All RDAs across England are closing by March 2012
(see transition and closure section).
With our resources reducing steadily, this page has not been recently updated and the information below may not be current.
If in doubt, please contact us directly.
European Social Fund
Latest News
From 01 July 2011, European programmes will be directly
managed by Central Government. Further
information is available on our funding pages.
The European Social Fund (ESF) was set up to improve employment
opportunities in the European Union and so help raise standards of
living. It aims to help people fulfil their potential by giving
them better skills and better job prospects.
In 2007, the EU launched a new round of ESF programmes for the next
seven years to 2013. The major focus for European programmes is
helping to deliver the Lisbon Agenda, which highlights innovation,
competitiveness and the development of employment and skills for
the European workforce. The Gothenburg Council added a
sustainability strand to these issues.
Overall, they seek to enable Europe to become "the most
competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world,
capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs
and greater social inclusion".
£134 million (plus match-funding) is available to Cornwall and the
Isles of Scilly through the new ESF Convergence programme and £98
million (plus match-funding) to the rest of the South West through
the new ESF Regional Competitiveness and Employment programme
(Competitiveness).
What are the funding priorities?
There are two main priorities in England:
- Priority 1 is 'Extending employment
opportunities'. It supports projects to tackle the
barriers to work faced by unemployed and disadvantaged people.
- Priority 2 is 'Developing a skilled and adaptable
workforce'. It supports projects to train people who do
not have the basic skills needed in the workplace.
In the South West these two national priorities translate into
six regional priorities - three for Convergence and three for
Competitiveness:
| |
Regional Competitiveness and Employment
Objective |
Convergence Objective |
| Worklessness |
Priority 1: Extending employment opportunities |
Priority 4: Tackling barriers to employment |
| Workforce Skills |
Priority 2: Developing a skilled and adaptable workforce |
Priority 5: Improving the skills of the local workforce |
| Technical Assistance |
Priority 3: Technical Assistance |
Priority 6: Technical Assistance |
Priority 5 includes activity to support higher education in
Cornwall.
There are also two themes which are likely to have an impact on one
another:
- equal opportunities & gender equality
- sustainable development.
How will the programme be managed?
Nationally, the ESF Programme is led by the ESF Division of the
Department for Work and Pensions. However, on a regional level the
programme is managed by Government Office for the South West
(GOSW).
The Regional Employment and Skills Partnership (RESP) has a
strategic role within the programme. Having developed the programme
structures, they have a duty to ensure that they are delivered so
that ESF provision contributes to regional employment and skills
priorities.
How do partners access
funding?
The ESF programme will build on and develop the co-financing system
which was introduced in 2000-6. Co-Financing has enabled public
bodies such as the Learning and Skills Council and Jobcentre Plus
to manage ESF and public match funding together. It has made it
simpler to access ESF by freeing applicants from the requirement to
find their own match funding.
In the South West there are two Co-Financing Organisations
(CFOs):
- Learning and Skills Council (LSC)
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
In the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Convergence area additional
work is underway to support higher education in Cornwall. This will
not be co-financed at source but supported through direct projects,
with a call for proposals managed by GOSW.
In both areas community grants will be let as discrete tenders
co-financed by the LSC as set out in their co-financing plan.