Guide to delivering European funding

Transcription

1 Guide to delivering European funding Handbook version 1

2 About this guide This is the first section in a series of fifteen guidance documents that make up the Guide. Taken as a whole, this provides all of the guidelines, tools and templates needed to manage and monitor your project. The Guide replaces any and all guidance we have previously published in relation to this funding. How this guide works There are two versions: The handbook version is a single document containing every section and annex. The online version is divided into the fifteen sections that make up the Guide. You should use the forms and templates we have provided there. Both versions are available on our website: Updates and Frequently Asked Questions The information provided across these sections is subject to change as the European Commission and the Managing Authority make new decisions on how this funding should be implemented. Any changes to the Guide will be: communicated on our website and on the inside page of each section ed to current grant holders and highlighted in our programme e-bulletin. We are running a consultation review until Friday 29 April You can contribute to this by ing your questions and comments to esf@biglotteryfund.org.uk before this date. We ll then make corrections and will publish a list of Frequently Asked Questions in Section fourteen. How to contact us If you are a lead organisation involved in delivering a project, the best way to get in touch is through your funding officer. Other organisations should us at esf@biglotteryfund.org.uk We have a BBO support team in place that can help with understanding European funding requirements. You can contact them at support@bboesfsupport.com or on

3 1. Contents Section one: Orientation Section two: Introduction 2.1 What is Building Better Opportunities? Page What is European funding? Page What are the relationships involved? Page The project outline Page 9 Section three: Getting started 3.1 Before your first payment Page The grant agreement Page Your bank account Page The grant induction Page Scheduling payments Page Scheduling targets and project outcomes Page Signing the partnership agreement Page Setting up the grant Page Confirming you can start Page 13 Section four: Payments and monitoring 4.1 How we will make payments Page Scheduling payments Page Making payments Page Making adjustments Page What you ll report to us each quarter Page What we ll do with your information Page Changes to your project Page 22 Annex A - Your payment schedule (spreadsheet) Page 24 Annex B - Progress project report Page 26 Annex C - Progress project report - COR/2/1 only Page 38 Annex D - Changes to your project form Page 39 Section five: Targets and project outcomes 5.1 What are targets? Page What are project outcomes? Page Types of targets Page Scheduling targets and project outcomes Page Managing performance Page 56 Annex E - Your target and project outcome schedule (spreadsheet) Annex F - Your target and project outcome schedule COR/2/1 only (spreadsheet) Page 58 Page 60 3

4 Section six: Participants 6.1 Who is a participant? Page What is participant information? Page Types of participant Page The participant file Page Entry and eligibility Page Right to work in the UK Page Unemployed or economically inactive Page Data protection Page Progress through the project Page Exit and results Page Closing the participant file Page Collating participant information Page Participants already receiving support Page Category of Region Page Participant definitions Page 78 Section seven: Partners and procurement 7.1 Working in partnership Page The partnership agreement Page Changes to your partnership Page Payments to partners Page Managing procurement Page State Aid Page 139 Section eight: Costs and expenditure 8.1 Costs Page Keeping timesheets Page Depreciation Page Participant expenses, allowances and incentives Page Procurement and contractor costs Page Indirect costs Page Reporting expenditure Page 146 Annex G Participant file template Page 79 Annex H Participant entry form Page 87 Annex I Participant progress form Page 95 Annex J Participant exit form Page 100 Annex K Example participant file (pdf) Page 106 Annex L Participant monitoring spreadsheet (spreadsheet) Page 108 Annex M Participant definitions and data fields Page 110 Annex N Participant expenses, allowances and incentives form Annex O Financial monitoring spreadsheet (spreadsheet) Page 149 Page 154 4

5 Section nine: Publicity 9.1 Why is publicity important? Page Types of publicity Page The logo Page Informing participants Page Evidencing publicity Page Specific requirements for the Lottery Fund logo Page 161 Section thirteen: Glossary of terms Page 179 Section fourteen: Frequently Asked Questions Page 182 Section fifteen: Index Page 183 Section ten: Cross-cutting themes 10.1 What are the cross-cutting themes? Page Sustainable development Page Gender equality and equal opportuntities Page 164 Section eleven: Evidence and retention 11.1 The importance of retaining evidence Page Types of evidence Page 167 Section twelve: Projects based in London 12.1 Two additional requirements Page Sustained employment Page Employability Performance Rating Page 171 Annex P Participant exit form (London only) Page 173 5

