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 these tendering rounds, 750 new projects started 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 LSC CFOs are continuing to award contracts for about £500 million of ESF funding under the first LSC e-procurement process and ESF delivery has already commenced. Details of live ESF contracts can be found on the LSC website.
From 31 October 2008, the LSC has opened a Qualified Provider Framework (QPF) for providers of education and training services. The QPF is a maintained list of all providers from which the LSC will secure education and training services. This list will incorporate those providers with whom the LSC will negotiate and/or invite to tender (including ESF tendering rounds).
The details of all existing LSC providers are on the Qualified Provider Framework. Providers only need to take action if they wish to receive invitations to tender from the LSC.
Any provider that wishes to be included in the LSC’s tendering round in January 2009 needs to ensure that they apply to pre-qualify by 10th December 2008. Providers who do not apply to pre-qualify by this date will not be eligible to receive invitations to tender in January 2009. This will not impact on a provider’s ability to continue to negotiate with the LSC.
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. 70 contracts were awarded amounting to about £250 million in total. Projects started from June.
In the summer, DWP issued revised specifications for four tender rounds which did not result in the award of contracts. These are in London and the North East. Tendering is now complete and results have been announced on the DWP website.
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 anticipated that a further tendering round will be launched and details will be released on the SEEDA website when available.
London Development Agency
The successfully contracted projects of the London Development Agency's (LDA) first ESF 2007-10 tendering round are available on the LDA website.
The LDA has launched its second ESF prospectus for the 2007-10 programme. This prospectus is made of six specifications which are designed to support unemployed and economically inactive Londoners progress into further education and employment.
In order to apply for funding under this new tendering round, providers must have registered on the CompeteFor system, an online advertising and supplier short-listing tool. Please visit www.CompeteFor.com in order to register. This is a two stage application process. The first stage is an online questionnaire on CompeteFor and the second stage is completion of an application form which will be sent to successful applications via CompeteFor. The closing date for the submission of the first stage questionnaire is Tuesday 13th January 2009 at 16.00hrs. Support workshops are being run for potential applicants.
The LDA is also co-financing the Community Grants programme which gives £12,000 grants to small, third-sector organisations. The Greater London Enterprise (GLE) is the managing agent for Community Grants and applications under the first tendering round of the London ESF Community Grants Programme are currently under consideration. The results will be placed on the GLE website in due course. There will be further funding rounds under the Community Grants programme in 2009.
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.
In October 2008 London Councils' launched a second tendering round, with a closing date of 12 noon on Monday 17 November. More information is available on the London Councils Website.
Luton Borough Council and Bedfordshire County Council
Luton Borough Council and Bedfordshire County Council launched a joint prospectus for Luton and Bedfordshire on 29 January 2008. Luton Borough Council announced details of successful ESF tenders on 16 May and these can be found on its website. Bedfordshire County Council has also let all its contracts arising from the tendering round, and details can be found on its website.
Bedfordshire County Council plan to issue a further tender on 11 December. Details will be available on its website.
East of England Development Agency
The East of England Development Agency has tendered for three ESF projects under its Co-financing Plan for 2007-2010. The Co-financed ESF contracts have been awarded to the following organisations:
ESF Priority 1
The 'Inspiring Women's Enterprise' contract has been awarded to NWES.
ESF Priority 2
The ‘English Language Training for Migrant workers’ contract has been awarded to The Learning Partnership Bedfordshire and Luton Ltd.
The ‘Improving Capabilities - Beyond 2010’ has been awarded to ExDRA (Essex Development & Regeneration Agency).
EEDA tendered for a 'Volunteering into Employment' project financed under ESF Priority 1 on 17 October. Applications are currently being assessed and it is hoped the contract will be awarded by January 2009.
EEDA have also recently tendered for a 'Financial Inclusion and Capability' project financed under ESF Priority 1. The closing date for applications is Tuesday 6 January 2009.
Further details are on the EEDA website.
East Midlands Local Authority Consortium
The East Midlands Local Authority Consortium ESF tender application round has ended and successful tenderers have been informed.
More information is available on the consortium’s ESF website, which also contains a breakdown of successful tenders.
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. ESF funding was provided from Priority 1: Extending employment opportunities, including an allocation for Community Grants co-ordination.
Six projects (totalling £13m) were selected, to provide support to individuals with employability skills and help them into work. A range of advice and guidance will be provided in areas such as pre-employment support, transition to work, outreach and engagement, employment retention and skill building and career progression.
In addition £3m 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.
Contracts have now been issued to all above successful Applicants and activity has now commenced.
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 will support five themes: research; graduate placements; developing entrepreneurship and enterprise; employer demand led provision; and raising aspirations.
The delivery of the graduate placement theme has successfully been tendered for by Cornwall College. Tenders for the remaining 4 themes were considered for approval at a meeting in November and the results will be announced shortly.
More information is available on the Convergence website.
Innovative and transnational projects
A call for proposals for innovative and transnational projects was launched on 31 October 2008. Information is available here.
Technical Assistance
Information about ESF technical assistance funds is available here.