EU and Big Lottery fund join forces to address poverty and improve job opportunities across North West England

Communities across the North West are set to benefit from almost £26 million supporting people most in need to develop the skills and tools to overcome barriers to work, education and training.

The Big Lottery Fund is for the first time matching funds from the European Social Fund (ESF) 2014-2020 to provide joint investment in four local projects tackling the root causes of poverty, promoting social inclusion and driving local jobs and growth.

Projects will provide opportunities for people to improve numeracy, literacy and digital skills, build confidence and self-esteem, and better understand and manage their finances. Extra support will be given to hard to reach and socially-excluded groups, including people with disabilities, mental health or addiction issues, those who are homeless, ex-offenders and people living in isolated rural areas.

The Big Lottery Fund is working with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across England who have identified projects that best meet local need and priorities. From today organisations can apply for funding to deliver these projects.

Dawn Austwick, Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund said: "We are delighted to be working with Local Enterprise Partnerships across the North West to bring new funds into communities to develop employment opportunities and pathways to the job market for those most in need. These projects focus on solutions developed at a local level, from customised programmes for carers seeking flexible work to support for people to create new local social enterprises."

Across England 71 projects have been announced today with a total of £174,521,600 available. This represents the first round of this funding and involves 25 LEP areas. Further investment is expected to be delivered over the next few years, taking the total number of LEP areas with projects to 37. Each LEP has identified the issues challenging their communities and the opportunity that funding can bring to address them. The funding will be managed by the Big Lottery Fund, giving voluntary, community and social enterprise groups greater access to this wider ESF money than in previous years.

Projects open for applications include:

Greater Manchester LEP area to support people aged 25 and over who are furthest from the labour market access learning, training and job opportunities. It will focus on areas where existing national programmes do not deliver or residents do not find the criteria. Greater Manchester has persistent issues of long-term unemployment, with many people of working age reliant on benefits, and its skills level is lower than the UK average.

The first competitive application stage is now open. Grant competitions are fair, open and competitive and any organisation is eligible to apply, however most of the projects will be better suited to partnership working. Full details of all the project outlines in this round are available at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/esf.

In order to support potential applicants and to help grant holders to understand, plan for and deliver the additional requirements that come with managing European funding, Big Lottery Fund has also awarded £950,000 to Baker Tilly, in partnership with Ecorys UK. 

Further funding opportunities will be available in autumn 2015. To be kept informed on the latest Building Better Opportunities news register your interest at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/esf