European Structural Investment Fund (ESIF 2014-2020)

Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction in the North East LEP

AreaJo Curry VONNE

£44.5m of ESF is available for promoting social inclusion and combating poverty (Theme 9)

Activity as stated in draft ESIF submitted to Government in 2014

Northumberland, Tyne and Wear

Durham TotalESF

Support activities to tackle multiple barriers in a holistic / integrated way to avoid problems becoming entrenched

£14.2m £4m £18.2m

Targeted support to those with protected characteristics and from specific communities who face multiple barriers/ high levels of exclusion and poverty

£6.6m £1.7m £8.3m

Targeted activities to support bottom up social inclusion through geographically focused community action

£12m(plus £3m ERDF)

£6m(plus £1m ERDF)

£18m(Plus £4m ERDF)

Four key themes of social inclusion and poverty reduction- as agreed in

the NELEP area

• Multiple barriers to employment• Health Inequality • Financial Inclusion• Digital Inclusion

Underpinning all of the themes is an emphasis on economic participation

Health Inequality (HI) • ESIF Investment over full programme £5.7m• 30% of BLF match funding allocated to HI• 1971 outputs / participants (likely to be revised upwards)

Population Health and Healthcare Surveillance – Intelligence published September 2014

Indicates that, on average and when compared to people living elsewhere in England, people in this region are:

• More likely to have a shorter lifespan • More likely to die prematurely from preventable diseases and problems • More likely to be readmitted to hospital within a month of discharge • Less likely to make healthy lifestyle choices eg smoking, alcohol,

conception, diet, exercise, substance misuse, breastfeeding • More likely to miss work due to sickness • More likely to suffer fuel poverty

Priorities identified by the Health and Wellbeing Boards across Local Authorities in the NELEP area in 2014

Northumberland• Reducing alcohol related harm, • tacking levels of obesity through diet and

exercise• promoting mental wellbeingNorth Tyneside • Alcohol • Cancer • Mental HealthNewcastle (Wellbeing for life board)• Alcohol • Smoking• obesity

Gateshead• Ensuring children get the best start in life• Focus on major causes of ill health due to life

style risks• Work with communities to improve

emotional health and wellbeingSouth Tyneside• Tobacco• Alcohol• obesitySunderland • Better start – strengthening families• Economic leadership and development• Supporting older people to live

independentlyDurham • Tackling health inequality • Improving mental health and wellbeing• Children’s health

Options

• Support to people with Long Term Conditions and the over 50s

• Supporting and promoting healthy lifestyles – Fit for work activities

• Support for people with mental health issues• Support for people with physical disabilities • Support for people with addictions

Recommendations BLF supports calls for two health inequality projects • Supporting and promoting healthy lifestyles – Fit for work activities

diet / exercise – smoking cessation and reducing alcohol consumption – motivation / activity and support – Participation and referral to job support – Need to work with managing authority to ensure that proposed activity is eligible for ESF. (Confidence / motivation / life skills and personal skills including healthy eating are all ESF eligible – query whether exercise is though)

• Support for people with mental health issues to progress towards economic activity Condition management, motivation, confidence building, support with progression and some in work support. This must align with and add value to other DWP provision. It should also include in work support and retention.

BLF should specify examples of a range of activity that is eligible and anything that is specifically ineligible, but should keep the call specification flexible so that partnerships can develop locally responsive initiatives.

Support for over 50s, people with physical disabilities and people with addictions form priorities under the multiple barriers to employment strand of themed activity.

Financial Inclusion• ESIF Investment over full programme £1.9m• 10% of BLF match funding allocated to FI• 657outputs / participants (likely to be revised

upwards)Financial capability is having the knowledge, skills, confidence and motivation to manage your money well. Financial inclusion is a state in which all people have access to appropriate, desired financial products and services in order to manage their money effectively. This includes having a bank account and insurance.

Poverty in the North East

• In the NE approximately 1 in 4 children live in poverty.

• Around 62% of those children live in households where at least 1 parent works.

• We need to consider how we can build in an expectation of the Living Wage into ESIF Funded projects and how combating poverty is monitored.

• Need to improve access to affordable credit

RecommendationsFund 1 Project over the lifetime of the programme Supporting people to improve their financial capability by one to one support in :

• budgeting• debt advice casework• benefits checks and advice – including back to work better off

calculations and managing the transition into employment • Signposting to best deals• Signposting to bank accounts, credit unions and affordable

loans • Signposting to support with hazardous gambling and

addictions

Digital Inclusion

• ESIF Investment over full programme £1.9m• 10% of BLF match funding allocated to DI• 657outputs / participants (likely to be revised

upwards)• Research published by the BBC found that 21% of

Britain’s population lack the basic digital skills and capabilities required to realise the benefits of the internet. The same research estimated that 500,000 adults in the North East lack basic online skills.

Government Digital Inclusion Strategy identifies 4 main challenges that people face to going online:

access - the ability to actually go online and connect to the internetskills - to be able to use the internetmotivation - knowing the reasons why using the internet is a good thingtrust - a fear of crime, or not knowing where to start to go online

Go ON North East is the first regional pathfinder rolled out by GO ON UK and partners to help increase basic on line skills.

