK investment to identify, engage and support over 1,700 eligible participants that are a significant distance from work or mainstream education.

The project provides support that builds confidence in accessing education or employment opportunities, and also provides funds to remove barriers, such as travel costs or childcare, enabling steady but effective steps towards work.

“The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) provides support to young people living in the regions where youth unemployment was higher than 25% in 2012.” Europa.eu website

In the Tees Valley Local Enterprise Area alone, YEI funding is expected to support up to 9,500 young people aged 15 to 29 to move into education, employment, self-employment or training.

The Working Futures project in Liverpool is delivered by a partnership of 22 voluntary, community and social enterprise providers across the Liverpool City Region offering short, medium and long term support, using funding from ESF and the Youth Employment Initiative.

On 15 June 2017, the Working Futures Programme team at Greenbank College in Liverpool welcomed Dr Catherine Blair - Head of the European Social Fund (ESF) Division, and representatives from other funders and stakeholders including Liverpool City Region (LCR) Combined Authority and LCR Local Enterprise Partnership.

The visit provided an opportunity for strategic partners to witness first-hand the difference that Working Futures has made for local people aged 16 to 29 who were not in education, employment or training.

Dr Catherine Blair commented: “I was delighted to visit Greenbank College and in particular to learn how the project we support makes a real difference to young people’s lives. I heard from young people with very different backgrounds and interests, but all quoted improved confidence and feeling well-equipped and supported for the future. Many thanks for all the hard work and dedication from the Working Futures team.”

As of September 2017 the project has helped over 1000 young people to progress towards learning and work.

Black Country Impact receives ESF and YEI funding to address the barriers faced by unemployed individuals aged 15-29 years NEET, supporting them to secure positive outcomes including employment, apprenticeships, training and further education.

This project, run by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, offers specialist commissioned provision for key groups such as care leavers, teenage mothers, offenders, homeless and substance misusers, and those furthest away from the labour market in need of additional support to access national provision.

By August 2017 the project had helped 163 people to achieve positive outcomes, with many more participants currently working towards their goals of employment or gaining lifelong skills and trades.

Christopher signed up to Black Country Impact at a careers fair, where he informed advisors he was currently unemployed due to leaving his previous job as a driver to become a carer for his daughter when she fell ill. Due to her recovery, he was now ready to re-enter employment.

With ambitions to become a professional Large Goods Vehicle driver but financial barriers prohibiting him from completing the LGV training course, Black Country Impact stepped in to arrange the course for him and provide funding.

Christopher said: “My experience with Black Country Impact has changed my life. The LGV training course has set me up for life. I am now looking forward to what the future holds for me and my family.” “I moved back home from Durham and after two weeks of job searching I came across the Black Country Impact programme.

The Employer Engagement Team arranged for me to interview with the Cornerstone Café. The following week I found myself back in employment! I am back doing something that I love!” Samantha, Black Country Impact participant

“Sam is just the right person for the café. I was so impressed by the Black Country Impact programme, who in such a short space of time introduced Sam to this post”. Jenny, Business owner.

Providing support to those furthest away from the labour market

This ESF priority is about promoting equal opportunities and active participation, and improving employability. This support includes interventions for prisoners in custody and on release, marginalised individuals and those with multiple and complex barriers to education, training and employment.

“Big Lottery Fund is matching funds from the European Social Fund (ESF) Programme to invest in local projects tackling the root causes of poverty, promoting social inclusion and driving local jobs and growth”. Big Lottery Fund Co-financing Organisation

Create Your Future, run by the Links Partnership and Community Links, is an ESF project operating in London and co-financed by the Big Lottery Fund. The aim is to provide support for long term unemployed and economically inactive Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women to improve skills, confidence and employability and to remove significant barriers to participation.

The Links Partnership started activity in January 2017 and, after the initial period of project start-up and completing recruitment, the Links Partnership expects to engage up to 1,300 women on the programme over the next 3 years.

The Create Your Future provision is a ten-week bespoke programme offering needs assessments and sessions with mentors, personal development, and skills development with expert trainers. The project also arranges job fairs and work experience for participants to facilitate their move into employment or further training after completing the programme.

The ESF funded SEEK project (Social Enterprise Entrepreneurs Kit), run by The Platform and co-financed by the Big Lottery Fund, works with the unemployed or economically inactive most at risk of social exclusion in the South East. The project provides support to set up new social enterprises and to gain employability skills so participants can start their own social enterprise or move into other employment opportunities.

Social enterprises are revenue-generating businesses whose surpluses are reinvested either in the business or in the community. Therefore, creating more social enterprises, encouraging their growth, and the delivery of social inclusion activities is a way of maximising the positive impact to the local area from a relatively small amount of funding. This local benefit is in addition to the improved social inclusion of the project’s participants.
The project aims to engage with up to 45 participants and would like to support at least 77% of these into employment and self-employment on leaving the programme.

“Projects aimed at improving employability are seen as key to changing offender’s lives and reducing reoffending…a range of providers and sub-contractors…help offenders and ex-offenders access employment services assisting them to gain employment” HMPPS Co-financing Organisation

Changing Lives, an APM (Advanced Personnel Management) subcontractor, works with female offenders in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, aiming to help facilitate their effective rehabilitation. This ESF project is co-funded via Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).

At the centre of Changing Lives approach is an ethos based on raising self-esteem and aspirations by offering opportunities and supporting informed choices.

Changing Lives specialist programmes are built around one-to-one support, as well as help with practical issues like dealing with an addiction or managing benefits and finances.

These include:

• offending support programmes, services for women involved in sex work.

• specialist women only accommodation projects for women at risk of homelessness and domestic violence.

