European Funding

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There are many opportunities for local authorities, voluntary sector and other organisations to benefit from European funding.

The aim of European funding is to provide additional funds, not available nationally, to support projects that would otherwise not take place. European funds support projects that can demonstrate "added value" and are innovative. An important criterion is that transfer of good practice takes place during the lifetime of the project and after it is completed.

The budget for all the funding programmes has been agreed for the period 2007 – 2013 and normally there are annual calls inviting applications for individual programmes. While the basic specifications remain the same, there can be changes in emphasis and priorities and the dates for the calls and deadlines for submission of bids are not definite. This often means that there is a relatively short period of time between the call being published and the deadline for submission. It is therefore important to be aware of the opportunities available in order to be ready when appropriate calls come up.

Between 2007 and 2013 more than £400 million will be invested in London through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF).In addition there are many other funding programmes which provide opportunities to develop environmental, employment, social, cultural or educational projects, mostly in co-operation with other European partners.

A listing of EU funding programmes most relevant to local authorities, schools, colleges and voluntary sector organisations with links to the individual programme sites can be found in the pdf file below.