Managing information - Find, manage and store digital information and contentCommunicating - Communicate, interact, collaborate, share and connect with othersTransacting - Purchase and sell goods and services; organise your finances; register for and use digital government servicesProblem-solving - Increase independence and confidence by solving problems using digital tools and finding solutions

Universal Credit – Digital by default

Recommendations

BLF / ESIF match funding for one Project over the lifetime of the programme

Supporting people to improve their Basic Digital Skills with an emphasis on progression into economic activity. This should include one to one and group activities, outreach into hotspot areas where there is low ICT literacy, and support via Registered Social Landlords.

Multiple Barriers to Employment

The North East LEP – Inclusive Growth Report ekosgen July 2013

Multiple Barriers to EmploymentESIF investment over full programme £9.5m• BLF Allocation 50%• Outputs / Participants 3286 (Likely to be revised upwardsKey data includes:• Lower percentage of people of working age economically

active in the NELEP area (74.8%) than Great Britain (77.5)• Higher percentage unemployed in NELEP (8.4%) than Great

Britain (6.5%) • Higher percentage of people with no qualifications (10.6%)

than Great Britain average (9.3%)• Lower jobs density in the NELEP (0.67) compared to the

Great Britain job density (0.78)

Key groups

• Young People• Over 50s• Offenders / Ex Offenders• Disability• Ethnicity• Drug and alcohol misuse• Homeless

Severe and Multiple DisadvantagePredominantly white men, aged 25–44, with long-term histories of economic and social marginalisation and, in most cases, childhood trauma. In addition to general background poverty, very difficult family relationships and very poor educational experience are the most important early roots of SMD

The ‘average’ local authority might expect to have about 1,470 SMD cases over the course of a year (as defined by involvement in two out of the three relevant service systems). In the index of Local Authorities with the highest prevalence of SMD based on three national data sources for England, 2010/11 Newcastle was rated 10th and South Tyneside 23rd. SMD, is distinguishable from other forms of social disadvantage because of the degree of stigma and dislocation from societal norms that these intersecting experiences represent.

The quality of life reported by people facing SMD is much worse than that reported by many other low income and vulnerable people, especially with regard to their mental health and sense of social isolation.

Hard Edges: Mapping Severe and Multiple Disadvantage in England

Recommendations3 programmes of activity targeted on those furthest away from the labour market – with progression onto Work Programme as an outcome and with cross referral to other SI programmes (i.e. people with debt refer to the financial inclusion programme)

• Support to families with chaotic lifestyles and individuals with severe and multiple disadvantage

• Support for over 50s , people with long term conditions and people with physical disabilities.

• Support to people with Learning Disability

People with protected characteristics must be served by the above projects.

The Mechanisms

• Big Lottery Fund Match• Community Led Local

Development (CLLD)• Open Call

CLLD• Investments of around £3m• Specifically targeted geography coverage: In recognisable

communities 10,000 to 150,000 population size, based on deprivation.

• Bottom up engagement through a Local Action Group• Intended to address specific needs, identified by partners, which

mainstream provision is unable to meet.• Still subject to debate between Commission and government• Guidance awaited from DCLG: Long lead in anticipated (2017?)• Although bottom up, is still subject to same technical requirements• Competitive process for CLLD areas to be agreed• Can be bureaucratic and expensive• Will not cover all deprived areas in the NELEP – Creates postcode

winners and losers

Open Call

• Unlikely to be a Social Inclusion open call before June 15

• Northumberland Council working up some ideas

• Useful for organisations that can attract match • Useful for organisations that are not in a CLLD

area• Will possibly follow the 4 Priority Themes

Community Grants• 2007-13 Programme – ESF Community Grants Co-financed by SFA and

delivered by Community Foundation• Community Grants are exceptionally important to VCSE organisations with

an income of less than £300,000 per year.• Fund provides awards of up to £15,000 to groups undertaking activities

including help with basic skills, work experience, training advice and guidance, job search assistance, confidence building, personal development and support to overcome barriers to training and employment. Within this £15,000 limit, groups may also apply for support costs to help with Capacity Building their organisation. Capacity Building Grants are not expected to exceed £1,500

• Evaluated well on outputs and hardest to reach• 2 options for future ESF Community Grants• SFA will continue this co-financing of ESF Community Grants – will go out

to open procurement. (If we ask them to.) • Alternatively an Open Call requires match funded grants pots.

Durham

• Transition area• Ring fenced funding • 40 / 60 match funding required – not 50/50• County Durham Investment Plan: Priorities,

Approach, Areas of Investment

Next steps • Workshops • Background and recommendations to BLF and LEP• Ensure VCSE engagement in design of calls by

Managing Authority• Share info / Contacts – leads and partners • More workshops?• Some Open Calls March 15• Operational Programmes signed off June 15• BLF launch June 2015• Social Inclusion open call June 2015• Funding Flows 2016