England Objective 2 programmes 2000-2006 ESF Loan Funds England Objective 2 programmes 2000-2006
Why ? Limited access to loans Particular issues in deprived areas Entrepreneurship focus of Objective 2 linked to ERDF supported initiatives Micro businesses needed for economic regeneration Job creation and new enterprises
The rules – Rule 8 of 1145/2003 Prudent business plan Independent legal entity When Establishing business Early stage “seed corn” Expansion State Aid rules Investment exit policy > legacy fund
How ? Selection of Loan Fund providers Identifying the co-financing Selection of Loan Fund recipients
Loan fund provider selection Tenders Strategic analysis of need Ability to deliver > professional competence Fit with Programme Formal approval of Monitoring Committee
Co-financing No requirement to have public match Can use all private match Public match must be paid into loan account at same time as ESF Private match must have legally binding co-investment agreement
Selecting loan fund recipients Through a formal procedure Application Business plan Commercial viability Interview panel Unable to access other funds 60% success rate of applications
Some facts and figures
The funds 7 England Objective 2 areas 9 loan funds Total in funds £12.57 (€14.7) ESF Range from £225k to £5M About 4% of total programme funding Spent 63% of total
New businesses started 2,186 Jobs created 2,396 Jobs preserved 891 Males into self employment 1,628 Females into self employment 855 Ethnic minorities into self employment 1,626
Conclusions
Positives Number of loans on target (but smaller amount than anticipated) Helped the right beneficiaries Success with ethnic minority individuals
Drawbacks Limited number of possible fund providers Limit of 5% on management costs Significant underspend Securing co-financing difficult Requires a lot of managing & financial expertise
No loan funds in 2007-13 England Programme No programme focus on area based economic regeneration Reduction in ESF funding Targeted on hardest to help Availability of alternative start up funding