6 Guide to delivering European funding Section two: Introduction 6

7 2.1 What is Building Better Opportunities? Building Better Opportunities brings together funding from the Big Lottery Fund and the European Social Fund (ESF) to help tackle the poverty and social exclusion faced by the most disadvantaged people in England. By joining up with ESF, we ll be able to double the impact of Lottery money at a local level and offer a route to European funding for organisations that may have found it difficult to access it in the past. During 2015 and early-2016 we published a series of project outlines on our website. These describe each specific funding opportunity available through the programme and what we want each project to achieve. We are only funding one organisation, or a single partnership managed by a lead organisation, to deliver the work described in each project outline. Project outlines target different areas or groups of people, but there are five principles that underpin them all: Help the most disadvantaged As the economy strengthens and the labour market becomes more competitive, people who are out of work or not job ready could become increasingly disadvantaged as they seek employment. Some groups of people are more disadvantaged than others when it comes to finding work and it is these individuals that Building Better Opportunities aspires to help. Tackle social exclusion Social exclusion profoundly affects people s physical and mental health. This lack of wellbeing can have a significant impact on an individual s confidence and motivation to engage fully with support services, preventing them from seizing opportunities to improve their quality of life. 7 Social exclusion contributes to disadvantage and can also lead to people being out of work. So rather than just treating the symptoms, projects must help address the root causes of poverty and social exclusion that are barriers to an individual finding work. Be focused on the capabilities of each individual We expect projects to build on people s strengths by developing their skills and talents to help them overcome the challenges they face. To achieve this, activities need to be focused on the needs of each individual through tailored packages of support that go far beyond simply providing advice. Key to this will be ensuring the people who ll benefit have a genuine and ongoing role in how the project is designed and delivered. Lead to better coordinated services In the main, services will need to be delivered in partnership between organisations that already have expertise in working with those most in need. There is a range of services across England that can support people in difficulty, but they can sometimes lack clear coordination at a local level. Making connections and joining up such services would make it easier for the most disadvantaged people to use the services that best suit them. Create new opportunities for work The success of Building Better Opportunities is constrained, in part, by the work available, so it s just as important to think about creating new opportunities as it is to improve an individual s work readiness. It is therefore essential that there is engagement with employers to ensure there are pathways for people to progress into work.

8 2.2 What is European funding? The Big Lottery Fund is matching funds from the European Social Fund (ESF) to provide joint investment for projects in England. The money from Europe comes from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Growth Programme 2014 to 2020, of which ESF is one part. The purpose of the ESIF Growth Programme is to improve local growth and create jobs by investing in innovation, business, skills and employment. ESF specifically contributes to this by: supporting and sustaining quality employment without barriers to participation encouraging social inclusion, combating poverty and discrimination developing the potential and existing workforce by investing in education, training and vocational skills. We will provide funding under ESF Thematic Objective 9 (promoting social inclusion and combating poverty), with a specific focus on addressing the root causes of poverty that create barriers to work, so that people who are most socially excluded move towards or into employment. How is the money distributed? In England, ESIF money is divided between 39 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas and each LEP has devised a strategy for how it will be spent. A LEP area ESIF sub-committee has been established in each of these localities to help manage the delivery of these strategies. The LEP area ESIF sub-committee have had a crucial role in the development of the project outlines. European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) European Regional Development Fund Cohesion Fund European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development European Maritime and Fisheries Fund European Social Fund (ESF) Building Better Opportunities (BBO) Big Lottery Fund The funding available through Building Better Opportunities is just a portion of the European funding that will be available across these areas through the ESIF Growth Programme. To find out more about other opportunities for accessing European funding, go to the Government website 8

9 2.3 What are the relationships involved? 9

10 2.4 The project outline Whether you ve recently been awarded funding, or you are in the process of developing your application to the programme, the project outline is fundamental to what you need to achieve. It is also pivotal to how we will assess any application and monitor the funding we award. Projects will need to meet local priorities, which have been defined in the LEP area ESIF strategies. We ve used these priorities as the basis for the project outlines. We have also agreed the targets for each project with the Managing Authority and the local LEP area ESIF sub-committee. These targets are listed on the project outline (under Project outputs and results ). A project outline typically covers: the geographical areas where the project must be delivered the funding available and the deadline by which all funding must be spent and claimed by relevant background information, including the fit with existing provision or local, regional and national strategies a description of what the project must achieve and any specific skills or experience that the organisations involved must have the minimum level of outputs and results (called targets ) that the project must deliver during its lifetime the groups of people that the project must work with. Each project outline represents just one strand of the overall funding that is available through Building Better Opportunities. 10

