EQUAL Engage DP FAQ
1. Is there an EQUAL funding guidance manual? 2. What is a development partnership? 3. When do we need to tender for activity? 4. When can activity start? 5. Is there more money available? 6. Is activity paid on profile or in arrears? 7. Can LSC funds be used as match funding to EQUAL? 8. If a member of staff is working with a mixed group of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries can you claim the full cost of their time? 9. Can we claim match based on the unit rate of delivery? 10. Can we claim costs shared by other projects e.g. overheads and is there a formula to use? 11. Where can I find the EQUAL logos and order a plaque? If you have any questions that are not covered above please email them to
olassequal@lsc.gov.uk.
1. Is there an EQUAL funding manual? Yes - the EQUAL Round 2 Handbook which is available from the EQUAL website in PDF format. The handbook is a guidance manual and contains information relating to all aspect of the funding and eligibility and should be your first port of call when trying to find an answer to a question relating to your project.
http://www.equal.ecotec.co.uk/resources/secondround/Please note the handbook was updated in February 2007 so the November 2006 version is out of date.
The website also contains other resources such as European Social Fund (ESF) and EQUAL logos.
Go to top 2. What is a development partnership? One of the key principles of the EQUAL programme is delivery through partnership. A development partnership (DP) is the vehicle by which EQUAL-funded activities must be delivered.
A DP is made up of a collection of organisations that share an interest in testing new ways of working in any particular field. All members of the DP must be justified and provide added value. You should not subcontract your main activities outside of the partnership membership. The bulk of activities should be carried out by members of your partnership.
All partners’ activities must be carried out at actual cost. Partners are not permitted to make a profit from the DP. You must be able to prove that all partners have kept to all the rules. For example, it is not enough just to accept invoices from a partner. You must be able to satisfy yourselves that invoices relate to actual, eligible expenditure made by the partner.
You should be clear about your partner’s method of working out fees and expenditure. Remember that many (especially commercial) organisations include items which are not eligible for ESF funding as part of their costs. It is in your own interests that partners know what is eligible for funding, and what is not, before costs are run up. ESF does not allow partners to use intermediaries or consultants who charge a fee which is a percentage of the ESF DP cost.
ESF does not allow for more than two levels of partnership working for example:
Lead partner (for example, local authority)
to...
First partner (for example, FE college)
to...
Second partner (for example, voluntary organisation)
Further levels are not allowed unless specific approval is given. However EQUAL would recommend that most organisations should be DP partners in their own right.
Go to top3. When do we need to tender for activity? If there are small activities that would either not be appropriate for the DP to deliver itself (for example, audit and evaluation) or where the DP does not possess the expertise within the partnership membership (for example, publishing, specialist expertise), it is possible to buy in external expertise. In these cases you must follow the guidelines below.
a) Where you need to use external expertise to deliver a service or product, the lead partner should produce a business case and assess the options available to it and the reasons why it cannot be provided within the DP.
b) Where it is clear that buying in external expertise is the only option available, then the lead partner must carry out a full, open and competitive exercise (this is not an option or recommendation). Single tenders are not allowed.
Go to top 4. When can activity start? The start date of your activity will be on your funding agreement with the LSC. Any activity before that date cannot be claimed.
EQUAL is a project based on partnership working. As such the LSC is accountable for funds that support the Engage DP objectives. Given activity is eligible and in line with the objectives described in the development partnership agreement (DPA), a partner can start to undertake activity from 1 December 2006 bearing in mind that until there is a formal agreement in place that outlines the parameters of the project and the audit requirements the activity is ‘at risk’.
Go to top 5. Is there more money available? The project is fully committed as outlined in the DPA and there is no scope at the moment to allocate additional funds to individual projects.
During the course of the project close attention will be paid to monitoring project performance and if it is clear that some projects are failing to deliver while other projects could use this resource, then there could be funds available to projects that can demonstrate they are able to spend it.
Go to top 6. Is activity paid on profile or in arrears? EQUAL is a traditional ESF style project and as such all claims are made in arrears based on the ‘actual cost’ of work undertaken. Claims must include supporting evidence of your activity and clearly show whether costs are direct costs (100% related to your project) or shared (see the EQUAL Handbook p88 for the apportionment calculation). Costs that are shared by non-EQUAL projects need to be linked to the project, for example overheads costs for a building that isn’t used by the project are ineligible.
Go to top 7. Can LSC funds be used as match funding to EQUAL? Yes, but as the LSC is an ESF co-financing body, large portions of LSC mainstream funding is already matched to ESF projects.
The decision to contribute LSC match funding to a project must be made in conjunction with the LSC colleague responsible for that funding stream and the regional ESF contract manager.
LSC projects will take priority when making any commitments to external projects.
Go to top 8. If a member of staff is working with a mixed group of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries can you claim the full cost of their time? No, you can only show the proportion of the time in relation to the make up of the group, i.e. if there are 10 participants of which only four are eligible beneficiaries you can only claim 40% of the cost of that member of staff’s time. Only time directly related to the project is eligible.
Go to top 9. Can you claim match based on the unit rate of delivery? The only unit rate that has been accepted under this project is the unit rate for LSC OLASS delivery; no other unit rate will be accepted by the EQUAL Support Unit or the Department for Work and Pensions. All costs must be based on the ‘actual cost’ of the delivery.
Go to top 10. Can we claim costs shared by other projects (e.g. overheads) and is there a formula to use? Yes, you can claim shared costs for full guidance see p87 of the EQUAL Handbook. There are two ways of calculating the apportionment cost based on staff time or beneficiary hours and no other method is acceptable under EQUAL rules. The guidance outlines the direct and indirect costs you can claim against the project.
You should show your calculation to apportion costs against each item of indirect or shared costs that you are claiming. For example:
| Electricity |
Actual cost for period of the claim
Total staff or beneficiary time for the claim period
Total EQUAL DP staff or beneficiary time for the
claim period
160 x £2,700 = £480
900 |
£2,700
900 hours
160 hours |
You can use 100% of contracted hours for staff not working on the EQUAL project instead of asking them to fill in timesheets. But when you use the multiplier to calculate the unit cost, you must use the actual hours worked by EQUAL staff.
The example below shows how to calculate the number of hours a full-time member of staff works in a year (remember, the annual leave entitlement may vary):
52 weeks x 5 days a week = 260 days
Minus public holidays (8) and annual leave (25) = 227 days a year
Next, multiply the number of working days by the number of working
hours in a day. For example, someone working seven hours a day
works:
227 days x 7 hours = 1,589 hours a year.
Adjust the formula according to the number of days and hours people work.
For EQUAL staff, you must be able to identify the actual hours each member of staff or beneficiary worked from detailed timesheets. You should take into account all the days they were absent, off sick or on work placements.
The beneficiary hours method to derive an apportionment percentage is also outlined in the EQUAL Handbook.
Go to top 11. Where can I find the EQUAL logos and order a plaque? http://www.equal.ecotec.co.uk/resources/logos/
ESF and EQUAL logos can be found on the Ecotec website. As a general rule and where room allows, use the both ESF flag and EQUAL logos but where only one can be displayed use the ESF flag logo.
ESF plaques Permanent plaques should be displayed in buildings where ESF funding has supported a project. Commercial business premises must display a commemorative plaque for at least one year.
Plaques and fixing kits are free to ESF projects. To obtain them, contact the company below, quoting order code ESF001.
Corporate Document Services
7 Eastgate
Leeds
LS2 7LY
E-mail: orderline@cds.co.uk
Fax: 0113 399 4205
Tel: 0113 399 4040
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