ESF NEWS

The ‘New' Skills Funding Agency Workshop - 1 November 2011

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has restructured to establish a much simpler, self-sustaining funding system, and LVSTC is organising a workshop on Tuesday 1 November 2011 to introduce the new structure.

For full details, please see the Events page.

London Councils launch ESF Community Grants programme for 5 boroughs

On 5 October London Councils announced the launch of a new ESF Community Grants funding round in 5 boroughs which is worth £2.65 million which will be invested in supporting those Londoners who are furthest from the labour market. Match funding is being provided by 5 London boroughs and so this round will be open to organisations based in: Croydon, Enfield, Lambeth, Southwark and Tower Hamlets.

For full details, please see the ESF Community Grants page.

New London Councils ESF Programme launched

London Councils has announced that it is inviting proposals for the London Councils European Social Fund co-financing programme 2011-15.  For more details, see the London Councils CFO page.

CFO page updates

The pages for the Co-Financing Organisations (CFOs) are being updated regularly as we get news or information about their plans for any upcoming funding rounds.

Please watch out for our Euroscene Bytesize email newletters and keep checking the CFO pages.

ESF Publicity Works toolkit launched

A new 2011-2013 ESF Publicity Works toolkit for providers and their sub-contractors is now available from this website: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/esf/resources/publicity/

The toolkit is essential reading for any organisation in receipt of ESF funds. It:

• provides clear guidance, practical examples and supporting resources that can enhance a wide range of ESF publicity efforts.
• helps providers and sub-contractors take the necessary actions to ensure European Union (EU) regulatory and CFO contractual publicity requirements are met.

An important focus is on helping organisations to use the ESF logo correctly, display ESF project plaques and inform participants of support from ESF and the EU.

There is evidence from an independent evaluation of ESF publicity activity and from monitoring activity by CFOs and the ESF Managing Authority that a small number of ESF and match funding recipients are not fully complying with these core requirements-which potentially places their funding at risk of being withdrawn.

Broader measures are also covered that focus on promoting the ESF project to wider audiences. These include guidance, materials and practical examples on:

• engaging the media, including the use of some core ESF messages
• producing news stories, press releases and case studies
• using consent forms and social media such as Facebook and Twitter
• other resources available to help publicise projects to wider audiences.

All existing ESF funding recipients including providers and sub-contractors are encouraged to read the toolkit now.

The toolkit will be updated on an ongoing basis to ensure that examples of effective publicity practices can be shared across the programme.

If you have details of any innovative and successful publicity measures that could potentially go on the toolkit please email DWP at ESF.Feedback@jiu.gsi.gov.uk.