EUROPEAN STRUCTURAL AND INVESTMENT FUNDS 2014-2020 PROGRAMMES

European Social Fund PARTICIPANT GUIDANCE

Date 16 March 2015 2 April 2015

Issue 1 2

Status Final Final

16 April 2015 12 January 2016

3 4

Final Final

27 January 2017

5

Final

23 March 2017

6

Final

12 April 2017

7

Final

Author Mark Ashton Mark Ashton – New Logos added. Amendment of barriers to employment list Spelling mistake amended David Dean Added hyperlinks to documents on pages 23 and 24. Lorna Gregson-MacLeod / Eilidh Steele / Lynda Smith amalgamation of Participant Guidance and Participant Records Guidance documents and updates on referral forms, registers and evidence Eilidh Steele – additional examples of evidence documents, LTU update, Lorna Gregson-MacLeod / Eilidh Steele / Lynda Smith – updates to Eligibility and Definitions sections.

Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2 Participant Files .................................................................................................................... 3 Monitoring and Evaluation of Participant Data ....................................................................... 9 Eligibility - Evidence ............................................................................................................ 10 Scottish Qualifications and UNESCO ISCED Levels ........................................................... 13 Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) – Compliance (Wage Subsidy Scheme) ........................ 15 Wage Subsidy – Pipeline and YEI ....................................................................................... 16 Definitions: Employment Status / Barriers ........................................................................... 18

1

Introduction Before agreeing to support a participant, Lead Partners should ensure the individual’s circumstances are assessed to identify whether they qualify for ESF support. Suitable documentation must be obtained to evidence that:  

the participant is legally able to reside (and, if relevant to the operation, work) in the UK (See ‘Evidence’ section for details of accepted documentation) the project eligibility criteria is met in relation to the specific objectives of the relevant ESF Priority e.g. 

Employability Pipeline – the participant has multiple barriers to employment, (Please note that if a participant is long-term unemployed, they are deemed to have multiple barriers – see the ‘Definitions: Employment Status / Barriers’ section for further detail)



Social Inclusion and Poverty – the participant is within one of the key target groups (low income, workless and lone-parent households)



Youth Employment Initiative – the participant is within the qualifying age range (16 – 29 years)



Developing Scotland’s Workforce – the participant must provide evidence of their Qualification Levels on Entry (See ‘Evidence’ section for details of accepted forms of documentation)

This evidence must be obtained as part of the Participant Registration process – see ‘Eligibility – Evidence’ and ‘Definitions: Employment Status / Barriers’ section for details of accepted forms of documentation.

Use of Statutory Public Registers Information extracted from and certified via statutory public registers (e.g. DWP, SEEMIS, SQA) is acceptable for evidence requirements as long as the definitions used comply with those set out in the EC ESF Monitoring and Evaluation Guidance. This does not have to be via a Referral Form and can be used to evidence the information contained in the Registration Form provided:  

the information is certified (by the issuing institution)