European Funding 2014-20 –Newcastle’s approach

25 March 2015

Outcomes

• Informed participants – better understanding of – different opportunities– the themes of ESIF programme– Need and options around match-funding– Range of delivery models such as sub-contracting

via the Newcastle VC Consortium

• Relevance of the opportunities for your organisation

• Options for collaboration & partnership

Agenda

13:40 – Welcome and introduction

13:45 – ESIF programme opportunities

14:10 – Newcastle’s approach

14:30 – Models of delivery

14:40 – Break

15:00 – Workshop 1

15:35 – Workshop 2

16:15 - Next steps

5 workshops:

1. Employability and skills

2. Young people

3. Community-led local development

4. Social Inclusion (multiple barriers and health inequalities)

5. Social Inclusion (financial and digital inclusion)

The European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) 2014-20

• 2 types of European funds: ERDF and ESF

• 7-year programme – about to start and will run until 2023

• National programme managed by DCLG and DWP with input from the Local Economic Partnership (LEP) and local partners

• £463m available - £249m ERDF and £214 ESF

• Complex – different pots and application processes

What we know What we don’t know

1. Notional allocations (some flexibility & variance

2. Content of programme, priorities & activities

National eligibility rules – payment methods

3. Types of participants/clients & indicators

TARGETS!! Value for Money?

4. Entry routes in the programme The details! Uncertainty over CLLD, second half of the programme

5. Minimum size of projects (direct bidding £100k including match)

Preferred geographical coverage: LEP wide? Likely not to be prescriptive

6. Broad timescales for calls Duration of appraisal, first approvals?

European, National & Regional policies

European 2020 AgendaSmart, inclusive and sustainable growth

National drivers- Welfare reform, work

programme- Youth contract, apprenticeships- Social Justice strategy

Regional- Strategic Economic Plan- City Deals- LEP ESIF strategy

ESIF Programme

ESIF – European contribution to regional growth in line with regional aspirations and national policies

ERDF – Regional allocations (£m)

Innovation, 53 ICT, 4 (Durham only)

SMEs, 112

Low carbon, 64

Climate change adapta-tion, 11

Social Inclusion, 4

In Newcastle, 5 strands / ERDF Priorities

ESF - regional Allocations (£m)

Employabil-ity; 38.7

Social Inclusion; 29

Young people;

14.3

Area-based intervention,

15

Skills; 114

In Newcastle, 5 key strands

An overview of ESF

• Inclusive Labour Markets– Access to employment for jobseekers and inactive

people– Sustainable integration of young people– Social inclusion– Community-led local development

• Skills for growth– Lifelong learning, training for the employed or under-

employed– Building new partnerships and systems for education

and training more relevant to labour market

Employability

• Target groups: long-term unemployed, over 50, lone parents, disabled or health issues, BMEs and other protected characteristics

• Pre-traineeship and pre-work programme assistance, access to apprenticeships, advice and guidance

• Address basic skills needs of unemployed/inactive people

• Provide support to women (older women, returners, carers, women from ethnic minorities) – including career advice

Sustainable integration of young people

• Access to traineeships and apprenticeships

• Engage marginalised 15-18 year olds and reconnect them with education/training

• Basic skills for NEETs

• Work experience and pre-employment training to unemployed 18-24 year olds

• Support to young lone parents (including childcare)

Active Inclusion

• Support people with multiple and complex barriers to move closer or into the labour market

• To engage marginalised individuals and support them to re-connect with education, training or employment

• Targeted and holistic interventions to tackle:– Digital exclusion– Debt and money management– Drug and alcohol dependency– Educational attaintment (basic skills, ESOL)– Family, parenting and relationship problems– Caring responsibilities– Health problems (including mental health)– Gangs– Homelessness– Learning difficulties and disabilities – Life skills– Offending

Active Inclusion

• Examples of activities:

– Basic skills and ESOL training

– Volunteering

– First contact engagement activities (community-based)

– Soft, basic and life skills training

– Development of local networks, clubs and groups providing peer support

Emerging themes in the NE area

• Multiple barriers to employment• Health inequality• Financial Inclusion• Digital Inclusion

