Updated 12 March 2013
2007-2013 ESF Funding Opportunities
ESF funding opportunities comprise:
- Co-financing Organisations funding
This makes up the majority of ESF funding and details of funding opportunities are on this page - Technical assistance
Funding for preparatory, management, monitoring, evaluation, information and control activities of the ESF Operational Programme, together with activities to reinforce the administrative capacity for implementing the funds, at national and local levels. These funds are predominantly used to support ESF delivery by Co-Financing Organisations (CFOs).
- Community Grants
Community Grants are grants of up to £12,000 which enable small voluntary and community organisations to reach out to some of the most disadvantaged and excluded people and engage them in activities that can help them move closer to the labour market.
Co-financing Organisations
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 Skills Funding Agency, the Department for Work and Pensions Delivery Directorate and the National Offender Management Service are CFOs across the whole of England. A few local authorities are also CFOs.
CFOs contract with the providers that deliver ESF projects on the ground. Providers can be from the private, public or voluntary 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.
Details of any current, recent or planned CFO tendering rounds are provided below.
- Department for Work and Pensions
- National Offender Management Service
- Skills Funding Agency
- Central Bedfordshire and Bedfordshire Borough Council
- East Midlands Local Authority Consortium
- London Councils
- Greater London Authority
- Luton Borough Council
Details of previous tendering rounds under the first half of the programme (2007 – 2010) can be viewed via the National Archives website.
- Projects funded so far under the 2007-2013 ESF programme are available on this website.
Department for Work and Pensions
There are no funding opportunities at the current time.
The Invitation to Tender for the Day One Support for Young People Trailblazer provision in England has closed. This was made available to eligible organisations on the Framework for the Provision of Employment Related Support Services.
Contracts have been awarded to successful bidders and the provision went live in North and South London in December 2012.
In line with Cabinet Office Guidance details of all live public sector opportunities to tender and contract information is published on Contracts Finder on the Business Link website. The published information relates to contracts with a value of £10,000 and above.
National Offender Management Service (NOMS)
There are no funding opportunities at the present time.
- NOMS Social Enterprise (Ministry of Justice website)
Please email cfo-social enterprise@noms.gsi.gov.uk with any queries.
Skills Funding Agency
In order to be eligible to receive funding from the Chief Executive of Skills Funding (the Agency), including European Social Fund, providers must be entered on the Register of Training Organisations. (An exception to this is the Young People NEET provision mentioned below.) Entry on the Register does not automatically entitle a provider to funding, but it means that they will be eligible to be invited to compete for future funding opportunities.
Further information is available on the Agency’s website:
Education and Training to Young People NEET
The Skills Funding Agency has announced a new ESF tendering round for young people NEET (not in education, employment or training) activity in England. Two pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) opened on 24 January 2013: one for providers on the Skills Funding Agency’s Register of Training Organisations; and another for organisations that are not on the Register. Organisations that pass the PQQ will be eligible to be invited to the subsequent Invitation to Tender (ITT) that forms the next phase of this procurement process. The PQQ closed on Tuesday 19 February 2013.
ITT to be published: 4 March 2013
ITT closes: 5 April 2013
Central Bedfordshire Council
There are no funding opportunities at the present time.
Website: www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/esf
East Midlands Local Authority Consortium
There are no funding opportunities at the present time.
London Councils
Bidding for the two new programmes announced in September 2012 is now closed. The results for all the specifications are now available at:
- Borough co-financing tender round results (London councils website)
Further information:
Greater London Authority (GLA)
Programme name: Day One Support for Young People (see Department for Work and Pensions above)
Luton Borough Council
All ESF tendering for Luton Borough Council has now been completed.
The Council had previously carried out five procurement rounds and a total of ten ESF co-financed projects are currently being delivered.
