Programme details
Details of the LSC Pan London Programme, its purpose, funding and specifications.
Frequently asked questions
Many of the rules and regulations associated with European Social Fund support still apply to activity funded through the LSC Pan-London Programme via co-financing. The most common rules are explained in this section.
Further FAQs, covering a wider range of issues, arose out of the co-financing workshops held in June 2004.
If you have any additional questions, please contact the CO Helpdesk on 020 7089 1976, or via e-mail:
- Who can apply?
- Is my project eligible for funding?
- Where can I get funding if my project is not eligible?
- How many proposals can I submit?
- What about the Fast Forward programme (global grants)?
- How much can we apply for?
- How long will the funding last?
- Am I required to contribute funding to the project?
- What is state aid and how does it affect my project?
- What is the definition of a small or medium sized enterprise?
- Can I mix different funds together to support an activity?
- How much funding can I claim – what are the eligible items of expenditure for ESF projects?
- Can I apply to other funding streams to carry out the same activity?
- What is added value?
- How do I demonstrate value for money?
- Can we subcontract activity?
- Who is eligible to benefit from support?
- Will I be required to publicise LSC Pan-London Programme/ESF support?
- Does all learning provision need to be accredited?
- What are the rules regarding the delivery of basic skills/ESOL qualifications?
- What are the crosscutting themes?
- Sustainability
Who can apply?
Any organisation that is legally formed can apply for co-financed ESF via the Prospectus. Tenders from partnerships are encouraged provided one of the partners acts as lead partner, submits the proposal form and takes responsibility for the project. Individuals and sole traders cannot apply.
The CO will carry out checks on providers, including provider financial viability checks, as part of the selection and contracting process. Please see the contracting section of this guidance.
Is my project eligible for funding?
The LSC Pan-London Programme will only approve projects that meet the tender specifications.
Before completing the proposal form, it is very important to take some time to decide whether your project is eligible and whether the service that you are proposing specifically meets one of the tender specifications.
Please refer to the target beneficiary groups and sectors for each specification. You must ensure that the beneficiaries and sectors you are targeting are eligible for the specification you have chosen and you will be required to provide evidence of their eligibility.
Where can I get funding if my project is not eligible?
If you do not think your proposal will meet the LSC Pan-London Programme’s basic eligibility requirements, then you may wish to consider other sources of funding.
If you do not think that the service you are offering closely fits any of the specifications in Section Two, but does fit the overall aims of the ESF, then each of the five LSCs will be holding a further tendering round for tenders meeting local LSC specifications.
Other pan-London Co-financing Organisations will also be holding the following tendering rounds:
- Jobcentre Plus – Spring/Summer 2004
- South London Connexions – July/August 2004
- London Development Agency – December 2004 (exact date to be confirmed)
A full list of all Co-financing Organisations can be found on the GOL Web site.
How many proposals can I submit?
Each proposal should be to deliver the activity described under one specification only. An organisation cannot submit more than one proposal for funding under a particular tender specification. Separate proposals to support activity under other project specifications will be accepted.
What about the Fast Forward programme (global grants)?
The Fast Forward Programme, formerly known as global grants, is a distinctive programme that allocates ESF funding via small grants to voluntary and community sector organisations and is not available under the LSC Pan-London Programme tendering round. For further information on that programme, please contact Ian Freshwater at Greater London Enterprises (ian.f@gle.co.uk).
How much can we apply for?
Each specification sets out the guidance on the indicative project size for each activity, specifying the recommended tender sizes.
How long will the funding last?
The earliest start date for ESF-supported activity will be January 2005. Delivery can continue until the end of December 2006.
Am I required to contribute funding to the project?
If your project is to support unemployed people, the LSC Pan-London Programme does not expect you to contribute any funding to the ESF activity, as co-financing means that you can claim 100% of project costs.
Please give careful consideration to the budget you propose for your project before submitting it as the LSC Pan-London Programme cannot negotiate significant changes to the funding you are offered for the project after project approval.
What is state aid and how does it affect my project?
State aid applies only when ESF funding is benefiting employed people in commercial organisations. Please read the guidance below if you think these regulations might affect your project proposal.
