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, and about 750 new projects started during 2008. Lists of projects are available on this website.
Links to information on current and forthcoming CFOs tendering rounds are below.
Learning and Skills Council
The LSC is procuring delivery of £100 million of ESF and Train to Gain match funding to support employers and individuals with a holistic package during the economic downturn.
Employers will be able to access end-to-end recruitment support through to ongoing workplace training. Individuals facing redundancy can access training providing them with the economically valuable skills needed to re-enter the labour market. The LSC also hopes to extend existing careers advice contracts with a further £29 million ESF to support individuals who have been made redundant or who are facing redundancy.
Procurement of the ESF and Train to Gain package began in November 2008 when the LSC opened its Qualified Provider Framework (QPF). Existing Train to Gain providers and those demonstrating they are capable of delivering this provision were invited to tender for delivery. Tender appraisals will take place in March.
Providers can still apply to pre-qualify to be eligible for invitations to tender in subsequent tendering rounds run by the LSC.
General information on LSC ESF provision.
Department for Work and Pensions
The results of the first DWP ESF Co-financing funding round are available on the DWP website, including details of organisations which have been awarded contracts. 73 contracts were awarded amounting to about £265 million in total. Projects started from June 2008.
On 2 March 2009, DWP published an invitation to submit Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQ’s) for delivery of further ESF provision (“ESF Phase 2”) in a number of districts. Those organisations successful at the PQQ stage have been invited to a series of ITT events to take place during June 2009. A complete timetable for the ESF Phase 2 Procurement process as well as all previous related correspondence can be found here.
South East England Development Agency
The results of the first ESF Co-financing tendering round are available on the SEEDA website.
The round 2 Invitation to Tender for SEEDA ESF Co-financing in 2007-2010 is now closed and successful organisations will be notified as soon as possible.
It is expected that a further tendering round will be launched in 2009. Details will be released on the SEEDA website when available.
London Development Agency
Results of a £26 million round of ESF funding available under the LDA Co-financing 2007-2010 Prospectus Two were announced on 14 May.
There are further funding rounds for the Community Grants programme under the LDA ESF Programme 2007-2010, which provides grants of up to £12,000 to third sector providers. Community Grants is being managed by Greater London Enterprise on behalf of the LDA. More information
LDA has also developed a Youth fund of £24 million which was launched in spring 2009. More information
London Councils
The London Councils’ first tendering round closed on 11 January 2008. 32 contracts have been awarded and a list of successful projects can be found on the London Councils Website.
A second tendering round took place in autumn 2008. Information on the results will be published on the London Councils’ ESF website in due course.
A further tendering opportunity is planned for 2009. More information is expected shortly.
Luton Borough Council
Luton Borough Council announced details of successful ESF tenders on 16 May 2008 and these can be found on the Luton Borough Council website.
On 6 January 2009 Luton Borough Council launched a new tendering round for five projects under Priority 1 (extending employment opportunities) and one under Priority 2 (developing a skilled and adaptable workforce). The Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) for the latest tender exercise has now closed. 24 Organisations were successful and have been invited to submit a tender. The closing date for submissions is 17 March 2009 and it is hoped that contracts will be issued in April and project activity will start by May 2.
Bedfordshire County Council, Central Bedfordshire Council and Bedford Borough Council
On 1st April 2009 Bedfordshire County Council ceased to exist. The ESF Team for Bedfordshire are now hosted by Central Bedfordshire Council but will be providing a shared service with Bedford Borough Council. The ESF Team currently have 16 projects running in Bedfordshire and details of all these projects can be found here.
East of England Development Agency
The East of England Development Agency has tendered all six ESF projects under its Co-financing Plan for 2007-2011. Details of the five awarded contracts to date can be found on the EEDA website.
EEDA has also recently tendered for an 'Enterprising Communities’ project financed under ESF Priority 1. The closing date for applications is 6th May and it is expected that the contract will be awarded by early July 2009.
Details of the provider once the contract has been awarded will be made available via the EEDA website in due course.
East Midlands Local Authority Consortium
The East Midlands Local Authority Consortium’s first ESF tendering round has been completed and successful tenderers have been informed. More information is available on the consortium’s ESF website, which also contains a breakdown of successful tenders.
The Local Authority Consortium for the East Midlands will be running another tendering round around March 2009.
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 ESF from the transitional ESF Complementary Funding Strand which operates alongside Co-financing in Merseyside until 2010. ESF funding was provided from Priority 1 (extending employment opportunities) including an allocation for Community Grants co-ordination.
Six projects, totalling £13 million were selected to provide support to individuals with employability skills and help them into work. Applications for funding are currently being invited from the six successful projects and the outcome of these will determine if there is scope for additional calls for bids later in the year.
In addition £3 million has been awarded to Community Foundation Merseyside to run the Community Grants Scheme ‘Employable Communities’ designed to help Third Sector organisations deliver employment skills activities to the hardest to reach communities and individuals.
Information on successful applicants, activities targeted and funding allocated is available on the Government Office for the North West website.
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
In the Convergence area, 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 supports five themes: research; graduate placements; developing entrepreneurship and enterprise; employer demand led provision; and raising aspirations.
The organisations that have been or will shortly be contracted to deliver the four themes awarded so far are:
- the University of Exeter-led ‘Combined Universities in Cornwall research programme’ will deliver the theme 1 research project;
- Cornwall College will deliver the theme 2 ‘Graduate Placement’ project, theme 3 ‘Developing Entrepreneurship & Enterprise’ project and theme 5 ‘Raising Aspirations’ project.
- Truro College will deliver the theme 4 ‘Higher Education for business’ project.
No further tendering will be undertaken until the second half of the programme.
More information is available on the Convergence website.
National Offender Management Service
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) was awarded ESF Co-financing Organisation (CFO) status in February 2009 under the England ESF programme. NOMS is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice. It will co-finance ESF activities in all nine English regions to develop the employability of offenders and ex-offenders to help them enter the labour market.
On 13 March, NOMS launched its first tendering rounds for projects under ESF priorities 1 and 4 in England. Providers wishing to express an interest are invited to sign up as a supplier and submit a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) by 30 March 2009. Providers successful at PQQ stage will then be invited to tender and projects are expected to commence in the autumn 2009.
More information is available in the attached contract notice and addendum and email from NOMS to potential applicants.
Innovative and transnational projects
A call for proposals for innovative and transnational projects was launched on 31 October 2008 and closed on 16 January 2009. 73 applications were received and are currently being appraised. The results will be published in early April 2009.
Technical Assistance
Information about ESF technical assistance funds is available here.