11 Guide to delivering European funding Section three: Getting started 11

12 3.1 Before your first payment There are eight things that need to happen before we can pay you the first instalment of the grant. 1. You ll accept the grant agreement. 2. You ll confirm your bank account. 3. We ll complete a grant induction with you. 4. You ll schedule your payments. 5. You ll schedule your targets and project outcomes. 6. You and your partners will sign the partnership agreement. 7. We ll set up your grant. This is likely to be through a visit. 8. We ll send written confirmation that you can formally start the project. 3.2 The grant agreement The first thing you need to do is accept the grant agreement. The grant agreement is made up of: your offer letter the terms and conditions of grant for Building Better Opportunities. We will send you two copies of these documents. To accept the grant agreement we need at least two people with appropriate authority from your organisation to sign one copy of the letter and to return it to us, with the terms and conditions still attached. The letter explains who this should be. You keep the other copy for your records. The grant agreement starts on the date you sign and return it to us and lasts until the document retention period draws to a close. We expect this to be by 31 December This is because projects may be audited at any point up to this date. 3.3 Your bank account If you have not done so already, you ll need to set up a new bank account for the sole purpose of receiving and administering funding from Building Better Opportunities. This account must bear the legal name of your organisation with BBO in brackets. For example: The Spencer Foundation (BBO). Bank details form Whether you need to set up a new account or not, we ll you a bank details form which you ll need to complete and return to us. This allows us to verify your bank account. 12

13 3.4 The grant induction Your funding officer will arrange an induction with you during the first few weeks. This is an opportunity to talk through the process and the guidance we ve sent you, so that you can ask any questions and we can clarify anything you re unsure about. This will help to develop the working relationships that will be vital to the success of the project. 3.5 Scheduling payments We ve explained how to develop this schedule in Section four: Payments and monitoring. You must use the template provided as an annex to that section (Annex A). Your payment schedule is used to map out your expenditure over the lifetime of the project. It ll also tell us how much you need from us for your first payment. Each quarter, we ll review your actual costs against this forecast. You ll update the schedule throughout and we ll use it to record any adjustments to the grant. 3.6 Scheduling targets and project outcomes We ve explained how to develop this schedule in Section five: Targets and project outcomes. You must use the template provided as an annex to that section (Annex E). Your target and project outcome schedule ensures that you can realise the benefits of the project during its lifetime. We ll use this schedule to monitor your progress and you ll update it throughout the delivery of the project to reflect any changes. 3.7 Signing the partnership agreement At stage two, you submitted a draft partnership agreement to us. This is an important document as it formalises the responsibilities and relationships between the different delivery organisations that will be involved in the project. We may have feedback on your draft partnership agreement and you ll need to update it to reflect these comments. Our legal department will then need to approve it. Before you and your partners can sign the partnership agreement, we ll need to check that you have listed all relevant organisations. See Section seven: Partners and procurement to find out more. 3.8 Setting up the grant We need to ensure that you re ready to start the project. Your funding officer will arrange a date with you and may request that certain partners or personnel are available. It is likely that the grant set-up will be done through a visit. On the next page, we ve listed the key areas we will cover as part of your grant set-up. 3.9 Confirming you can start You ll need to address any concerns coming out of the grant set-up. We ll then send you written confirmation that you can start the project and will make your first payment. 13

14 Section of the Guide Section one: Orientation Section two: Introduction Section four: Payments and monitoring Section five: Targets and project outcomes Section six: Participants Section seven: Partners and procurement Section eight: Costs and expenditure Section nine: Publicity Section ten: Cross-cutting themes Section eleven: Evidence and retention Section twelve: Projects based in London What we ll cover as part of your grant set-up: Using our electronic resources. How changes to the guidance will be communicated. How the funding is constituted. The stakeholders and relationships involved. How you ll report to us each quarter. How payments and adjustments will work. How targets work. How we ll monitor your performance using the targets and project outcomes. Checking eligiblity and maintaining a participant file. Collating and reporting participant information. Recording category of region. Identifying participants involved in more than one project. Dealing with changes to your partnership. Managing procurement and notifying us about your plans. Evidencing expenditure. Calculating indirect costs. Collating and reporting your costs. Why publicity is important. Using the logo on job adverts, websites and materials. How the cross-cutting themes are fully integrated into the project. Developing and implementing your action plans. How evidence is collected, checked and retained. How data is stored, protected and retained. Completing the Employment Performance Rating (EPR) and how it will be used. The sustained employment target. 14