The state aid rules are in place to ensure that the countries of the European Union do not distort the single market by providing aid to companies that gives them an unfair advantage compared to the competition. These rules apply to all funding from Government, including the European Social Fund.
There is no precise definition of what constitutes a state aid. Examples are given below. However, there is a very clear statement of principle that any form of aid to a commercial undertaking – whether provided directly by the state or provided indirectly through ‘state resources’ – is not compatible with the single market if it distorts or threatens to distort competition within the European Union. Aid to individuals and most grants to public and not-for-profit organisations, such as voluntary, charitable and cultural bodies, are not governed by state aid rules. These organisations are only affected when they are involved in commercial activities or compete with commercial organisations. You can find more guidance in the DTI document European Community State Aids – Guidance for all Departments and Agencies (which is available on the DTI Web site).
Providing aid to individuals that improves their employability in the labour market (for example, New Deal or Modern Apprenticeships) is exempt from state aid rules as there are no direct benefits for enterprises. Likewise most grants to public or non-profit making organisations (voluntary, charitable and cultural bodies) are not covered by the state aid rules, as they are not involved in commercial activities. Where either of these circumstances applies, you will be required to declare your exemption from state aid requirements.
However, if you are involved in supporting organisations carrying out commercial activities (including public or non-profit making organisations), then state aid regulations may apply. Likewise, elements of the Pan London programme that support individuals in employment may also have state aid implications if their employers are receiving support towards the costs for that training.
If state aid rules apply you must deal with them through the de minimis exemption rule. To make sure that these requirements are met, applicants must make sure that any ESF award, as well as public funding, does not break the Euro 100,000 limit (approximately £72,000 at current exchange rates) to an individual enterprise over a three-year rolling period. If this threshold is broken, you must inform the CO of the type of aid, the amount, and when it was received. The CO will then consider if the state aid can be dealt with under another block exemption (training aid or employment aid).
You need to monitor the overall levels of aid received by those enterprises within, or supported by, your project which are potentially affected by the state aid. So, it is important that you keep records of all correspondence about state aid including those public or non-profit making organisations claiming exemption. You are required to keep detailed records of any de minimis aid paid for 10 years.
Applicants must put in place a monitoring system to make sure the limit is not exceeded. Typically, such a monitoring system will involve:
- asking enterprises receiving support to identify all other sources of support (either in cash or in-kind) that they have received in the last three years; and
- checking if previous de minimis aid is involved, to make sure that the combined assistance does not exceed 100,000 Euro over any three-year rolling period. The enterprise receiving support will need to calculate the cash equivalent of any aid in-kind support (the organisation which provided the aid may be able to help them with this). If the limit is exceeded, the aid may have to be reduced or refused to keep it within the 100,000 Euro limit.
For successful applicants, the CO will provide a suggested letter to inform those enterprises within, or supported by, your project who may be potentially affected by the state aid regulations.
You cannot use the de minimis exemption in the following four areas:
- the transport sector;
- activities linked to producing, processing and marketing agricultural goods;
- aid to export-related industries; and
- aid which depends on using domestic rather than imported goods.
If this applies to your project, please consult the Helpdesk. If you require clarification on any state aid issue, please also contact the Helpdesk. Please do so as soon as your query arises, as it is possible that we will have to ask the Government Office for London or European Commission for an answer.
List of the possible forms of state aid
The following is not a complete list of the possible forms of aid. However, it should give an indication of the most common forms of aid which you may have been given over the past three years. Potentially any help from a public body might be an aid. Should you have any doubts on this matter, please contact the body who gave you the assistance.
- Grants from public bodies
- Loans from public bodies at favourable rates
- Loan guarantees from public bodies
- Differential tax benefits
- Grants from an investment trust (including charities) which may themselves have received the funds from a public body
- Grants from a venture capital fund that was partly publicly funded
- Publicly-administered funds, even if the funds were originally not public, such as the National Lottery
- Waiving or deferring fees or interest normally due to a public body (for example, for rent) or waiving interest normally due on late tax payments or other costs to a public body
- Monopoly licences or guarantees of a market share
- Advertising through a public channel such as a tourist board or state-owned television
- Consultancy advice provided either free or at a reduced rate
- Training provided either free or at a reduced rate
- Aid for investing in environmental projects
- Free or reduced-rate feasibility studies for research and development or other help with research and development
- Buying public land or property at less than market rate
- Benefiting from an infrastructure where your organisation was pre-identified as a beneficiary.
