Guidance

The government’s guarantee for EU-funded programmes if there’s no Brexit deal

Updated 8 August 2019

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-governments-guarantee-for-eu-funded-programmes-if-theres-no-brexit-deal/the-governments-guarantee-for-eu-funded-programmes-if-theres-no-brexit-deal

Purpose

The purpose of this notice is to provide an overview of the scope of the government’s guarantee for EU-funded programmes and to link external stakeholders to the parts of government responsible for overseeing the application of the guarantee for specific programmes.

Planning for a deal

Until our departure from the EU, we remain a Member State, with all the rights and obligations that entails. This means that the UK will continue to participate in all EU programmes while we remain a member of the EU.

The government is working to agree a deal which works for the whole of the UK and an important part of this process is giving certainty to businesses and citizens. Under the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated with the EU, the UK will continue to participate in the programmes financed by the current EU Budget until their closure. This means that all EU funded programmes will be fully funded under the current 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework. Leaving the EU with a deal remains the government’s top priority.

Planning for a no deal

In the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the UK will leave the EU Budget, meaning UK organisations would no longer receive future funding for projects under EU programmes, such as the European Regional Development Fund and Horizon 2020, without further action.

However, the Chancellor announced in August and October 2016 that the government will guarantee EU projects agreed before we leave the EU, to provide more certainty for UK organisations over the course of Brexit.

In July 2018, the Chief Secretary laid a Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS926) extending this guarantee to provide further stability for UK organisations in a ‘no-deal’ scenario. The guarantee now covers the following:

  • the full Multiannual Financial Framework allocation for structural and investment funds over the 2014-20 funding period, with payments to beneficiaries made up to the end of 2023
  • the payment of awards where UK organisations successfully bid directly to the European Commission on a competitive basis while we remain in the EU, for the lifetime of the project
  • the payment of awards under successful bids where UK organisations are able to participate as a third country in competitive grant programmes from Exit day until the end of 2020, for the lifetime of the project
  • the current level of agricultural funding under CAP Pillar 1 until 2020

As part of a ‘final set’ of ‘no deal’ contingency measures published on 30 January 2019, the European Commission has also proposed a draft regulation that would allow the UK to continue participating in EU programmes, in 2019 in return for continuing to contribute to the 2019 budget. The government is currently analysing this proposal.

Implications

This guarantee ensures that UK organisations, such as charities, businesses and universities, will continue to receive funding over a project’s lifetime if they successfully bid into EU-funded programmes before the end of 2020.

For awards where UK organisations successfully bid directly to the European Commission on a competitive basis, we will work with the Commission to ensure that UK organisations will be able to continue to participate.

The guarantee covers funding committed to UK organisations. It does not cover funding committed to partner and participants in other Member States and other participating countries. This means that where a UK organisation is the lead member of a partnership, any funding it distributes to non-UK associated beneficiaries is not covered by the guarantee.

More information

Departments have drafted the individual technical notices below setting out how this guarantee will operate for specific programmes if there’s ‘no deal’:

To find out more about any EU programme not covered by a standalone technical notice, please get in touch with the department responsible for overseeing this programme or with the devolved administrations for stakeholders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A list of the relevant contacts for each EU programme can be found under ‘contacts for EU programmes’, including for programmes not covered by the guarantee.

This technical notice has been drafted for UK stakeholders. Stakeholders in Gibraltar should contact the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for information on how the guarantee applies in the territory.

This notice is meant for guidance only. You should consider whether you need separate professional advice before making specific preparations.

It is part of the government’s ongoing programme of planning for all possible outcomes. We expect to negotiate a successful deal with the EU.

Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area and participate in other EU arrangements. As such, in many areas, these countries adopt EU rules. Where this is the case, these technical notices may also apply to them, and EEA businesses and citizens should consider whether they need to take any steps to prepare for a ‘no deal’ scenario.

Contacts for EU programmes

EU programme Department responsible Contact information
European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) / CAP Pillar 1 DEFRA defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) DEFRA defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) / CAP Pillar 2 DEFRA defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk
European Social Fund (ESF) BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME) BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
Erasmus + DfE Department for Education contact form
Horizon 2020 BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
European Defence Fund (including Preparatory Action for Defence Research and European Defence Industrial Development Programme) MoD EBRX-EUXGrpMailbox@mod.gov.uk
Connecting Europe Facility DCMS/DfT/BEIS CEF Transport: TEN-T@dft.gov.uk, CEF Energy: TEN-E-CEF@beis.gov.uk, CEF DCMS: EUguarantee@culture.gov.uk
Employment and Social Innovation DWP EXIT.EUIA@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
LIFE DEFRA defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Creative Europe DCMS EUguarantee@culture.gov.uk
Rights, Equality and Citizenship MoJ HumanRights@Justice.gov.uk
Health for Growth DHSC Department of Health and Social Care contact form
Europe for Citizens DCMS EUguarantee@culture.gov.uk
Consumer programme BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
Hercule III HMRC Queries.Hercule@HMRC.gsi.gov.uk
Galileo BEIS info@ukspaceagency.gov.uk
Copernicus BEIS info@ukspaceagency.gov.uk
JET BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
Nuclear Fusion (ITER) BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
Research Fund for Coal and Steel BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
Euratom BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
Asylum, Migration and the Integration Fund (AMIF) HO amifenquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk
Food and Feed DEFRA defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk
European Development Fund (EDF) DfID DFIDcontingencyplanning@dfid.gov.uk
EU-Turkey Refugee Facility DfID DFIDcontingencyplanning@dfid.gov.uk
EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa DfID DFIDcontingencyplanning@dfid.gov.uk
Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) DfID DFIDcontingencyplanning@dfid.gov.uk
Humanitarian Aid DfID DFIDcontingencyplanning@dfid.gov.uk
EU Aid Volunteers Initiative DfID DFIDcontingencyplanning@dfid.gov.uk
European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) FCO HeadingIV@fco.gov.uk
Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) FCO HeadingIV@fco.gov.uk
Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP) FCO HeadingIV@fco.gov.uk
Partnership Instrument FCO HeadingIV@fco.gov.uk
European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) FCO HeadingIV@fco.gov.uk
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) FCO HeadingIV@fco.gov.uk
Instrument for Greenland FCO HeadingIV@fco.gov.uk
Instrument for Nuclear Safety and Cooperation (INSC) BEIS enquiries@beis.gov.uk
Civil Protection Mechanism CO pnc-ccs@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
Guarantee Fund for External Actions HMT public.enquiries@hmtreasury.gov.uk
Fiscalis 2020 HMRC Queries.FISCALIS@HMRC.gsi.gov.uk
European Solidarity Corps DCMS EUguarantee@culture.gov.uk

Actions for businesses and other stakeholders

For all UK recipients

The Cabinet Office Grants Management Function has developed a webpage that instructs UK recipients of EU Direct Bid funds how to submit information about your projects, which are eligible under the UK governments guarantee. Current UK recipients are invited to provide initial data about your projects on a webpage hosted on GOV.UK. On the webpage, UK recipients will find a pro-forma designed to ensure that the responsible department has information about projects and participants in order to deliver the underwrite guarantee if required. The responsible departments will use the contact details provided by current recipients to inform them of the next steps in the process.

The webpage will remain open after the UK leaves the EU so that UK applicants can continue to register as and when they are informed that their bid has been successful.

Please click here to access the webpage that instructs UK recipients of EU Direct Bid funds how to submit their project information.

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