Currently, there are two active funding periods: The 2014-2020 funding period because some programmes from that period will be extended beyond 2020, and the ESF Plus funding period from 2021 to 2027.
As the ESF Plus, the European Social Fund (ESF) will continue to be the main EU funding instrument and thus also an instrument of support for investment in people. The main objective of the ESF Plus is to contribute to a stronger social Europe and to put the European Pillar of Social Rights into practice.
In the funding period 2014-2020, the ESF helped around 20 million people in the EU who were unemployed or inactive. It supported about 10 million members of disadvantaged groups and more than 520,000 small and medium-sized enterprises.
In the 2021-2027 funding period, the new ESF Plus will put an even greater focus on the idea of promoting a stronger social Europe, bringing together the previous ESF, the previous Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).
Who can receive support through the ESF?
The ESF helps people in Germany and in Europe improve their education and skills to increase their employment opportunities. The aim is to ensure that all people have job prospects. The ESF is Europe's most important instrument for promoting employment and social inclusion. This especially benefits the unemployed, those moving from school to training and work, employees and those who start companies.
The ESF attaches particular importance to the equal treatment of men and women and the prevention of all forms of discrimination. The ESF is thus particularly concerned with those at risk of being excluded from the labour market, such as disadvantaged young people, the long-term unemployed and migrants.
However, the ESF is not an employment agency. Rather, it promotes practice-oriented employment projects at the municipal, regional and national level that have an impact directly where they are implemented. Individual support is provided only through the various ESF funding programmes, namely through the selected projects or responsible institutions in the respective programmes.
In the 2014-2020 funding period, the ESF helped people by providing support in the following areas:
- lasting integration of long-term unemployed persons into jobs subject to social security contributions,
- support for job-related language training,
- helping people with a migrant background acquire qualifications that lead to labour market integration in line with those qualifications,
- measures related to the skills shortage and demographic change and
- helping disadvantaged young people and young adults obtain general education school-leaving qualifications and helping them transition to or integrate into training or work.
The programmes running beyond 31 December 2020 will continue to focus on these main areas.
The goals of the ESF
In order to achieve the goals, each Member State and each region develops its own strategy for each funding period within the framework of an operational programme (OP) that must be approved by the EU Commission. In Germany, both the Federation and the Länder submit an OP to the European Commission.
The aims of the Federal OP in the 2014-2020 funding period were:
- Raise the employment rate, particularly among women
- Increase participation in continuing education and training
- Lower the long-term unemployment rate
- Improve the prospects of the younger generation
The allocation of ESF resources
In Germany, the Federation and the Länder were to receive a total of around 7.5 billion euros from the ESF between 2014 and 2020. Nearly 36 % of the ESF funds for Germany went to the Federal ESF programme. Some 64 % went to the 16 Länder programmes. However, the ESF funds are available only on the condition that the Member States themselves bear part of the costs of the funded projects (co-financing).
A total of around 6.5 billion euros is expected to be available for ESF Plus funding to the Federation and the Länder in Germany in the 2021-2027 funding period.
The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) is responsible for coordinating the Federal ESF support programmes and it implements them together with five other federal ministries:
- The Federal Ministry of Education and Research,
- The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth,
- The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy,
- The Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community,
- The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
ESF support programmes 2014-2020 implemented by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
The following support programmes of the BMAS receive ESF funding.
The Operational Programme of the Federation in the 2021-2027 funding period
Once the federal Operational Programme has been approved by the European Commission, the ESF Plus federal programmes of the 2021-2027 funding period will be renewed.