Organisations that seek to deliver technical Construction skills to the unemployed and progression into the food & drink manufacturing sector are being invited to apply for European Social Funding by D2N2 LEP.
In order to support applications, the organisation has announced a round of workshops for businesses seeking to apply to European Social Fund open calls.
The workshops will take place in Chesterfield, Nottingham, and Derby in August.
European Social Fund
The European Social Fund (ESF) exists to support skills, enhance access to employment and increase social inclusion.
Employment and skills are a cornerstone of D2N2’s Strategic Economic Plan which is focused on increasing the number of jobs within the economy and ensuring that businesses can access the skilled workers they need, both now and in the future.
ESF funds projects aimed at increasing employment and skills at all levels and across the D2N2 area; higher-level skills, entry-level skills, and employability skills.
ESF also addresses disadvantage in the labour market and 20% of funds are used on active inclusion related activities supporting those furthest from the labour market move closer to employment; recognising that the benefits of growth should be shared by all.
D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership
The D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership is the private sector-led Partnership of business, local authorities, skills and training providers, and community and voluntary services which promote economic growth across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
Its work is partly funded by a European Union allocation of around €250million in European Structural and Investment Funds (or ESIF). This is made up of European Social Fund (ESF), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) funding streams. There are 4 current ESF Open Calls:
- Technical Construction Skills for the Unemployed (Deadline: October 10 2019)
- Supporting Progression into the Food & Drink Manufacturing Sector (Deadline: September 9 2019)
- Careers and Employability Hub (Deadline: August 1 2019)
- Skills Access Hub (Deadline: August 1 2019)
To read more about each click here.
Workshops:
ESF Call and Application Process:
A total of £93 million of ESF funding has been allocated to D2N2 during the 2014-2020 funding cycle. D2N2 will release calls to fund projects that are able to deliver against investment themes focused on promoting employment (ESF Priority Axis 1) and education, skills and training (ESF Priority Axis 2).
Any organisation (public, private, or third sector that is legally formed, except sole traders) can apply for ESF.
To access ESF funding, projects are selected through calls.
A call is an open invitation for applicants to submit outline applications against a published specification.
This sets out the value of funding available, the outputs and type of activity sought, and the timetable and process by which projects will come forward and be assessed and selected.
Calls will be published at regular intervals through the lifetime of the programmes with the timing of calls and their scope discussed between DCLG and the D2N2 ESIF sub-committee.
For more information on how ESF can help your business please contact European Structural and Investment Fund Coordinator Richard Kirkland.
Media wanting more information about the D2N2 LEP can contact Luke Stott, D2N2 Digital Marketing Officer, on 0115 9578749 or email: Luke.Stott@d2n2lep.org