Changing Lives aim to get up to 803 women to enrol on the programme, and by October 2017 there had been 332 enrolments.

Sova, are a sub-contractor of Ixion in the West Midlands region and deliver the HMPPS CFO3 programme by providing specialist mentoring support for participants in custody, through the gate and into the community, with a specific focus on specialist mentoring for young people who have been through the care system.

This ESF project aims to reduce reoffending in the West Midlands, using mentoring for offenders to address their individual needs and signposting to other interventions as appropriate.

Sova work with participants for an average of 8 weeks prior to release, seeing participants once a week to assist them in accessing the appropriate support in custody, such as Resettlement Housing teams, Mental Health Support and linking into Jobcentre Plus. Working in partnership with Pact/Ixion when additional training needs are identified the project is able to access provision that complements their service delivery.

Langley House Trust, an Ixion subcontractor deliver HMPPS CFO3 provision in the South East to facilitate the rehabilitation of offenders after they have served long sentences. HMPPS is co-financing this ESF project which aims to provide support to 122 ex-offenders.

Provision includes identifying and accessing local community services, building links and relationships within the community and practical support such as securing accommodation. This ongoing support aims to ensure the offender’s transition back into the community following long sentences is successful.

The support worker, assigned to each offender, also provides support with general issues such as life skills (how to manage a home and pay bills) and preparations for release.

Where there are significant complex needs such as mental health or drug and alcohol usage, Langley House Trust liaises with internal and external agencies, making and tracking referrals.

By June 2017 there had been 43 participants on the programme.

Improving skills for growth

The European Social Fund will enhance equal access to lifelong learning and improve the labour market relevance of education and training systems. This ESF priority focuses on improving the skills of individuals to meet their goals and the needs of the local economy and improves employer participation in learning so that it is responsive to the needs of the local economy.

Upskilling the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Sector is run by The Learning Partnership for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and co-financed by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). The project provides support and training to increase the skills levels of VCSE employees and volunteers to improve engagement with individuals who need support to move into employment and increase awareness of the value of the VCSE sector.

The project works with organisations to:

• build skills sets for managers and front line staff.

• improve efficiency and change management skills for managers.

• provide teaching accreditation for staff to be able to offer bespoke training courses.

• support the acquisition of volunteer management skills.

At this early stage, the project has worked with a variety of organisations, analysing training needs and recruiting staff onto training programmes resulting in one Level 4 Volunteer Management Qualification.

Skills Support for Redundancy, a project run by The Consultancy Home Counties (TCHC) and co-financed by the ESFA, is working with employees in New Anglia facing redundancy, helping them to stay in the labour market by providing them with enhanced skills to make them more competitive.

The service has been designed to respond quickly to the specific needs of employers. It offers their staff targeted information advice and guidance and focuses on training opportunities that will up-skill or re-skill employees, helping to retain skilled workers in the local area and key sectors.

The support offered includes employment and careers coaching, mentoring, job brokerage, training and re-skilling. The service works in conjunction with Jobcentre Plus, employment agencies and other local partners to optimise the opportunities available wherever possible.

As a result of this project’s intervention over 20 of those made redundant have already found paid employment and apprenticeships.

Skills Support for the Employed and Unemployed, a project provided by the National Skills Academy for Financial Service, provides skills training for both employed and unemployed people in West Sussex, Brighton & Hove, Lewes, the Gatwick Diamond and Croydon.

The project is aiming to provide support for up to 850 people by July 2018 and by August 2017 had already assessed and made plans for 190 learners. The services being delivered target the Coast to Capital LEP area’s key sectors for growth:

• Advanced manufacturing and engineering

• Creative, digital and IT

• Environmental technologies

• Financial and business services

• Health and life sciences

• Care

• Construction

• Visitor economy

The project supports equal access to lifelong learning and where groups are under-represented in certain sectors they focus on provision for that group, including omen, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups and the over 50s.

Cultivator Skills aims to provide relevant, advanced skills for Cornwall’s Creative Industries sector’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The project offers a range of Creative Industries specific skills support programmes to pre-start individuals through to established SMEs.

Run by Creative Kernow, the project undertakes a Development Needs Analysis with businesses and helps them to compile a Business Development Action Plan.

The action plan will then be completed with the help of Cultivator Skills who, over the course of the programme, will:

• develop existing and new partnerships with the Higher Education and Further Education sectors.

• support sector specific Information Advice and Guidance.

• arrange mentoring and facilitate internships.

• arrange sector relevant skills provision with local education providers.

• support other activities with SMEs that enable students, graduates and non-graduates to gain industry relevant experience and skills.

Although in the early stages, 347 of up to 1000 Development Needs Analysis sessions anticipated by the end of the programme had been completed by October 2017.

Further Information

European Social Fund

The European Social Fund is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds. You can find more information on the ESIF Website.

Europa

The Europa website provides information on a wide range of European Union activities including ESF.

Twitter

Twitter is used by the Managing Authority to help communicate ESF opportunities and achievements. Follow us on Twitter: @esif1420england.

LEP Network

The Local Enterprise Partnership network helps provide information about ESF and the other national and ESI Funds at the local level.

DWP

The Department for Work and Pensions acts as a Co-Financing Organisation for projects that improve people’s employability.

ESFA

The ESFA acts as a Co-Financing Organisation for projects that help people improve their skills.

HMPPS

HMPPS acts as a Co-financing Organisation for projects that help offenders and ex-offenders move towards and into the labour market.

National Lottery Community Fund

National Lottery Community Fund acts as a Co-Financing Organisation for projects that tackle poverty, promote social inclusion and improve people’s employability.

Greater London Authority

The Greater London Authority is an Intermediate Body and a Co-Financing Organisation for ESIF projects in London.