What is the definition of a small or medium sized enterprise?
This programme will only provide support for small or medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This includes micro-enterprises (upto 5 employees) and voluntary organisations. For ESF purposes, an SME is defined as an enterprise that:
- employs fewer than 250 employees at the time the application is made, including part-time, seasonal and temporary staff;
- has either a balance sheet at their accounting date with assets, less liabilities, worth no more than €27 million, or an annual turnover of not more than €40 million; and
- is not more than one quarter owned by firms that to not qualify as SMEs under the above requirements.
NB Large enterprises (e.g. over 250 employees) will not be supported under the LSC Pan-London Programme.
Can I mix different funds together to support an activity?
Co-financed funds can be used to support part of a larger project funded from a variety of sources. The Proposal Form can make reference to the wider project to put the proposed activity in context. However, you should focus on explaining the element of the project that the co-financed ESF will finance and the outputs that it will buy. ESF outputs declared on the Proposal Form should not be declared on tenders for other funding streams. The proposal will be judged on the activity delivered with the co-financed funding; the information about the wider project will be used for information purposes only. You should be clear on the Proposal Form if the ESF Pan London element of the wider project is dependent on the rest of the activity being funded.
Co-financed funds cannot be used to match against other European funding streams. If you are interested in using your co-financed money as match funding to draw in other UK funding, you will need to obtain written permission from the LSC Pan-London Programme. Requests should be put in writing to the CO.
How much funding can I claim – what are the eligible items of expenditure for ESF projects?
ESF is a source of revenue funding and is not intended for capital equipment over £1,000. However, revenue costs associated with the use of a capital infrastructure, rent, hiring and staff costs associated with running and sustaining the equipment are eligible.
There are some costs that are not eligible. These are:
- Loan and current account interest;
- Other financial charges;
- Consultancy fees for activities such as filling in applications, or management fees, or commissions;
- Staff time spent in filling in applications;
- Buying equipment or buildings (threshold for ESF is £1000 per item);
- Depreciation charges;
- Costs of finance leases;
- Charging again for equipment or buildings which have previously attracted ESF funding;
- Any expenditure that does not clearly relate to the project; and
- Any expenditure that is not supported by written evidence.
You can include all the eligible costs for your project in the Proposal Form. Applicant organisations will need to explain how costs were calculated and enter totals on the Proposal Form. Tenderers should take care to make adequate provision for administrative costs and the costs of complying with all contracting requirements. Please remember that this information will be used to help assess value for money.
Can I apply to other funding streams to carry out the same activity?
You cannot be funded twice for the same activity. This constitutes double funding and, if discovered, your contract will be terminated. If you are applying to a number of funds for the same activity, you must be clear in your Proposal Form which other funds you have applied to and when decisions are expected. You must inform the CO and withdraw your tender as soon as you have been offered and accepted funding from another source. If you decide to reject the other funding, you must inform the CO and confirm you would still like your tender to be considered for approval/contract development.
Please remember the outputs achieved with co-financed funds can only be counted once, by the LSC Pan-London Programme, and cannot be included in the returns required by other UK funding streams.
What is added value?
It is a requirement of ESF funding that all activity needs to demonstrate added value. Added value means that the activity would not have taken place or would happen in a different, less effective way without ESF support. Providers are required to show how their activity links with and complements other existing local provision. Activity needs to be over and above existing provision, and cannot duplicate mandatory public sector provision.
Where using ESF funding to provide part of an activity, you must be sure to separate clearly the ESF-funded activity and outputs from those achieved through other funding sources. It is important that the LSC Pan-London Programme can determine exactly what it is buying for the funding distributed. If your Pan London project is part of a wider project, you must explain the relationship between the two projects and indicate if the Pan London project is dependent on the rest of the activity being funded.
How do I demonstrate value for money?
