Structural and cohesion funds/ESIF

The New ESF+ Regulations and Programmes 2021-2027

What does your new ESF+ Programme 2021-2027 look like? Are you confident that you will reach your target groups and spend the entire budget in the best way possible? Will you be able to achieve and demonstrate clear programme successes and measurable results? What are the challenges you will face to ensure that all spending is eligible and the audit trail is protected?

About this course

What does your new ESF+ Programme look like? Are you confident that you will spend the entire budget in the best way possible? Will you be able to achieve and demonstrate clear programme successes and measurable results? What are the challenges you will face to ensure that all spending is eligible and the audit trail is protected?

This 3-day EIPA course examines these questions and assesses the state of new programmes. We will ask whether you have a strong and adaptable project pipeline? We will ask what lessons have been learnt from current and previous ESF programmes? We will consider some recent cases of good practice from around the EU in the areas of programme and financial management.

EIPA experts will build on a series of successful EIPA course-workshops recently delivered under contract to the Flanders Region, the Brussels Capital Region, and the Wallonie region – assisting them with the preparation of a new generation of ESF+ programmes.

What you will learn?

Key elements include:

  • What priorities and financial allocations for your programmes stem from Country Specific Recommendations and Country Reports?
  • The relevance of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the EU Social Scoreboard
  • How best to coordinate of Structural Funds programmes and projects with RRF activities
  • Choosing the best programme-specific indicators for ESF+ and how to use the new Performance Frameworks
  • financial planning and flexibility for new programmes
  • simplifying financial control and audit – expanding the use of simplified cost options and protecting the audit trail

How we work

The course will be led by highly experienced EIPA experts/consultants, Marco Lopriore and Robin Smail, who have been working with the ESF for more than 20 years. There will be a keynote interventions from the European Commission, DG EMPL, and from the Slovak Ministry of Labour, looking at innovations in new programmes and lessons learnt from previous programmes.

We aim to make the course as interactive as possible. Participants will have ample opportunity to exchange views informally on the course topics. Workshops will be used to help participants get to grips with practical tools and methodologies.

This course is aimed principally at:

  • practitioners from Member State national, regional and local authorities working with ESF
  • the full range of economic and social partners working with the Funds – including universities, NGOs, employers’ associations, consultants.

Online Course
For this online course we make use of Zoom

Programme Organiser
Ms Nancy Vermeulen
Tel: +31 43 32 96 212
n.vermeulen@eipa.eu

Discounts
EIPA member fee
EIPA offers a discount to all civil servants working for one of EIPA’s supporting countries, and civil servants working for an EU institution, body or agency

Who are the supporting countries?
Civil servants coming from the following EIPA supporting countries are entitled to get the reduced fee: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden.

For all other participants, the regular fee applies

Early bird discount
The early bird discount is not cumulative with other discounts or promo codes, except for the EIPA member fee.

Who are the supporting countries?
Civil servants coming from the following EIPA supporting countries are entitled to get the reduced fee: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden.

For all other participants, the regular fee applies.

Confirmation
Confirmation of registration will be forwarded to participants on receipt of the completed online registration form.

Payment
Prior payment is a condition for participation.

Cancellation policy
For administrative reasons you will be charged € 50 for cancellations received within 7 days before the activity begins. There is no charge for qualified substitute participants.

EIPA reserves the right to cancel the activity up to 1 week before the starting date. In that case, registration fees received will be fully reimbursed.

Our experts

Robin Smail - external expert
Project leader

Robin Smail

Robin Smail Training & Consultancy

Programme

 

13.00Opening of ZOOM platform, welcome of participants
13.15Opening of the course, methodology of the course, Tour de Table
Marco Lopriore, Expert, EIPA, Maastricht, Netherlands
13.30Building an Inclusive Europe: policy context and key themes for the European Social Fund+

  • The key elements of the ESF+ Regulation
  • European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), youth and child guarantee, EU social scoreboard, link to the Charter of Fundamental Rights
  • Transnational cooperation, capacity building for social partners and civil society
  • ESF+ and the Just Transition Fund (JTF)

Marco Lopriore

14.15Short Break
14.25Discussion: ESF+ priorities and financial allocations
14.45New Programmes and the Project Pipeline for 2021-2027

  • ESF+ programme structure, priorities, specific objectives and financial allocations
  • Preparing the ground: instruments & methods, Enabling Conditions, Concentration rules
  • using the new Programme template
  • strengthening the ESF+ project pipeline

Robin Smail, EIPA Visiting Expert and Consultant (former national expert, EC)

15.25Coffee Break
15.45New Programmes and the Project Pipeline for 2021-2027 (contd.)