15 Guide to delivering European funding Section four: Payments and monitoring 15

16 4.1 How we will make payments 4.2 Scheduling payments We will pay grant instalments up to three months in advance based on your estimates of planned expenditure for that period. You ll use a payment schedule to forecast your costs across the lifetime of the project, broken down by quarter over each year of delivery. As each quarter draws to a close, you ll submit a range of monitoring information to us. This will include a revised payment schedule which reflects your actual costs for the period. If your forecasted costs are lower than your actual costs, we ll look to reduce the value of your next payment to reflect the difference between what you forecasted and what you actually spent. We ll also apply other adjustments where costs are found to be ineligible. As you submit information to us, we ll report to the Managing Authority. They will carry out their own checks, which may result in further adjustments to future payments. Where serious issues are identified, the European Commission can claw back some or all of the money paid to a project. During the set-up of the project, we ll need you to complete a payment schedule (Annex A). Your payment schedule is used to map out your expenditure over the lifetime of the project. It ll also tell us how much you need from us for your first payment. You ll use a different tab to forecast your costs for each year of the project. Each year is then broken down by quarter (e.g Q3). As the project progresses, the following columns will be completed: Forecast ( ) This is how much you think you ll need for each quarter of delivery. You ll provide an estimate for these amounts at the start of the project. Actual ( ) This is how much you actually spent. You ll complete this at the end of whichever quarterly period you are reporting your actual costs for. Adjustments ( ) This is used to reflect any underspend, overspend, deductions or penalities. If you ve spent less money then you intended, use this column to indicate how much. Types of costs When we report your costs to the Managing Authority, we will use three basic cost headings: direct staff costs other direct costs flat rate indirect costs. However, for purposes of managing your own costs, we ll need you to use the cost headings provided on the payment schedule and in Section eight: Costs and expenditure. 16

17 Scheduling payments (example) The project doesn t start spending money until Q3 The total figures across each year will be automatically calculated for each of these columns The total costs will be calculated automatically This will be the first payment This will be the second payment The total indirect costs are calculated automatically as 15% of the direct staff costs for that Q. See Section eight: costs and expenditure 17

18 4.3 Making payments 4.4 Making adjustments Your first payment There will be an initial payment at the start of the project to cover the first three months of project activity. This will be the value of your Total costs ( ) for the first quarter that you have forecasted expenditure in. In some cases, the project may be starting partway through a quarterly monitoring period. Your funding officer will discuss this with you at the time to determine whether it may be possible to combine your first two quarterly payments into one. This would help reduce the reporting burden of submitting information covering only a short period of delivery and expenditure. Your second payment We ll make your second payment before we have received the monitoring information from your first quarter. Your funding officer will ask you to confirm whether your payment schedule has changed since your first payment. If it has, then you ll need to resubmit this before we can make your second payment. Subsequent payments By the time we get to your third payment, we ll have reviewed all of the monitoring information from your first quarter. We may ask you to revise and resubmit this information if we identify errors, duplication or ineligible costs. This may result in adjustments to your third and subsequent payments. The process of payment, reporting and adjustment will continue throughout the project. Your final payment We will withhold 5% of the total grant award as a retention payment. This to ensure that all of the monitoring information we need to close the grant has been provided. The retention payment will be taken from your final grant instalment. Adjustments cover a range of eventualities. These can be broadly divided into four categories. Underspend This is where the actual costs in one quarter are lower than you forecast in your payment schedule. Where this is the case, we ll reduce the value of your next payment by this amount and will discuss this with you. Overspend This is where your actual costs for a period are higher than the related payment from us. In these situations, we ll need to discuss the reasons for this with you so that we can understand whether the overspend was due to simply underestimating your likely costs or because there is a more significant issue relating to the costs of the project. Deductions This is where we discover that some of your costs are ineligible, for example: you ve not been able to provide evidence of certain costs, such as staff timesheets or receipts covering all items of expenditure your staff recruitment is unsatisfactory because reference hasn t been made to ESF in your job adverts or the correct logo has not been used expenditure on other forms of publicity, such as websites or written documents, does not conform to our logo requirements other forms of evidence relating to the delivery of the project has not been retained. 18

19 4.5 What you ll report to us each quarter How we make these deductions will depend on the extent of the issue. In most cases, we ll give you the opportunity to provide any incomplete information before making a deduction. Generally speaking, we ll look to recover the funding spent on ineligible items by reducing the value of your next payment to compensate for this. Penalties We reserve the right to hold back a proportion of your next payment as a penalty whilst you get your project back on track. A good example is where the performance against your targets is below expectations for a consistent period (see Section five: Targets and project outcomes). We may also withhold or temporarily reduce payments if correct documentation is not retained or submitted to us. At the end of each quarter, you ll send us a project progress report (Annex B). This will give us a detailed picture of how the grant is being spent and how the project is performing. You ll need to attach four other items to this report: 1. an updated payment schedule with any adjustments 2. an target and project outcome schedule with your latest forecasts (see Section five: Targets and project outcomes) 3. your participant monitoring spreadsheet, which reports the outputs and results for the individuals you have engaged during that quarter (see Section six: Participants) 4. your financial monitoring spreadsheet, which reports your costs and evidence of expenditure during that quarter (see Section eight: Costs and expenditure). Lead organisations will submit the project progress report with the attachments above just after the quarter has been completed. Given the sensitivity of some of the information you ll be reporting, we ll establish a secure file transfer so that lead organisations can send this to us. Under no circumstances should participant monitoring information be sent to us by . Project partners will need a similar route for sending sensitive information to the lead organisation, which avoids the use of . Your project progress report The project progress report consists of nine parts. On the next page, we ve summarised the types of information you ll be providing through this report. If you are delivering COR/2/1 We ve provided a separate project progress report (Annex C) to reflect that there are different targets for this project outline. 19

