West Lothian Council – European Social Fund –Employability and Social Inclusion Challenge Funds

The Challenge Fund

West Lothian Council is issuing a further call through a Challenge Fund to support additional European Social Fund based employability pipeline and social inclusion programme activity in the West Lothian area. The Council have been allocated £520,000 of European Social Fund money by The Scottish Government for additional employability pipeline actions delivered via partner organisations. In addition a further £200,000 has been ear-marked to support targeted interventions that promote social inclusion.

Activity under this Challenge fund is likely to commence in 2017 and run until the end of 2018, but with the possibility of extending into 2019.

It is important to note that any European funding received via West Lothian Council will only cover 40% of the eligible costs of activity – so organisations submitting proposals need to explain clearly where they are sourcing the other 60%. Note that the match funding cannot be sourced from other European funding. We would expect that organisations submitting proposals to have already secured match funding. An offer of ESF support will only be awarded when evidence of at least one year of match funding is in place.

In order to facilitate this exercise, organisations are invited to submit an Expression of Interest form – a brief outline of proposed activity in response to the outline specification below. Proposals which are considered to be in line with the specification will then be invited to develop a full proposal.

Instructions

  1. EOIs will only be accepted on the form attached below.
  2. Please send the completed form as a signed PDF document.
  3. The costing model that has been agreed by the Scottish Government and European Union for this exercise is based on the Flat Rate Cost Model (see note 1).
  4. Note that staff must spend 100% of their time on this European funded project and you must be able to evidence this (by a job description).
  5. Targets – you should provide details of anticipated participant numbers and outcomes.

Types of Project

West Lothian Employability Pipeline Challenge Fund

Proposals are invited based on a minimum ESF grant of £25,000 and a maximum of up to £520,000.

Proposals are sought which will engage with individuals experiencing more than one barrier to employment and which address the following themes:

Pipeline Stage 2 – barrier removal

  1. proposals that seek to tackle specific barriers experienced by people of working age who are economically inactive or unemployed including people with a criminal record; people with mental health related conditions and people on the autism spectrum;
  2. proposals which provide a progression route for young people receiving Activity Agreement support but who require further pre-vocational activity and volunteering opportunities to prepare them for more structured training or employment

Pipeline Stage 3 – employability interventions

  1. Proposals that prepare individuals for work including in specific growth and high participation sectors in the regional economy and to address gender segregation within the workforce;
  2. Industry specific qualifications e.g. CSCS, SVQ in Construction, Care etc. (non-statutory);
  3. Progression preparation – developing skills to source, apply for and secure labour market entry or routes to further development.

Details of eligible participants can be found in Note 2.

West Lothian Social Inclusion Package

Proposals are invited based on a minimum ESF grant of £25,000 and a maximum of up to £200,191.94.

Proposals are sought which will engage with individuals within one of the key target groups (low income households, workless households, lone parents):

  • Proposals that address mental health related conditions of working age residents in target communities by implementing support to individuals which complement and/or reduces the use of prescription drugs in managing conditions and enables individuals to progress into employability support;
  • Provision of intensive support to excluded and vulnerable families that tackles barriers to existing relevant services; childcare and which links adults into relevant education opportunities;
  • Provision of targeted support to engage individuals with learning disabilities that tackles barriers to existing relevant services and which links adults into relevant education opportunities

Further Information

Please contact

Full details of the European funding on the Scottish Government’s website

Note 1 The Flat Rate Cost model

The flat rate direct staff cost model is based on reporting the actual spend on staff members who works 100% on the delivery of Structural Funds activity for a minimum of 1 month. Staff can be employed full or part time. They do not need to be in place for the full duration of a project, as long as their role is justified, has a job description and they work 100% of their time on the project for the period they are required.

Total project costs are calculated by adding an additional 15% or 40% to the staff costs. This additional element recognises that organisations will incur other costs associated with delivering employability or training related programme.

The only costs that are reported and verified are staff costs (including Employers NI and pension contribution). You should detail the staff costs in the spreadsheet and justify which of these options (15% or 40%) you will be using within the relevant question below.

Note 2 Participant barriers

Employability PipelineParticipants should have at least two of the following barriers:

  • Living in a jobless household
  • Long-term Unemployed
  • Living in a jobless household with dependent children
  • Living in a single adult household with dependent children
  • Disability
  • Migrants, people with a foreign background, minorities (including marginalised communities such as the Roma)
  • Homeless or affected by housing exclusion
  • Asylum seeker
  • Refugee
  • Primary carer of older person
  • Primary carer of a child/children (under 18) or adult
  • Underemployed
  • Low income employed
  • Looked after young person
  • Criminal convictions
  • Long-term physical illness
  • Mental health issues
  • No work experience
  • Substance related conditions
  • Low skilled (i.e. ISCED 1 or 2)
  • Armed Forces Veteran
  • Above 54 years of age
  • From Rural Area
  • From Remote Rural Area
  • From Employment Deficit Area

Note evidence will be required for both barriers.

Social Inclusion and Poverty – the participant is within one of the key target groups:

  • low income,
  • workless or
  • lone-parent households

More details on the definition and evidence required for the above barriers and target groups can be found on the Scottish Government Website.

West Lothian Employability Pipeline and Social Inclusion Package Challenge Fund Proposal

1)ProposalTitle
2) Organisation name and address
3)Organisation contact details
Name
Tel number
E-mail
4)Summary of Proposed Activity (maximum 500 words max)
Provide a summary of the programme:
  • main group characteristics,
  • planned activity and delivery method,
  • location and area targeting or focus,
  • time scales

5)Participant profile and numbers
  1. Age
  2. Gender
  3. Target groups in relation to barriers (all participants must have at least 2 barriers)
  4. Anticipated progression outcomes

6) Signed:
On behalf of: (organisation name)
Date:

20170802 WLC European Social Fund Challenge Fund Employability & Social Inclusion Outline Proposals