News article

Tender launch dates: To be confirmed (expected late March/April 2015)

 SEMLEP’s ESF allocation is made up of £20.9m earmarked to work with the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), Big Lottery and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), £4m allocated to Community Local Led Development in Corby and Luton and a further £12.7m currently allocated for ‘Direct Bidding’ against priorities in the ESIF Strategy and Implementation Plan.

 Please refer to Pages 16-26 of the ESIF Implementation Plan for priority descriptions.

 The first tranche of ESF activity to the value of £6.8m is planned through the SFA for late March/April 2015, although a date is yet to be confirmed. Initial tender opportunities for 3 year contracts are planned for:

- Higher level skills development for key sectors (£3.4m)

- Redundancy support (£600,000)

- Apprenticeship support for SMEs (£1.6m) and

- Management of a community grants programme (£1.2m)

 A multiple number of awards will be considered. For example, to support a specific sector or geographic area. Applicants may be public or private organisations and must be registered with the Skills Funding Agency. Please note that ESF is revenue based only.

 Tender opportunities through the Big Lottery ‘Building Better Opportunities’ Programme to the value of £3m is planned to follow in June 2015, supporting 3 major themes of worklessness, financial inclusion and community investment.

 Other calls for ESF activity are currently in development, including a ‘local approach’ programme to address specific employment and skills needs in each geographic area of the South East Midlands, which is anticipated to launch from June 2015.

For further Information and applicant support

 Register to receive SEMLEP’s electronic newsletter by emailing esif@semlep.com.

 All programme details can be found at http://www.semlep.com/european-funding-2014-2020/.

 Calls for projects, tender opportunities, application forms and accompanying guidance will be located both on the GOV.UK and SEMLEP websites.

 Please send any enquiries about the programme to esif@semlep.com or call 01234 436100.