The Education and Skills Funding Agency will be launching the latest (and quite possibly last) European Social Fund bidding round on 20 August, covering 37 of the 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships (the sole exception being the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP which did not “opt in” to ESFA match funding).
Assuming the bidding round launches on schedule (which they often don’t) the deadline for tenders to be submitted will be 17 September.
There is currently no indication of what will be tendered, although one can assume that they will align with the LEPs’ published co-financing plans.
Keep an eye out on the ESFA website and weekly Update for news of the launch. Tenders will need to be submitted as usual via the Bravo e-tendering portal.
I have already been engaged by several providers to work with them on potential ESF tenders, so please get in touch as soon as possible if you need support to avoid disappointment as I limit the number of tenders I write to maintain quality.