Local context and narrative being developed

Could be a geographical focus

(VONNE / BIG Lottery) – NE social inclusion group

Community-led local development (CLLD)

• Targeted at disadvantaged areas in LEP areas (20% IMD 2010)

• Between 10,000 to 150,000 residents (as small as a ward)

• Minimum size of £2.8m – competitive process

• Same activities as under Social Inclusion + capacity building and empowerment – “adds value to mainstream provision”

• Led by a Local Action Group and administered by an accountable body

• Package of projects (requires match-funding) which fit within a CLLD strategy

• Mainly ESF (£14m) + ERDF (£4m for entrepreneurial activities)

Skills for growth

1. improving the skills of individuals to meet their goals and the needs of the local economy, primarily training, advising or supporting individuals, including those in work but at risk due to skills deficiencies or facing redundancy

2. improving employer participation and engagement in learning so that it is responsive to the needs of the local economy and more individuals progress into or within learning. This is primarily about improving partnerships and systems

Skills for growth (1)

• To address the basic skills needs of employed people, particularly in SMEs and Micro businesses

• To increase the skills levels of employed people from the existing level to the next level up, to encourage progression in employment.

• To increase the number of people with technical and job specific skills, particularly at level 3 and above and into higher and advanced level apprenticeships, to support business growth

• To increase the skills levels of employed women to encourage progression in employment help address the gender employment and wage gap

Skills for growth (activities)

• skills training for people facing in work poverty to help them progress and increase their pay and working hours or obtain better quality higher paid jobs and move out of poverty (includes support for part-time workers - mostly female – who wish to upskill to work longer hours and/or progress within work);

• support for informal learning and community based learning

• initiatives to promote participation by women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) provision

• funding development of new outreach activity, including taster or access courses, particularly where this is being co-designed with intermediaries or representatives of target groups and/or involves innovative approaches (intermediate/high level skills)

Participants (outputs)

• Number of participants– Unemployed including long-term unemployed– Inactive– Employed

• Other characteristics to be recorded:- gender, ethnic background, disabilities/health

problem, lone parents- Below 25 (including NEETs), over 50 years of age- Participants who live in a single adult household with

dependent children

Participants (results)

• In education or training• Into employment or job search• Gaining basic skills• Gaining level 2 or below qualifications• Gaining level 3 and above qualification• Receiving childcare support• Employed women gaining improved labour

market status

Entry routes into the programme

• Direct bidding (50% match-funding. Min £50k ESF) – check calls on https://www.gov.uk/european-structural-investment-funds

• CLLD (50% match-funding) – awaiting guidance

• Community Grants (up to £15,000, no match-funding required)

• Co-financing (100% project costs):– Skills Funding Agency (skills, young people and

employability)– DWP (employability)– BIG Lottery (social inclusion)

3-year projects

Direct bidding

Application process – expect 6 -12 months(OA is 29 pages!!)

Calls published

Applicants register online & submit outline application

Appraisal including strategic fit

Successful applicant to complete a full application

Appraisal and final decision

2-6 months 3 months? 1-3 months? 3 months ?

Frequency of calls: March 2015 and summer 2015

https://www.gov.uk/european-structural-investment-funds

ESF Co-financing

• BIG Lottery: 2-stage application process with development grant for applicants successful with first stage - to be launched summer 2015 (delivery starts 2016) http://vonne.org.uk/european-funding

• SFA and DWP: procurement process – providers to be registered first before tendering - to be launched summer 2015 (delivery starts 2016 but retrospection allowed)

Expect larger and fewer projects to be funded with one lead applicant / prime contractor!!

“Indirect” access to resources

• Delivery partner: BIG Lottery & Direct bidding – negotiation, partnership agreement, named in application, clarity over activities & outcomes, match-funding

• Sub-contractor: DWP and SFA co-financing & Direct bidding – competitive process, prescriptive, 100% costs recoverable

Check the national guidance - under development

Pros and cons!!Also terms of payments?

Finally…

• Coverage: NE versus Newcastle versus local (specified in calls – 1 award, multiple awards)

• Strategic fit – to be tested…• Timescale: long development phase• A 7-year programme• Guidance available – final programme and

documents in June 2015