What is Economic Participation?

For some people, barriers to full participation mean that they are trapped in unemployment or low paid jobs. These barriers can include a lack of skills or confidence, poor health, not being able to get the right support, lack of access to business services, lack of capital, or discrimination by employers.

People who might face such barriers include, those living in areas of high deprivation or unemployment, migrant workers, some black and ethnic minority communities and young people without appropriate skills.

Enabling such people to participate is essential for economic growth, harnessing untapped potential, which increases availability of labour and skills, reducing costs to the economy, such as benefit payments and increasing the amount of income that can be spent.

Increasing rates of economic participation therefore benefits everyone through economic growth, both local communities through local economic renewal and individuals who are assisted out of unemployment or underemployment.

Economic Participation in Luton

The Luton Forum and Luton Borough Council are working together with the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) to tackle barriers to economic participation by co-ordinating the efforts of local partners and investing in key projects that support local people. In 2009/10 EEDA has committed £2,890,791 towards increasing economic participation in Luton.

EEDA approached Luton Borough Council (LBC) to act as the “accountable body” for Economic Participation in Luton, from April 2009. LBC Regeneration Service submitted a template to EEDA at the end of October 2008, outlining their plans to address economic participation in Luton. This was approved at an EEDA board meeting at the end of February 2009.

Continuing consultation and development work has been undertaken to consider the value and deliverability of the activities, particularly in light of the effect of the economic downturn. This work has been in partnership with key stakeholders; The Learning and Skills Council, The Learning Partnership, Bedfordshire and Luton, Job Centre Plus, The Chamber, Business Link, Campus Luton, Voluntary Action Luton, Princes Trust, Train to Gain, Bedfordshire Community Health Service, MFCDT and WENTA and others.

Four activities have been identified that address economic participation in Luton. Because some of the activities may be used to match fund Luton Borough Council’s ESF Co-Financing Programme a competitive tender process will be used to select service providers to manage and deliver these activities. Please note that all activities will need to be completed by 31 March 2010 and all funds must be spent by 31 March 2010, although some outputs may be reported later.

For full details of the four activities, funds available and the application process please see the Prospectus and Tender Specification below.