20 What your project progress report will cover: Part one: Summary information Part two: About your project Part three: Your costs for this quarter Part four: Your targets for this quarter Part five: Your project outcomes Part six: Publicity Part seven: Crosscutting themes Part eight: Looking ahead Part nine: Declaration This asks: who you are which quarterly reporting period you are submitting information for whether you are enclosing the four attachments we ve requested. Give us: a description of the main activities you ve started, continued or finished any achievements, unexpected outcomes or problems you ve encountered. This draws together the information from your payment schedule and financial monitoring spreadsheet to summarise: your forecast costs your actual costs. We also need you to explain any major differences between what you forecast and what you actually spent. This provides a summary of the information on your target schedule and your participant monitoring spreadsheet to give: the targets you forecast the targets you actually met. We ll also need you to explain any major differences between what you forecast and the targets you actually achieved. This asks you to tell us about: your progress towards each of the project outcomes any milestones you ve reached any changes you may need to make and why. This asks you to provide a list or description of the publicity you have carried out during the quarter, so we can ensure that you have fully acknowledged the European Social Fund in your materials. This asks you to tell us what you have done to implement the cross-cutting themes of: sustainable development and equal opportunities and gender equality. This asks you to give us a sense of how well prepared you are for the challenges ahead, including how you re planning to manage any difficulties. This is your declaration that the grant has been spent appropriately and the information you are providing is accurate and true. 20

21 4.6 What we ll do with your information We ll review what you sent us to check: the project is on track and any problems or challenges are being addressed you have recorded the outputs and results correctly you are performing in line with the target schedule you are progressing towards your project outcomes you have provided a list of all your costs and retained the evidence to prove this expenditure your payment schedule reflects the actual costs incurred and you have made appropriate adjustments to your payments you are producing publicity following our guidelines you are acting on your plans and policies for implementing the cross-cutting themes. We may then ask you to send us: electronic copies of some of your participant files so that we can check that the people benefiting from the project are eligible to receive support electronic copies of your evidence of expenditure so that we can check that your records are complete and all of the costs are eligible examples of your publicity examples of how you re implementing the cross-cutting themes across the project. Incomplete, incorrect or ineligible items If we discover any errors or omissions in what you sent us, we ll ask you to revise and resubmit the relevant information. We will also notify you of any adjustments we ll be making to your payments because of ineligible activities or costs. Reporting to the local LEP area sub-committee Each quarter, we ll provide a highlight report to the LEP area subcommittee. Reporting to the Managing Authority Once we have a set of monitoring information that is complete, correct and eligible, we ll submit this to the Managing Authority. They will carry out their own checks broadly in line with our own. The Managing Authority may identify issues that were not picked up by lead organisations or ourselves, which may result in further adjustments being made to compensate for this. We ll do everything we can to minimise the chances of this. Where serious issues are identified, the European Commission can claw back some or all of the money paid to a project. The risk of this happening can be mitigated by using the forms and templates we ve provided across the Guide to delivering European funding. 21

22 4.7 Changes to your project Evaluating the programme Evaluation is an important feature of Building Better Opportunities. Throughout the delivery of the project, we need organisations to collect and report information so that key learning can be used more widely to influence the planning of similar provision and future programmes. We have put in place an independent evaluator to carry out a programme-wide evaluation of Building Better Opportunities. To help us with this, we will ask some projects to participate in a sampling exercise looking at the longer term changes that have resulted from this funding. We ll also ask a sample of grant holders to take part in qualitative reviews around their experiences of being involved in the programme. The Managing Authority will carry out their own overall ESF evaluation, which projects must contribute to if asked. This will include the tracking of some participants up to six months after they ve left the project. The Managing Authority will carry this out using contact information provided by lead organisations to us. You ll use the changes to your project form (Annex D) to tell us about: changes to your primary or legally responsible contact information changes to your partnership or the management structure of the project changes to your target schedule changes to your project outcomes changes to your project budget changes to the delivery of the project. We ll need to agree these changes before you can proceed. Changes to your partners Use this section to tell us if you want to: make changes to the membership of the partnership replace a partner with a new organisation through a procurement process amend the partnership agreement. Changes to your target schedule Use this section to tell us if you want to revise your target schedule. 22

