The funding must be matched by applicants which will double the total investment to £32 million.
£13m in total will be for proposals being invited for each of Merseyside's five local authority areas - Knowsley (£1.9m), Liverpool (£5.8m), St Helens (£800,000), Sefton (£1.9m) and Wirral (£1.7m) - as well as for a pan-Merseyside project (£1.4m).
This investment is to support individuals with employability skills and help them into work and will provide a range of advice and guidance in areas such as pre-employment support, transition to work, outreach and engagement, employment retention and skill building, and career progression.
In addition, bids are being invited from organisations to act as the Merseyside Co-ordinating Body for £3m of ESF Community Grants. The body will allocate ESF grants of up to a maximum of £12,000 per annum using simplified application procedures to small third sector organisations who may not normally be able to access European funding. Grants will enable these organisations to deliver employment and skills activities to the hardest to reach communities and individuals.
Liz Meek, GONW Regional Director, said: "This welcome initiative will once again bring ESF funding to Merseyside to help target the area's high levels of worklessness and help individuals to access employment especially those who are most in need of help. This is a priority area for GONW which will have a profound effect on the way our region develops in the future."
Applications for both funding streams must be received by the ESF Executive Team at the Government Office North West, 12th Floor, City Tower, Manchester M1 4BE no later than 1.00 p.m. on Friday 30th May 2008 and results will be notified by the end of June.
Application guidance can be found on the GONW website: http://www.gos.gov.uk/gonw
Further information on ESF can be found at http://www.esf.gov.uk.
