Hartlepool Borough Council has been awarded the contract to manage the Tees Valley Community Grants Programme, in partnership with the other four Local Authorities within the sub-region. The programme is jointly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). There is a total of £2.7m of grant funding available over the lifetime of the programme.
There are grants of between £10,000 and £20,000 available for individual projects. The intent of the Community Grants Programme is to enable appropriate third sector and other small organisations (that would not otherwise be able to) access ESF funding for the purpose of mobilising disadvantaged or excluded unemployed and economically inactive people to facilitate their progress towards employment.
Grants will support a range of activities aimed at assisting the disadvantaged or excluded to move closer to the labour market by improving their access to local employment and skills provision. Please note that no profit can be made through grants issued within the Community Grants Programme.
How to apply for ESF Community Grants
To apply for ESF Community Grants, please follow the guidance below. Please note that each link will take you to Hartlepool Borough Council’s website.
Complete the Application Form and submit this to the ESF Project Team along with the required supporting documents outlined in the application by the submission deadline dates. Please note that applications must be typed.
To provide potential applicants with additional support, notes on how to complete your application form can be found within the Application Guidance Document.
The Council has also made a range of template forms available to organisations that are successful in applying for funding, to enable them to provide the necessary project monitoring data.
Download all ESF Community Grants Project documents here
Assessment Process
On receipt of your application, the following stages will be followed:
Stage 1: Hartlepool Borough Council’s ESF Community Grants Project Team will make an initial assessment of your application to ensure that all relevant information is available, that the organisation is eligible for the funding and to undertake a due diligence check and to check if all relevant policies and systems are in place to meet the requirements of ESF Funding Rules. If an organisation’s application cannot be progressed at this stage, then they will be notified of the reasons why.
Stage 2: The Grants Awards Panel, consisting of representatives from the five Tees Valley Local Authorities, will meet and a final decision on your application will be made. The Grant Awards Panel will meet within three weeks of the relevant closing date. The organisation will be notified of the outcome of this decision (The ESF Community Grants Assessment Framework is available on the Council’s website which explains how each individual application will be assessed).
For dates of the Grants Award Panel meetings please go to the Hartlepool Borough Council site here.
Further Information
Hartlepool Borough Council’s dedicated ESF Community Grants Project Team are available to discuss any questions relating to your proposed application and can be contacted via:
Tel: 01429 857074
Email: ESF.CommunityGrants@hartlepool.gov.uk
Organisations are also encouraged to contact a representative from their Local Authority before submitting an application to ensure that the proposed offer will meet the specific local need.
Darlington Borough Council – Paul Richardson
01325 406015 or Paul.Richardson@darlington.gov.uk
Hartlepool Borough Council – Jon Wright
01429 857074 or Jon.Wright@hartlepool.gov.uk
Middlesbrough Council – Claire Kemp
01642 811400 or Claire.Kemp@mcls.ac.uk
Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council – David Coates
01642 771261 or David.Coates@redcar-cleveland.gov.uk
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council – Carolyn Chubb
01642 677600 or Carolyn.Chubb@stockton.gov.uk
