Essex Rural Skills Project

The Essex Rural Skills Project runs a range of courses including vocational training in carpentry, construction, woodland management, horticulture and food & nutrition helping economically inactive, isolated people who are over 45 and who live in rural areas and market towns. It is a wrap-around programme of support which is tailored to individual needs and can include CV writing, interview skills, group life skills training and therapy sessions depending on the person.

Priority is given to those individuals who have additional health issues which make it impossible for them to even begin to start thinking about looking for employment. This can include people with mental health issues and those who have been unemployed for many years.

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ESF Projects

ESF focuses on improving employment opportunities, promoting social inclusion and investing in skills by providing the help people need to fulfil their potential.

So far over £50 million has been invested in a range of programmes and projects to help people in the South East LEP area onto the escalator of opportunity and improve their lives.

We are also working with partners from across the area to prioritize future areas for investment for the remaining £20+ million pounds. These tenders will be advertised in the www.gov.uk website in the first half of 2018 and you can find the latest information here on the SELEP homepage.

European Social Fund and Big Lottery working together in the SELEP area

When producing the ESIF strategy document, SELEP worked with voluntary sector representatives and the Big Lottery to identify key areas of need for social inclusion project support in our area. The Big Lottery has match funded some of our ESF projects that focus on social inclusion. In these projects various different groups of people who are furthest from the labour market are being helped towards employment and into employment by the support work undertaken.

The following projects are delivering in different geographies across SELEP, with some in specific locations.