Cut to London Councils ESF programme

LVSC is surprised and disappointed with the news that London Councils has cut its European Social Fund (ESF) grant programme by 50 per cent. This could not come at a worse time for London’s most disadvantaged unemployed people.

LVSC London Councils ESF statement Dec 2011

Read our latest press release on London Councils cuts, 'London's disadvantaged and unemployed face cuts of millions'.

Official figures released last week show that one in ten Londoners are now unemployed, the highest level since the early 1990s. In some boroughs there are 20 jobseekers for every available vacancy.

Despite this, on 13 December 2011 London's local authority Leaders agreed a 50 per cent reduction in their contribution to the pan-London ESF programme, of which London Councils is a co-financer. The London boroughs' contribution will be £1 million, reduced from £2 million. The boroughs' contribution is matched by ESF money, so the total loss of funding for the scheme is £2million.

Leaders also agreed to stop the funding for the ESF Technical Assistance programme which supports groups funded under the ESF theme. This was only after London Councils had already completed a tendering process to contract an organisation(s) to deliver the Programme.

London Councils' ESF programme focuses on improving the employability and skills of the most excluded unemployed and economically inactive Londoners. So the budget cut comes at a time when the need for such back-to-work programmes has never been greater.

Recently, we have also seen the end of other specialist employment support such as the Working Neighbourhood Fund and London Development Agency programmes. Early evidence from the government's new Work Programme suggests that it is not reaching the most vulnerable workless Londoners. Specialist programmes, such as those funded through ESF should, therefore, be playing an ever more vital role in helping people who fall through the gaps in mainstream back-to-work provision.