Tenders should show how they will ensure maximum effectiveness, promote excellence and high quality delivery and avoid unnecessary bureaucracy.
It is essential that the applicant organisation submit a detailed breakdown of how costs have been calculated in order to help assess value for money. Clarity about the volume and content of outputs and outcomes is also an essential factor in assessing value for money.
Can we subcontract activity?
Please note that subcontracting is not allowed in the Pan London Programme. However projects are permitted to buy in small specialist elements that the applicant/partners cannot provide themselves (e.g. evaluation, specialist IT support). In this case, the LSC Pan-London Programme will hold the applicant organisation wholly responsible for the delivery and spend on the project. It is recommended that you assess the risks associated with buying in expertise and that you put in place a formal agreement with organisations you contract with to provide this work, and are able to demonstrate value for money (e.g. by going through a tendering procedure).
Whilst subcontracting is not permitted, partnerships are encouraged where the lead partner is the accountable body for the partnership and submits the application.
Who is eligible to benefit from support?
Target groups for support are described in each tender specification, with some additional guidance about particular groups explained below.
Definition of unemployed
For ESF purposes, unemployment is a period where a person is not in paid employment. Periods of unpaid work do not affect qualifying periods of unemployment.
Refugees and asylum seekers
People with refugee status are eligible for ESF support, as refugees have already been given permission to stay.
There have been some recent changes to the rules regarding asylum seekers. Under current legislation, asylum seekers do not have permission to work. As an individual has to be able to work to benefit from ESF support, most activity funded by ESF will not be available to asylum seekers. However, it is permitted for asylum seekers to benefit from some pre-vocational activities (not vocational guidance). Allowable activities are:
- initial English for speakers of other languages, other basic skills (literacy, numeracy and IT) where they are not part of provision that leads to employment;
- orientation provision to raise awareness of the rights and responsibilities of asylum seekers and labour market needs, provision of information about further education and voluntary work in which they can participate, general advice about what awaits those given leave to remain in Britain (information about law, culture, housing, welfare, health, education and employment); and
- involvement in voluntary activity within the asylum seeker community.
Please refer to the individual specifications contained in this Prospectus to see the activity that this Programme will fund.
It is the applicant organisation’s responsibility to ensure that any asylum seekers on projects are eligible for support and that the relevant documentation is retained as evidence, otherwise the beneficiaries may be deemed as ineligible for ESF support and funding could be claimed back by the LSC Pan-London Programme.
Public sector
ESF funding cannot be used to support activity for people working in the public sector. Please note this does not include people working for private firms contracted to work by the public sector.
13-17 year olds
People between the ages of 13 and 17 can be supported under certain tender specifications. Please see the individual tender specifications for further guidance. Only socially excluded under 16s can be supported with ESF and care must be taken to prove that the project adds value to activity already made available to this target group (please see the section on added value).
People in prison
The value that vocational and other training can have on people while they are in custody is recognised, but ESF is primarily aimed at people who are available to work in the job market. The following eligibility criteria apply to people in custody.
- People sentenced to less than two years can access ESF at any point during their sentence.
- People sentenced to more than two years can only access ESF during the last two years of their sentence.
EU Nationals
The expansion of the European Union on 1 May 2004 has implications in terms of EU Nationals with a right to work in the UK/EU. Projects likely to target beneficiaries from new member states should consult the forthcoming Action Note on eligibility from GOL or contact the CO.
Will I be required to publicise LSC Pan-London Programme /ESF support?
For your project, this means:
- ensuring that all the participants, trainers and other individuals are aware of the fact that their project is funded by ESF/LSC;
- using newsletters, posters, and the media as appropriate to publicise the project; and
- ensuring that all materials include an acknowledgement of ESF support and make use of ESF and LSC logos wherever possible.
Further guidance will be given to successful applicants.
Does all learning provision need to be accredited?
The types of qualifications/results to be achieved are listed under each tender specification. These are the key outputs/outcomes that need to be delivered for each activity. Many of the qualifications listed as outputs/outcomes need to be accredited by an awarding body, as they will then contribute towards the National Learning Targets for the UK.
