Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2026 to Question 32857, on European Social Fund, what was the nature of the ineligible expenditure relating to his Department's financial correction of -£120,314.72; and what steps his Department took to recover the money.

The European Social Fund (ESF) was a European Union funding programme which supported employment, skills and social inclusion. In England, the 2014-2020 Programme provided funding to help people into work, improve workforce skills and support those facing barriers to employment.

In the final accounting period (2023-24) of the European Social Fund (ESF) England 2014-2020 Programme, 1,047 financial corrections were made in respect of irregular expenditure, totalling approximately £13.5 million. The majority of corrections were recovered to the UK Government from the grant recipient's next claim and where this was not possible it was repaid via demand note.

This response addresses both questions concerning European Social Fund (ESF) financial corrections.

The breakdown of corrections for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set out in the attached annex. DWP was a co-financing organisation, providing national match funding alongside European Union funding across multiple projects in England and the Isles of Scilly. DWP’s role as applicant and grant recipient was separate from that of the ESF Managing Authority designated by the European Commission. All eight corrections were self-reported corrections, and the majority were offset from the next claim.

The breakdown of corrections for the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) which at the time was an executive agency of the Department for Education is set out in the attached annex. ESFA was another co-financing organisation for ESF, providing national “match” funding across multiple projects in England and the Isles of Scilly. The ESFA corrections are a mix of self-reported adjustments (SDAs) and irregular expenditure identified on audit. The recovery of these corrections was either offset from the next claim or direct repayment (demand note).