The withdrawal of the European Social Fund (ESF), without a replacement programme in place, would have a serious impact on the support some of the most disadvantaged communities receive.
This is from a November 2017 paper (pdf) from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and Employment Related Services Association (ERSA).
With the UK leaving the European Union in 2019, the government now has an opportunity to develop an initiative that builds on the best aspects of the ESF whilst addressing its design flaws.
This paper sets out the importance of the ESF for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, and proposes a successor to the programme.
The Equality and Diversity Forum (EDF) was part of the Post EU Working Group which aimed to identifiy a set of six design principles for a successor initiative.
We endorse the principles of this paper, and in 2018 we’ll be publishing a report which looks at the impact of loss of EU funding on equality and human rights.
