Welcome to the Second ESIF Newsletter!
MARCH 2017
Welcome to the second ESIF Newsletter!
ThisNewsletter is aimed at partners of the Cheshire and Warrington LEP that are delivering ERDF projects, potential applicants for funding and those involved in the selection of projects.
We will keep you up-to-date, as much as we can, whilst exchanging best practice, share lessons learned between partners and the managing authority and hopefully help you understand the ESIF Programme’s requirements.
In this newsletter:
- Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund
- DCLG’s Highlight on Procurement
- Guidance / GOV.UK Update
- Latest News from Cheshire and Warrington LEP
- Contacts and useful resources
Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF)
On February 22 Northern Powerhouse Minister Andrew Percy and the British Business Bank were in Manchester to launch the £400 million Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), aimed at boosting the North of England’s economy and helping the region’s businesses realise their growth potential.
NPIF was announced by the Chancellor in November 2015. With a value of £400m, the fund has been established in conjunction with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the UK Government to provide small and medium businesses with increased flexibility in the types of funding available, as well as boosting investment levels in the North.
The project is responding to Ex-Ante Assessments (EAA) completed for the North West, which identified structural market failures affecting access to finance for start-ups and growing SMEs. The EAA identified increasing business start-up activity, SME growth and improving business confidence which is fuelling a greater demand for external finance. In response to the EAA, NPIF will provide the following products:
o Micro-finance: provision of small business loans (£25,000 to £100,000):
o Debt: provision of business loans (£100,000 to £750,000);
o Early stage and later stage: provision of equity funding (£50,000 to £2m).
NPIF will work with Cheshire and Warrington’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) amongst other LEPs, as well as combined authorities, Growth Hubs, local accountants, fund managers and banks, to provide a mixture of debt and equity capital to northern-based SMEs at all stages of their development.
An event will take place in the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership area within the NPIF region on 15th March 2017 from 5.30pm to 7.30pm at Chester Racecourse.
The event will brief business advisers and the local business community on the new funding opportunities available and on how businesses can access the funds.
For more information about the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, including information on the whole series of local briefing events taking place from 1-17 March, please visit
Highlight on 2014-2020 Procurement
Reviews In the new programme, applicants and grant recipients are now asked to provide Core Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) procurement documents to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) for review. Sub-OJEU reviews will be risk and value based and the required information will be requested by DCLG as appropriate.
The general principle of the procurement review of Core OJEU documents is to gain a level of assurance, at the earliest opportunity, that the Grant Recipient is capable of delivering a project to the terms and conditions set out in their Funding Agreement, and in compliance with Regulations and Public Procurement Law.
How will this new process benefit you?Carrying out such reviews early in the lifetime of a project will support you in identifying any issues prior to expenditure being claimed, leading to fewer irregularities. It is therefore critical that you submit the Core OJEU documents (outlined below) to DCLG at the earliest opportunity.
The procurement review will also help you to prepare some of the documentation required at an On the Spot Verification (OTSV) or audit visit.
Key Tips:
- Ensure any Core OJEU Documents provided to DCLG are clearly labelled and numbered to make it easier for the Appraiser/Contract Manager to undertake their review.
- Submit only the documents required on the list when available.
- Do not submit partially completed/draft documents as these don’t add value and will only be considered when they are final documents.
What are the Core OJEU documents?
TheESIF National Procurement Requirements Documenthas recently been amended, in the main to reflect the newly agreed National Rules that will apply to Non-Contracting Authorities. These are set out in Chapter 6, from section 22 onwards, and include details of the new correction penalties that will be applied for breaches of the National Rules.
Other amendments include:
- Further details on frameworks and the use of them
- Further clarification on some of the key policy changes as a result of the PCR2015
- Chapter 5 amended to focus solely on requirements for procurements completed after 26th February 2015 in line with the 2015 PCR
- Removal of Chapter 5b PCR 2006 requirements into Annex 5 to avoid duplication and confusion
A“Procurement Aide Memoire”has been developedto support Grant Recipients to prepare for Audits and Verification Visits and to help with maintaining a sound procurement audit trail. This document is merely a tool and should be used from the outset of the project to help prevent some of the common errors we saw in the 2007-13 Programme.