23 Changes to your project outcomes Use this section to tell us if you want to: re-focus or replace one or more of your project outcomes change the type or number of participants or the extent to which they will benefit change your project activities that you will deliver to achieve your project outcomes revise the milestones that you will use to measure changes resulting from your project s activities. Changes to your project budget Use this section to tell us if you want to: vary your expenditure between budget headings by more than 10% from what you told us about in your stage two application add additional lines of expenditure to what you told us about in your stage two application revise your grant instalments by more than 10% of what you forecast in your payment schedule. Changes to your delivery Use this section to tell us if you want to change: the objectives, target groups or delivery areas of your project the delivery structure and approaches from what you told us about in your stage two application the nature of the activities you will be delivering because of new information. 23

24 Guide to delivering European funding Annex A Your payment schedule 24

25 About this annex This is an excel spreadsheet that you must access by going online. You can find this at We tell you more about completing this schedule in

26 Guide to delivering European funding Annex B Project progress report 26

27 About this annex Most projects will use this progess report form to send us an update each quarter. We tell you more about completing this report in

28 Annex B Project progress report For lead organisations to complete You ll submit this report to us at the end of each quarter. It gives us a detailed picture of how the grant is being spent and how the project is performing. Part one: Summary information Lead organisation: Project name: Project ID: Project outline: Reporting period - Tick one box: 2016 Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q4 Attachments Tick each box to confirm that you are sending us: your updated payment schedule. your target and project outcome schedule. your participant monitoring spreadsheet. your financial monitoring spreadsheet. 28

29 Part two: About your project What progress have you made? Describe the main activities you ve started, continued or finished during this reporting period. Write up to 300 words. What have you learned? Tell us about any achievements or unexpected outcomes you d like to share with us and any problems you ve faced and how you ve tackled them. Write up to 300 words. 29

30 Part three: Your costs for this quarter This draws together the information from your payment schedule and financial monitoring spreadsheet. You must only report the costs that you have actually incurred, for which you will have retained evidence of the expenditure. Your forecasted costs ( ) Your actual costs ( ) Direct staff costs Staff costs (including employer's NI and pension contributions, and any taxable incentives linked to pay) Staff expenses such as travel and allowances Volunteer costs such as travel and subsistence Consumables such as stationery and essential software Venue hire and the lease or rental of buildings Hire or operating lease of equipment Depreciation of buildings and equipment Other direct costs Small items of equipment costing up to 1,000 VAT that cannot be reclaimed from HMRC Participant costs such as expenses and childcare Participant allowances and incentives Marketing and promotion Monitoring and evaluation Storage of evidence and data Procurement costs Contractor delivery and management costs Flat rate indirect costs (15% of direct staff costs) Total costs ( ) 30

31 Explain any major differences between what you forecasted and what you actually spent. By major difference we mean an underspend or an overspend of at least 10%. Write up to 500 words. 31

32 Part four: Your targets for this quarter This provides a summary of the information on your target schedule and your participant monitoring spreadsheet. You must only report the outputs and results you have actually achieved, for which you will have retained evidence in the participant file for each individual you have engaged through the project. The targets you forecasted The targets you actually met Total number of participants Number of men Number of women Outputs Number who are unemployed, including long-term unemployed Number who are economically inactive, including not in education or training Number who are aged 50 or over Number with disabilities Number from ethnic minorities Number who move into education or training on leaving Number who move into employment, including self-employment on leaving Of these, the number who were unemployed when joining the project Results Of these, the number who were economically inactive when joining the project Number that were economically inactive move into job-searching upon leaving Number of participants who move into employment, including self-employment, on leaving who sustain work for 26 out of 32 weeks after entering the project (London based projects only) 32

33 Explain any major differences between the targets you forecasted and the targets you actually achieved. By major difference we mean an underperformance or overperformance of at least 10%. Write up to 500 words. 33

34 Part five: Your project outcomes With reference to your project outcome schedule, describe: your progress towards each of the project outcomes any milestones you ve achieved any changes you may need to make and why. Write up to 500 words. 34

35 Part six: Publicity It is a condition of grant that you acknowledge both the Big Lottery Fund and the European Social Fund on any correspondence or materials used for the delivery of the project. This includes: job descriptions, promotional materials, event and websites. Provide a list or description of the publicity you have carried out. Write up to 300 words. Part seven: Cross-cutting themes Tell us what you have done to implement the cross-cutting themes of: (1) sustainable development and (2) equal opportunities and gender equality. Write up to 300 words. 35

36 Part eight: Looking ahead How prepared are you for the next part of your project? Give us a sense of how well prepared you are for the challenges ahead. Please be open about sharing concerns with us, we ll be able to help if you tell us your concerns. Everything is on track and you don t expect any problems A problem may arise but you re confident you can handle it A problem is likely to arise that could seriously affect your project. Your ability to deliver your planned project activities Your ability to control project costs Your ability to get or train staff and other resources you need for this project Your ability to achieve your targets or outcomes Your ability to deliver the cross-cutting themes Your ability to monitor the participants engaged in the project Your ability to implement the publicity guidelines across the project External factors, like changes in legislation Explain what challenges you re facing and how you re planning to manage it. Tell us if there are ways you think we can help. Write up to 300 words. 36

