ESF PLUS guideline "Shaping change in work through social partnership: Continuing education and promoting equality (ESF Social Partner Directive)"

Objective:
The aim of the ESF social partner guideline "Shaping change in work through social partnership: further training and promoting equality" is to strengthen the social partnership-based shaping of the world of work and to promote a sustainable personnel policy and corporate culture. To this end, funding is provided for projects aimed, for example, at strengthening the participation of women in the workforce in line with their qualifications and livelihoods and testing new forms of work and working time models.

As part of the directive, social partnership measures are being developed and tested in four areas of activity:

• Promoting further training in times of change
• Shaping equality
• Regional alliances to strengthen further training and/or equality in SMEs
• Model development of innovative approaches to strengthen further training and/or equality

For more information on the individual areas of activity, please refer to the presentation on the funding program

As part of the 7th funding call, an information event on the funding terms and conditions will be offered on 14.10.2025 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. You can register here: https://www.wandelderarbeit.de/events/3-informationsveranstaltung-zum-7-foerderaufruf-der-esf-sozialpartnerrichtline-2/

Tariff parties and social partners as well as legal entities under private and public law and legal partnerships with a permanent establishment or branch in Germany; Public companies.

The measures are to be developed and tested on the basis of specific operational needs. The interests of company management and employees must be taken into account. Pure research projects, training projects in the sense of initial vocational training and pure qualification measures are not eligible for funding.

The company-based approach must be demonstrated at the time of the expression of interest by means of a letter of intent.

A demonstrable social partnership approach to project planning, implementation and transfer of project results is also required. The involvement of the relevant social partners or company parties in project implementation and transfer must be specifically outlined in the action plan and will be assessed in accordance with the selection criteria in the expression of interest procedure. The social partnership approach must be demonstrated in the application:

As the guideline is limited until 31.12.2028, the project duration for this call is limited to a maximum of 24 months. Notwithstanding point 4.3 of the guideline, this may not be exceeded. The earliest possible project start date is 01.08.2026, the latest project end date is 30.09.2028.

Due to the limited duration, total expenditure per project should generally not exceed EUR 1.35 million.

The following costs are eligible for funding:

• Direct personnel costs: Expenses for internal and external project staff (honorary staff who develop and implement teaching and learning concepts). Only honorary expenses can be claimed as external personnel costs.
• All other eligible costs (e.g. material costs such as rent, teaching materials, operation of learning platforms, acquisition costs, public relations work and administration and management costs) are covered as a lump sum amounting to 24 % of the direct eligible personnel costs*.
• Personnel costs for participants in continuing education (release costs; only as funds provided to the project by third parties): The personnel costs of the released persons and managers are covered under this guideline at a standard unit rate of standard unit rate of €33.00 per hour (60 minutes) and participant. The residual lump sum of 24 % does not apply to these costs.
• Personnel costs for project pilots from the beneficiary companies or social partners participating social partners will also be charged at a standard unit rate of €33.00 per hour (60 min.) per project pilot. The use of project pilots must be agreed in advance with the employer in advance and subsequently confirmed by the employer. Absences cannot be taken into account. The 24% residual cost does not apply to these expenses.

No other expenses can be claimed in addition to the above.

* If the direct personnel costs relate to expenditure based on fee agreements, these can only be fully taken into account in the calculation of the lump sum if the fee earner uses the infrastructure of the beneficiary (e.g. premises, office material, etc.) and the invoiced fee amounts are not used to reimburse travel, accommodation and subsistence costs. Otherwise, the flat rate does not apply to the fee agreement.

(This is only a tranlastion - the German eligibility rules apply.)

• The 7th funding call runs from October 06, 2025 to December 05, 2025 (15:00).

The EPC accompanies the projects of TU Dresden according to the announcement of the Vice-Rector Research 2/2023 and must be involved in the two-stage application process. The EPC advises on the funding conditions and the application process, has powers of attorney for the legally binding signature vis-à-vis the project management organization and has central access to the funding portal for submitting the application.

The application procedure is preceded by an expression of interest procedure. Interested applicants should contact the EPC() with their project concept by 14.11.2025 (12:00 noon) at the latest, as further queries and coordination are necessary for the submission of the expressions of interest (calculation, network partners, etc.).

The final submission of the expression of interest is carried out by the EPC via the Z-EU-S funding portal. The program's steering group then proposes to the funding provider which participating providers in the expression of interest procedure can submit an application for funding from a technical perspective.

The expressions of interest are evaluated using the following selection criteria and weightings:

• Suitability of the applicant and, if applicable, the sub-project partners (10 percent)
  • Professional qualifications/previous experience of the funding body and, if applicable, the sub-project partners in the relevant areas of activity
  • Relevant cooperation partners and networks according to the areas of activity
  • Proof of involvement of social partners or company parties and companies (LOI, agreements, list of companies, etc.)
  • Appropriate experience in the management of funding projects
• Analysis of the initial situation and need for action (10 percent)
  • Concrete presentation of the regional and/or industry-specific need for action in relation to the selected areas of activity
  • Delimitation and synergies/connectivity to relevant funding landscapes or strategies (in particular with regard to the funding initiatives mentioned under 1.1)
  • Focus on small and medium-sized enterprises
  • Focus on target groups named in the guideline that have been disadvantaged in the context of company organizational and personnel development to date
• Action plan and milestones (30 percent)
  • Appropriate and comprehensible qualitative and quantitative objectives
  • Congruent implementation concept including milestone plan: suitable activities to achieve objectives, target group-oriented formats, expected results, division of tasks between project partners, appropriate quantity structures for personnel deployment
  • Strategic and active involvement of social partners and company parties
• Approaches for taking into account the interests of employees and managementAdded value of the project (15 percent)
  • Innovative approach that represents added value compared to previous standards
  • Regional and/or sector-specific significance for solving collective bargaining, company/labor, sector, training and/or equality policy issues
• Cross-divisional principles (10 percent)
  • Consistent integration of cross-sectoral principles (gender equality and anti-discrimination) into the action plan (initial analysis, objectives and implementation concept)
  • Consideration of the goal of ecological sustainability in project implementation (awarding of contracts, procurement of materials, business trips, etc.)
• Transfer and continuation (15 percent)
  • Concrete identification of transferable results and suitable transfer paths
  • Milestone plan for the implementation of transfer activities: suitable activities to achieve the objectives, formats suitable for the target group, expected results
  • Involvement of social partners in transfer and continuation strategies
  • Regional and/or sector-specific potential for sustainability
• Funding plan (10 percent)
  • Adequate staffing
  • Comprehensible presentation of own and third-party funds to ensure overall financing

Participants in the selection process whose projects have been positively assessed will be asked to submit a formal funding application to the DRV KBS via the Z-EU-S funding portal(https://foerderportal-zeus.de) once the funding provider has made its decision.

• Guideline "Shaping change in work through social partnership"
• Call for funding "Change in work"
• https://www.wandelderarbeit.de/
• Factsheet Change in work

• Project concept template

• TUD-EPC Privacy Policy

• Communication from the Vice-Rector Research 2/2023

• Presentation_Information_Event.pdf