In addition, as co-financing proposals target hard-to-reach groups whose needs may include extremely intensive support work and/or require sustained support over time to achieve limited but important improvements, it is likely that in many cases beneficiaries will not obtain recognised qualifications. It is important, however, that providers monitor very clearly the extent and nature of ‘distance travelled’ by the beneficiary from commencement to end of support, so that the positive outcomes and achievements obtained can be clearly identified.
The proposal form will include sections to note the achievement of full NVQ units, part NVQ units, full non-NVQ equivalents and soft outcomes.
What are the rules regarding the delivery of basic skills/ESOL qualifications?
All basic skills activity supported by the LSC Pan-London Programme will need to lead to Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) accredited qualifications. These include:
- Certificates in Adult Literacy and Numeracy at Entry Level, Level 1 and Level 2
- ESOL qualifications that are externally accredited/ certified by a QCA recognised national awarding body
All deliverers of basic skills provision must undertake an initial and diagnostic assessment of beneficiaries’ skills needs using an appropriate assessment tool based on the national literacy/numeracy standards.
Tutors and training staff delivering basic skills and ESOL provision must be suitably qualified in line with the Government’s ‘Skills for Life’ and ‘Success for All’ Strategies. The Read Write Plus Web site contains information and guidance on basic skills teacher training and qualifications.
What are the crosscutting themes?
The LSC Pan-London Programme and ESF both require providers to show how they will support the three crosscutting themes of equal opportunities, use of ICT and sustainable development. Most specifications will identify the target groups/beneficiaries that the project is expected to engage. Applicants should, however, also consider how they will comply with the ICT and sustainable development themes and refer to them where relevant. All three themes will be identified in the contract and monitored during delivery.
Equal opportunities
The LSC Pan-London Team takes the view that equal opportunities (EO) are central to the development and delivery of any successful project under this Programme. EO will therefore be used as one of the initial eligibility check criteria and projects under this Programme failing to demonstrate how EO will be applied to the delivery of their project will fail the first stage checks. Providers should therefore ensure that they take positive action to increase access to their programmes by addressing the barriers that often deter or prevent people from participating in learning. The tender specifications will identify priority target groups for participation, but providers should also consider and include in their proposals details about the whole range of beneficiaries they expect to engage and how they will do it.
How you incorporate equal opportunities into the design, delivery and management of your project will be assessed during the selection of providers as part of the published assessment criteria. In addition, the assessment process will consider whether the proposals match the equal opportunities issues embedded in the specifications of the priority activities.
The promotion and implementation of equal opportunities by the prospective provider will be assessed as part of the contract monitoring. Providers are required to explain their policy to beneficiaries and staff alike; they must also be able to demonstrate ways in which the policy is observed. In addition, the status of all beneficiaries must be recorded.
Use of ICT
As part of the drive to widen access to information technology and to enhance the opportunities for new forms of knowledge and new ways of working, providers should ensure that they incorporate ICT into their delivery wherever appropriate in order to maximise the skills base of the beneficiaries. Providers should also consider how ICT can be used to deliver, manage and monitor the project to enable greater effectiveness and control. Providers will be expected to report to the CO on their progress via use of electronic as well as paper-based data.
Sustainable development
Sustainable development as defined by the European Union and endorsed by the British Government can be expressed simply as ‘development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.
For the purpose of the specifications in this Prospectus, these are the four headline indicators that providers need to demonstrate commitment to:
- Maintaining high and stable levels of employment so everyone can share greater job opportunities;
- Equipping people with the skills to fulfil their potential;
- Tackling poverty and social exclusion; and
- Move away from the disposal of waste towards minimisation, reuse, recycling and recovery.
Sustainability
ESF is a short-term pump-priming fund. A key element of all ESF projects is therefore an exit plan that will provide for sustainability beyond the life of the funding. This may involve a commitment to embed the activity within mainstream funded activity. For voluntary and community-led projects, a partnership with a mainstream provider may be the most successful route for sustainability.
Final note
Further FAQs, covering a wider range of issues, arose out of the co-financing workshops held in June 2004.
Please note this is not an exhaustive list of rules, regulations and requirements of the Programme. If you have any specific queries not answered please contact the Helpdesk.