Public Procurement Guide for Practitioners-This guidance note has been published by the European Commission and is designed to help practitioners avoid errors frequently seen in public procurement for projects co-financed by ESIF. It is intended to facilitate the implementation of operational programmes and to encourage good practice. Grant Recipients are strongly encouraged toread this documentprior to carrying out any procurement.
DCLG would welcome your feedback and any gaps you found in this information.
GOV.UK Document / Guidance Update
a) Eligibility Guidance has been updated.
The updated version has been developed to amend three areas:
(a) SME match funding section regarding repayment of ERDF (page 9)
(b) Eligible Capital Expenditure section to include the apportionment of costs (page 17)
(c) Revenue section to include Broadband project management costs as eligible expenditure (pages 31 & 32)
DCLG have recently updated the ESF Underperformance Methodology, Full Application Form, Full Application Form Guidance, TA Guidance and TA project contacts information.
All of the above documents are available on GOV.UK
They have also made some changes to the ESI Fund Programme Guidance page on GOV.UK to make it easier to locate documents relating to ERDF and ESF. Five new pages have been created:
- Eligibility
- Procurement
- Document retention
- State Aid
- Counter Fraud
E-CLAIMS
DCLG are in the process of planning the final phase of development work needed prior to rolling out E-CLAIMS to external projects for ERDF and ESF. They will be looking to bring on external testers over the next few weeks to test the functionality currently in place.
ERDF and ESF Fraud Reporting Mechanisms
DCLG as the Managing Authority (MA) for the ERDF 2014-20 England is committed to maintaining high legal, ethical and moral standards by adhering to the principles of integrity, objectivity and honesty and exhibiting a zero tolerance to fraud and corruption in the way that it conducts its business.
Beneficiaries, partners or third parties can play a role in this by reporting suspicion of fraud, corruption or financial malpractice to the MA, in confidence, through this email
In exceptional cases, such as conflict of interest, beneficiaries, partners or third parties can report suspicion of fraud, corruption or financial malpractice to: Ian Boulton-Maughan, Referral & Intelligence Team Manager, Government Internal Audit Agency, Counter Fraud and Investigation, Room M1001, South East Corner, Durham House, The Galleries. Washington. Tyne & Wear. NE38 7SD; or by email to
For ESF please read the following documents; ‘ESF Anti-Fraud Policy’ and 'Responsibilities of ESF beneficiaries in the prevention and detection of fraud in ESF projects' and contact the Managing Authority on the following email address
Visit the counter fraud guidance page to access relevant documents
Latest News from Cheshire and Warrington LEP
ERDF Calls/Projects Update
- Cheshire and Warrington have committed £32,426,894 of ERDF and we have a further £7,533,414 of applications currently under consideration (figures correct as of February 2017)
- Projects now delivering with ERDF spend being claimed and paid are:
The Business Growth Hub
Cheshire and Warrington Business Growth Programme
International Trade
Cheshire Manufacturing Advice Service
Next Business Generation – Life Science Support Programme
SMART Cheshire
Innovation to Commercialisation
Helix Business Park
Support and Workspace for Businesses in Key Growth Sectors
ECO Innovation
Building Capacity and Capability in the Health and Life Science Businesses - There is currently one ERDF project call for Cheshire and Warrington open on the funding finder on the GOV.UK website under priority 4 to promote the low carbon economy
- Further new calls are being scheduled to be published in March and May 2017
- Cheshire and Warrington have signed up to 7MoUs/funding agreements
- There are currently valued at £20,130,000ESF
- There are no project calls open on funding finder at this time
Contacts and useful resources
Cheshire and Warrington LEP ( does have 2 main points of contact for the ESIF Programme:
Jane Baker – d
Francis Lee –
ERDF technical assistance contact is Jane Baker –
ESF technical assistance contact is Neil Clatworthy –
Rural ESIF Funding contact is Francis Lee –
DCLG manages the Programme website:
Follow the developments on the National ESIF Programme on Twitter@esif1420england
Take a look at DCLG’sYouTube channel
To subscribe to the National ERDF Practitioners Network or subscribe and provide feedback on the Bulletin
Did you know? Users of the ESIF Funding finder on GOV.UKcan register for email alert updates to ensure you are notified when calls go live – seesubscribe to email alerts