European Social Fund in England

News - New ESF programme for 2007-2013 agreed

The European Commission has given the green light to the new ESF programme for England and Gibraltar for 2007–2013. The programme will invest £4 billion, of which £2 billion will come from ESF, over seven years in two key priorities:

• extending employment opportunities by tackling barriers to work faced by people who are unemployed or disadvantaged in the labour market;
• developing a skilled and adaptable workforce by training people who lack basic skills and good qualifications.

The decision to agree the new programme was taken by the European Commission on 9 August.

Responding to the decision, Work and Pensions Minister Mike O’Brien said: "The new European Social Fund programme will support our aim to achieve full employment. It will complement our national initiatives by funding additional opportunities for people who are most disadvantaged in the labour market."

"By tackling barriers to work and improving skills, European Social Fund projects will help more people realise their potential. They will make a valuable contribution to our policies to build on record levels of employment by extending opportunities even further. Helping more people into work will in turn contribute to our wider goals to alleviate child poverty and promote social cohesion."

All regions will benefit from the new programme. Key target groups will include unemployed people, disabled people, lone parents, older workers, ethnic minorities, low skilled people and young people not in education, employment or training. ESF will fund a range of activities such as job search advice and support, confidence building, basic skills and vocational qualifications.

Want to know more? Information about how the programme will be delivered is in the 'Looking Forward' article, and the text of the programme is available at www.esf.gov.uk