37 Part nine: Declaration You confirm that: the information in this report is accurate and true the money from the Big Lottery Fund and the European Social Fund has been used exclusively for the project described in the original application, together with any changes you ve agreed with us since then there haven t been any significant changes to your project or the governance of your organisation or partnership apart from any you ve told us about and we ve agreed to in writing you haven t received any duplicate funding for the activities, services or facilities the Big Lottery Fund and the European Social Fund are paying for you have sought to achieve value for money for your project by securing goods and services at reasonable prices your organisation keeps full and proper accounts and records, including invoices and receipts, which show how the money from the Big Lottery Fund and the European Social Fund has been used your organisation has implemented its equalities policy and, if working with children, young people or vulnerable adults, a safeguarding policy; these policies are carried out and regularly reviewed to ensure they adhere to current legislation and regulations your organisation hasn t disposed of any funded assets without getting permission from us in writing your organisation is following all current statutory requirements and other laws and regulations relating to the project and its working including: adherence to employers liability insurance; procurement regulations; the national minimum wage; the working time directive; health and safety; safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults; data protection and intellectual property rights legislation. Name: Signature: Job title: Organisation: Date: 37

38 Guide to delivering European funding Annex C Project progress report (COR/2/1 only) 38

39 About this annex We ve provided a separate project progress report for COR/2/1 to reflect that that there are different targets for this project outline. As it only affects one project, we have provided this at We tell you more about completing this report in

40 Guide to delivering European funding Annex D Changes to your project form 40

41 About this annex This form is used to tell us about any changes to your project. We tell you more about completing this in

42 Annex D Changes to your project form For lead organisations to complete Use this form to tell us about: changes to your primary or legally responsible contact information changes to your partnership or management structure of the project changes to your target schedule changes to your project outcomes changes to your project budget changes to the delivery of the project. We ll need to agree these changes before you can proceed. Part one: Summary information Lead organisation: Project name: Project ID: Project outline: Date: 42

43 Part two: Changes to your contacts New details (complete where relevant) Your primary contact Your legally responsible contact Personal details Title Forenames Surname Job title or position Date of birth (dd/mm/yy) Telephone number Mobile number address Home address Flat number Building number Building name Street Town or city Postcode Number of years at this address Correspondence address If the preferred correspondence address is not the organisation s address. Flat number Building number Building name Street Town or city Postcode 43

44 Part three: Changes to your partners Use this section to tell us if you want to: make changes to the membership of the partnership replace a partner with a new organisation through a procurement process amend the partnership agreement. Explain what the impacts of the change will be on the partnership or management structure of the project. Write up to 500 words. 44

45 Part four: Changes to your target schedule Use this section to tell us if you want to revise your target schedule. Explain why you want to make the change. Write up to 500 words. 45

46 Part five: Changes to your project outcomes Use this section to tell us if you want to: re-focus or replace one or more of your project outcomes change the type or number of participants or the extent to which they will benefit change your project activities that you will deliver to achieve your project outcomes revise the indicators that you will use to measure changes resulting from your project s activities. Explain why you want to make the change. Write up to 500 words. 46

47 Part six: Changes to your project budget Use this section to tell us if you want to: vary your expenditure between budget headings by more than 10% from what you told us about in your stage two application add additional lines of expenditure to what you told us about in your stage two application revise your grant instalments by more than 10% of what you forecasted in payment schedule. Explain why you want to make the change. Write up to 500 words. 47

48 Part seven: Changes to your delivery Use this section to tell us if you want to change: the objectives, target groups or delivery areas of your project the delivery structure and approaches from what you told us about in your stage two application the nature of the activities you will be delivering because of new information. Explain why you want to make the change. Write up to 500 words. 48

49 Part eight: Declaration You confirm that: the information in this form is accurate and true the money from the Big Lottery Fund and the European Social Fund is being used exclusively for the project described in the original application, together with any changes you ve agreed with us since then there haven t been any significant changes to your project or the governance of your organisation or partnership apart from any you ve told us about here or we ve agreed to in writing your organisation is following all current statutory requirements and other laws and regulations relating to the project and its working including: adherence to employers liability insurance; procurement regulations; the national minimum wage; the working time directive; health and safety; safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults; data protection and intellectual property rights legislation. Name: Signature: Job title: Organisation: Date: 49

