CLOSED: Skills for the Future of Your Workforce in Coast to Capital - (OC04S21P1803)

Call to run a project support an increase in the skills levels of employed participants, and provide training and support to those at risk of redundancy or recently made redundant.

This call is now closed. Please do not submit an application for this call. The information provided is for reference purposes only.

Details

The economically active population in the Coast to Capital region has already been directly impacted by COVID-19. As the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) are brought to a close in April along with the Government’s moratorium on commercial landlords seeking eviction notices, the unemployment rate is predicted to rise significantly.

Restrictions on movement, social distancing and enforced closures have, and continue to dramatically affect the leisure, retail, hospitality and tourism sectors which drive the economy across the region - particularly in Brighton, and in towns across Surrey and Sussex. In all of these sectors, businesses are looking for support so that they can adapt to the new operating environment.

The area is dominated by SMEs which are generally able to invest less in workforce development than larger companies due to high investment costs. Many SMEs may already, or in the near future, see a shift in their business priorities and the way they are working, and subsequently the skills needed in their workforce, for example increased demand for digital skills if businesses are working remotely. Provision through this Call could help SMEs to up skill and/or retrain their existing workforce to be able to meet new skills demand and deliver on new business priorities, so staff can be retained and the need to make staff changes and potentially redundancies is reduced.

Funded training programmes for businesses could support employees to access higher level roles or roles that require specific training, and create vacancies for lower level roles at the same time which would increase opportunity for unemployed people with low skills, or young people entering the labour market with limited work experience, to gain employment.

There will also continue to be a large number of businesses that will be challenged financially, especially in those sectors that have been worst hit locally such as aviation, and hospitality and tourism. Some of those businesses are likely to need to make redundancies in order to continue, and access to support for employees that face redundancy, or who have recently been made redundant, to help prepare them to seek new employment will be key to recovery in the area. This could be provision to up skill to increase employability, or retrain completely for a different role or sector.

For more information, download the call specification.

Location

The project must cover the Coast to Capital LEP area.

Value

Approximately £1,000,000 of ESF is available.

Deadlines

Full application deadline: 15 March 2021

Completion date

Projects must be financially completed (i.e. have a proposed Financial Completion Date) no later than 31st December 2023; however, the Managing Authority reserves the right to vary the maximum duration in exceptional circumstances.

Full Application Submission

To apply for funding under this call you will need to complete and submit your Full Application via the ECLAIMS IT System.

Please note: the ECLAIMS IT System can only be access from within the UK.

Full Applications submitted in the ECLAIMS IT System after the call closing date shown above and on the call specification will not be appraised.

If you do not already have access to the ECLAIMS IT system, please request an ‘ECLAIMS External Access Form’ by emailing E.CLAIMSSUPPORT@dwp.gov.uk

You will need to request an External Access Form for each person in your organisation who requires access.

It is your responsibility to ensure you request and activate your ECLAIMS access in sufficient time. We strongly advise that you obtain and activate your ECLAIMS access at least 2 weeks prior to the advertised call closure date, if not sooner.

You are also advised to read the details in the call specification in order to produce an application that complies with the requirements and meets the needs set out in the ESF Operational Programme. All this information, the related guidance and the European Social Fund Operational Programme can be found from our homepage.

The published ESF Online Full Application Guidance also provides step-by-step advice on how to complete your Full Application using the ECLAIMS IT system. ESF Online Full Application Guidance.

Technical Support

If you encounter any technical difficulties completing or submitting your Full Application via the ECLAIMS IT system, please send an email to E.CLAIMSSUPPORT@dwp.gov.uk

The technical support operating hours are Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm and it is your responsibility to ensure you seek and technical advice in sufficient time to complete and submit your Full Application before the published call closure date.

The Managing Authority reserves the right to reject applications which are incomplete or not submitted in a timely and compliant way.

Contact details

If you have any questions about the Call Specification or ESF Online Full Application Guidance, please contact esf.2014-2020@dwp.gov.uk. This address should not be used to request technical support.

Published 18 January 2021
Last updated 16 March 2021 + show all updates
  1. Skills for the Future of Your Workforce in Coast to Capital - (OC04S21P1803) project call is now closed.

  2. First published.