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Summaries of EU Legislation

European Social Fund Plus – ESF+ (2021–2027)

 

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 establishing the European Social Fund Plus

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

  • The regulation establishes the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and lays down the fund’s objectives, its budget for 2021–2027, the methods of implementation, the forms of European Union (EU) funding and the rules for providing such funding.
  • Amending Regulation (EU) 2024/795 incorporates into Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 a new article relating to the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) which has been set up to address shortages of labour and skills critical to all kinds of quality jobs in three areas of critical technologies to strengthen the EU’s sovereignty and long-term competitiveness. The critical technologies in question are digital technologies and deep-tech innovation, clean and resource-efficient technologies, and biotechnologies.

KEY POINTS

The ESF+ integrates the former European Social Fund, the youth employment initiative, the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived and the EU programme for employment and social innovation.

Strands

The ESF+ consists of two strands:

  • the shared management* strand; and
  • the employment and social innovation (EaSI) strand under direct* and indirect management*.

Objectives

The ESF+ has two general objectives.

  • To help EU Member States and regions achieve high employment levels, establish fair social protections and develop a skilled and resilient workforce ready for the future, along with inclusive and fair societies that aim to eradicate poverty and deliver on the principles set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights.
  • To support, complement and add value to the policies of Member States to ensure equal opportunities, equal access to the labour market, fair and quality working conditions, social protection and inclusion.

Priority areas

The ESF+ will focus on a number of priority areas, including:

  • supporting young people who have been particularly affected by the socioeconomic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic by providing resources to help them get a qualification, find a quality job and improve their education and skills;
  • helping children in need by allocating resources to targeted initiatives aimed at combating child poverty and supporting the most vulnerable in society suffering from job losses and income reductions, including providing food and basic material assistance to the most deprived;
  • reskilling and upskilling people for the transition to a green and digital economy, and improving the quality of education and training systems;
  • promoting gender equality, equal opportunities and non-discrimination;
  • building capacity for social partners and civil-society organisations;
  • promoting social innovation across the EU through transnational cooperation;
  • providing direct support for social innovation through the EaSI strand.

Allocation of resources

The regulation includes certain minimum requirements for the allocation of ESF+ shared management resources by Member States:

  • at least 25% to foster social inclusion;
  • at least 3% to support the most deprived persons;
  • Member States where the average rate of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion for 2017–2019 was above the EU average must allocate at least 5% of their resources to tackling child poverty;
  • Member States where the average rate of young people aged 15–29 not in employment, education or training in 2017–2019 was above the EU average must allocate at least 12.5% of their resources to targeted actions and structural reforms to support:
    • youth employment, vocational education and training, in particular apprenticeships,
    • the transition from school to work,
    • pathways to reintegrate into education or training, and
    • second chance education, in particular in the context of implementing schemes under the youth guarantee.

Budget and management

  • The ESF+ has a budget of just under €88 billion (in 2018 prices) for 2021–2027.
  • The majority of funding (€87.3 billion in 2018 prices) under the ESF+ is allocated under the shared management strand with Member States. The ESF+ managing authorities in each Member State will dispense the money to relevant projects run by a range of public and private organisations.
  • The European Commission directly manages a smaller share (around €676 million in 2018 prices) under the EaSI strand.
  • To accelerate the transfer and facilitate the scaling up of innovative solutions, €175 million is allocated for transnational cooperation.
  • Common EU rules on the management of funds, applicable to all cohesion policy funds, are set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 (see summary).

Support for the STEP objectives

Amending Regulation 2024/795 allows Member States to use the ESF+ to provide support for the STEP objectives, including by promoting the development of skills in net-zero technologies (those based on learning programmes created by European Skills Academies, among others), by training young people and by skilling, upskilling and reskilling workers.

In the initial pre-financing stage, the Commission approves an amendment of a programme that includes one or more priorities dedicated to operations supported by the ESF+ and contributing to the STEP objectives. In addition to this, the Commission will offer exceptional pre-financing of 30% on the basis of the allocation to those priorities.

By way of derogation from Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 (see above), the maximum co-financing rate for dedicated priorities established to support the STEP objectives will be 100%.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

  • Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 has applied partially (for the EaSI strand) since 1 January 2021, and fully since 1 July 2021.
  • Amending Regulation (EU) 2024/795 has applied since 1 March 2024.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

KEY TERMS

Shared management. The EU entrusts the Member States with implementing programmes at the national or the regional level. The Member States’ administrations (at the national, regional and local levels) choose which projects to finance and are responsible for their day-to-day management. The Member State is primarily responsible for setting up a management and control system and for preventing, detecting and correcting irregularities. Working together with the Member States, the Commission makes sure that the projects are successfully concluded, and that the money is well spent.
Direct management. The Commission launches calls for proposals to award grants to projects, and calls for tenders to award service and/or supply contracts.
Indirect management. A managing authority is chosen by the Commission to manage the project concerned on its behalf.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 establishing the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1296/2013 (OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, pp. 21–59).

Successive amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy (OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, pp. 159–706).

See consolidated version.

last update 16.09.2024

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