50 Guide to delivering European funding Section five: Targets and project outcomes 50

51 5.1 What are targets? 5.2 What are project outcomes? We use targets to describe what must be achieved by the project during its lifetime. They play an important part in monitoring its performance. If we decide to award a grant, it will be to deliver the targets set out in your stage two application. Targets are made up of outputs or results and are collected as part of your participant monitoring (see Section six: Participants) and the minimum targets are set out on the project outline. Where do the targets come from? The targets come from the Operational Programme for ESF in England, as agreed by the Managing Authority and the European Commission. Within this, the exact targets for each project outline have been devised by us, usually with input from the local LEP area ESIF subcommittee. What do we mean by minimum? The targets listed on the project outline are minimum expectations, not limitations. We want projects to help as many people and make as much impact as possible. It s perfectly acceptable to engage with more people and to achieve more than the targets we ve set. However this greater level of ambition must be achievable. Remember, too, that there are higher evidence standards for European funding so you need to be sure that you can achieve any higher numbers and prove that you have done so. What do we mean by outputs? Outputs relate to the personal situation of a participant on the date that they join the project. They include things like employment status, age, ethnicity and household situation. What do we mean by results? Results relate to what the participant actually achieved because of their engagement with the project. They include things like moving into work or job-search. 51 We re also interested in the other kinds of changes you re trying to bring about. We call these your project outcomes. During the application process, we asked you to describe up to four changes. Project outcomes are the result of what you do, rather than the activities or services you provide. Depending on the project, outcomes can occur at different levels, including: individual and family level. For example: fathers have improved health, confidence and family relationships. community level. For example: fewer young people are involved in criminal or anti-social behaviour as a result of participating in a range of positive activities. organisation level. For example: charities have greater skills and capacity to meet local needs. the environment. For example: improving the local environment for future generations to enjoy. systems and structures. For example: new learning networks that make sharing information more effective. Where possible, project outcomes should be measurable and timebased whilst clearly articulating the change that is actually occurring for the people who are benefiting. The project targets are the top priority, as these are fundamental to European funding, but not every participant will achieve a result. This is why project outcomes are important as a participant can still benefit from other types of progress like increased self-confidence, volunteering or communication skills.

52 5.3 Types of targets There are two types of target: those relating to outputs so the situation of the participant on the date they joined the project. those relating to results so the achievements of the participant by the time they leave the project. Targets relating to outputs Almost all the projects we fund will share the same set of targets: the total number of people engaged in activities to improve their work readiness and the number of these people: who are men who are women who are unemployed, including long-term unemployed who are economically inactive, including not in education or training who are aged 50 or over with disabilities from ethnic minorities. Check your project outline for the numbers you re expected to deliver against each of these. It s important to note that an individual can be counted against more than one of these categories, for example a participant may be male, unemployed and aged 50 or over. Targets relating to results With only a few exceptions, all projects will have targets relating to the number of people leaving the project: who move into education or training who move into employment, including self-employment who were economically inactive when joining the project and move into job-search. Projects based in London There is one further target that only applies to projects based in London: the number of participants who move into employment, including self-employment, on leaving who sustain work for 26 out of 32 weeks after entering employment. Childcare support Childcare was initially classed as a result. The Managing Authority will now check this through a survey with a sample of participants around six months after they leave the project. You must therefore ensure that anyone who needs access to childcare in order to participate in the project receives childcare support and keep a record of this. However, we will not set a specific target relating to this. 52

53 5.4 Scheduling targets and project outcomes One notable exception COR/2/1 For just one project based in Cornwall, the targets relating to outputs and results are slightly different: the total number of young people engaged in activities to improve their work readiness and the number of these young people: who are men who are women who are unemployed, including long-term unemployed who are economically inactive, including not in education or training who live in a single adult household with dependent children with no basic skills with disabilities from ethnic minorities. This project also has different result targets: the number of young people who gain basic skills on leaving the number of young people who move into employment, including self-employment, or education or training upon leaving. During the set-up of the project, we ll need you to devise a target and project outcome schedule (Annex E). This schedule ensures that you can realise the benefits of the project during its lifetime. For example, some targets or project outcomes may only be delivered at certain times, or can only be met later on in the project once certain activities have been set-up, tested and publicised. Delays or under-performance, whether you have direct control over this or not, will also affect the extent to which you can deliver your targets and project outcomes within a given period. The schedule will help you to manage this. Each quarter, we ll review your progress against your forecasts. This will play an important part in our monitoring as we ll need to ensure the targets will be met. In any event, we ll ask you to update the schedule to reflect the latest position - for example, you may need to redistribute some targets further into the project. Failure to meet your targets may result in funding being withdrawn. Over the next two pages, we ve given an example to help with scheduling your targets and project outcomes: When you set your target schedule, you ll need to refer to the outputs and results listed on your project outline (and any higher numbers you specified in your stage two project plan). When you set your project outcome schedule, you ll need to refer to the outcomes, milestones and timescales in your stage two project plan. If you are delivering COR/2/1 We ve provided a separate schedule for this project as the targets are different. You can find this in Annex F. 53

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