  • involving stakeholders, targeting, stimulating best ideas
  • Programme performance, project selection, achieving results for ESF+

Robin Smail

16.25Discussion: Lessons learnt from previous periods and issues for new ESF+ programmes
16.45ESF+ synergies with RRF and other EU funds; good practice cases

  • ESF projects under the health crisis and REACT-EU
  • ESF+ and the demarcation issues, synergies and complementarities with RRF
  • New delivery modes for ESF+, Grants and financial instruments in ESF+

Marco Lopriore

17.30End of first day
08.45Opening of the platform
09.00Review of day 1
09.05Workshop: Examining the Programme Template for Simplified Cost Options – Annex V, Section 8 and Appendix 1
09.20Extending Simplified Cost Options in 2021-2027

  • Review of key SCO options for ESF+ programmes
  • Gold-plating examples in ESF
  • Flat-rate for technical assistance: lessons from ESF
  • Audit and control of SCO

Marco Lopriore

10.05Workshops: Result orientation in ESF+ and Simplified Cost Options in 2021-2027
Marco Lopriore
10.45Coffee break and meet guest speaker
11.05Discussion on the state of your new programmes 2021-2027

  • Current ESF response to the health crisis: reskilling and upskilling
  • Key elements of the ESF+ regulation
  • State of new ESF + programmes
  • Q&A

Loris Di Pietrantonio, Head of Unit, F1, ESF and FEAD: Policy and legislation, DG EMPL European Commission (tbc)

12.00Short break
12.10Financial Management of ESF+ for 2021-2027

  • programme finance, co-finance rates, flexible funding
  • pre-financing, automatic decommitment
  • payment applications, the accounting year, calculation of the annual balance
  • Transmission of financial information; programme closure
  • Financial Control; Management Verifications; Audit changes

Robin Smail

13.15End of second day
08.45Opening of the platform
09.00Monitoring and reporting requirements 

  • Changes for the new 2021-2027 period
  • Real time reporting – financial and physical indicators
  • The New Performance Framework and the OP template
  • The new Reporting template

Robin Smail

09.50Break-out rooms: indicators for ESF+
10.20Short Break, meet the guest speaker
10.35Monitoring systems in Slovakia

  • Management Information and Monitoring systems
  • Indicators, data requirements, key challenges
  • Best practice solutions, reporting

Dagmar Litterová, Director, Department on Horizontal Principles, Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and the Family, Slovak Republic

11.15Short break
11.25Eligibility of Expenditure

  • Key changes in ESF+: Highlight on direct staff costs, VAT, horizontal principles gender/equal opportunities, visibility
  • European Code of Conduct on Partnership and ESF+
  • Eligibility of ESF+ participants
  • State aid in ESF+

Marco Lopriore

12.05Workshop: ESF+ challenges / no-go areas
12.20Short break
12.25Break-out groups: what do we need to evaluate? Evaluation questions
12.40Evaluation requirements, measuring success

  • Policy-evaluation cycle
  • The Evaluation Plan, preparing the ground for ESF evaluation
  • Evaluation criteria, measuring impact, value-for-money (VfM)

Robin Smail 

13.10Evaluation of online course
13.20End of course

What former participants say

The New ESF+ Regulations and Programmes 2021-2027

Confirmed
22 Jun 2022 - 24 Jun 2022
Online
Register before: 21 Jun 2022
 700 per attendee
 630 for EIPA members
Registration closed
Register before: 21 Jun 2022
Registration closed