How the federal ESF Plus money reaches an organisation in Germany
Germany does not have one ESF+ programme. It has seventeen — one federal and sixteen run by the Länder, each with its own managing authority, its own directives and its own deadlines. Nothing on this page applies to a Land programme. In the federal programme, money does not move the way a contract would. One of four federal ministries writes the funding directive. For the BMAS, BMWSB and BMBFSFJ programmes one of four granting bodies decides your application and issues a Zuwendungsbescheid — an administrative act, not a negotiated agreement; the other ministries name their own in the directive. The ESF+ share then reaches you as reimbursement of checked spending, within 80 days of a decision-ready declaration. The managing authority at BMAS never pays you and never decides your case: it owns the programme, sends aggregated data to the Commission twice a year, and runs the complaints body. Across both levels €3.41bn (52%) goes to more developed regions and €3.15bn (48%) to transition regions — Across both levels €3.41bn (52%) goes to more developed regions and €3.15bn (48%) to transition regions. The EU co-financing rate is set per priority and region category in the programme itself — 40% in more developed regions, 60% in transition regions, higher on the material-deprivation priority. The share of your own project is fixed in its funding directive and written into your grant notice.
ESF+ — ESF Plus-Bundesprogramm 2021–2027 (CCI 2021DE05SFPR001), approved by the European Commission on 5 May 2022Reg. (EU) 2021/1060 (Common Provisions) · Reg. (EU) 2021/1057 (ESF+) · §§ 23, 44 and 91 Bundeshaushaltsordnung with their administrative provisions · BNBest-P-ESF-Bund and BNBest-Gk-ESF-Bund · Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz and Verwaltungsgerichtsordnung€6.56bn of ESF+ for Germany 2021–2027 — of which €2.22bn (33.9%) is this federal programme and €4.34bn (66.1%) sits in sixteen separate Land programmes this page does not cover
One programme, too many disconnected records. Delivery notes, partner decisions, expenditure, results and reporting evidence often sit in different places.
How the money reaches an organisation
Every level here can be asked for its own process map. That is the point of yours.
European Commission — DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
This is where the money starts. The Commission approved the federal programme on 5 May 2022 — the first ESF+ programme approved anywhere in the EU — and receives Germany’s accounts and monitoring data. It pays Germany, never you. It is also entitled to audit you directly.
BMAS, Referat EF 1 — ESF Plus Managing Authority
The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs holds the managing authority function under Art. 72 of the Common Provisions Regulation and transmits aggregated monitoring data to the Commission twice a year under Art. 42. It also runs the ESF Plus complaints body, which accepts anonymous complaints. Five ministries write the funding directives underneath it — BMAS itself, Research, Technology and Space, Housing and Urban Development, Economic Affairs and Energy, and Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. None of them decides your individual application.
Bewilligungsbehörden — the four bodies for the BMAS, BMWSB and BMBFSFJ programmes
Deutsche Rentenversicherung Knappschaft-Bahn-See in Cottbus handles most BMAS programmes and BIWAQ. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees handles IQ. The Federal Office for Family Affairs and Civil Society Tasks handles the family and youth programmes. GSUB mbH, a private company acting under delegated public authority, handles one. Which one you deal with is decided by the directive, not by you — and it is the same body for the whole life of your project.
👉 Your organisation sits at this level
Vorhabenträger — the organisation that holds the grant
You are the Vorhabenträger: you sign nothing, you receive a notice. You keep the records, enter the participant data, declare the expenditure and answer for all of it. Where the directive allows you to pass money on, a Teilvorhabenpartner carries the same obligations towards you that you carry upwards — and you must check their proof of use before it goes into yours.
Teilnehmende — the people the project supports
Participants are not beneficiaries in ESF+ language, however much the money is meant for them. They give the data the programme is measured on, they must be told in writing what happens to it, and the special-category questions — disability, minority or Roma background — are theirs to refuse.
Audit and control — the route upward from your receipts
Your receipts and separate cost centre → the granting body’s checks of the expenditure declaration and on-the-spot visits → the ESF Plus accounting function under Art. 76 and the ESF Plus audit authority → the European Commission. Standing beside that route rather than inside it: the Bundesrechnungshof, which may audit you directly under § 91 BHO, the European Court of Auditors, OLAF and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Process maps under this programme
Where this came from
Human reviewed2026-09-20Automatically checked2026-09-21Current source statusAutomatic baseline required
- Fördergrundsätze für die Bewilligung von Zuwendungen aus dem ESF Plus in der Förderperiode 2021-2027, Version 14.0 — §1.1 legal basis and CCI, §1.2 the four granting bodies, §2.2 Z-EU-S, §2.3 legally effective submission, §2.4 early start, §2.10 Besserstellungsverbot, §5.2.2 salary ceiling, §6.3 proof-of-use deadlines, §7 the 80-day reimbursement and legal force, §7.5 retention — Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales (ESF Plus Managing Authority), Version 14.0, 12 June 2026A · Governing source checkedAuto: review needed
- BNBest-P-ESF-Bund — Besondere Nebenbestimmungen für Zuwendungen zur Projektförderung im Rahmen des ESF Plus-Bundesprogramms 2021–2027: Nr. 1.2 the 20% budget rule, Nr. 1.3 Besserstellungsverbot, Nr. 3.1 the €100,000 procurement threshold, Nr. 5 notification duties, Nr. 6.1 and 6.5 proof of use and five-year retention, Nr. 7.3–7.5 who may audit, Nr. 8.4–8.5 repayment interest and the six-week rule, Nr. 9 publicity and indicator duties. States expressly that it replaces ANBest-P. — Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, agreed with the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Bundesrechnungshof under VV Nr. 15.2 and 15.4 zu § 44 BHOA · Governing source checkedAuto: review needed
- Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 (Common Provisions Regulation), consolidated text in force — Art. 42 transmission of data, Art. 46–47 and 50 with Annex IX publicity, Art. 69(2) irregularity reporting, Art. 72 managing authority functions, Art. 74(1)(b) the 80-day payment deadline and (c) anti-fraud measures, Art. 76 accounting function — Official Journal of the European UnionA · Governing source checkedAuto: review needed
- Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 (ESF+ Regulation) — Art. 17 with Annexes I and II: the participant indicator data every project must collect — Official Journal of the European UnionA · Governing source checkedAuto: review needed
- ESF Plus-Bundesprogramm 2021-2027 — the programme overview: approval on 5 May 2022 as the first ESF+ programme in the EU, Germany’s €6.56bn ESF+ allocation, the €2.22bn federal share against €4.34bn for the sixteen Land programmes, and the 52% / 48% split between more developed and transition regions — Bundesministerium für Arbeit und SozialesB · Official operational guidance checkedAuto: review needed
- Betrugsprävention im ESF Plus-Bundesprogramm — names the managing authority as BMAS Referat EF 1 and lists the control bodies: ESF Plus managing authority, accounting body, audit authority and their intermediate bodies, alongside the European Commission, the European Court of Auditors and OLAF — Bundesministerium für Arbeit und SozialesB · Official operational guidance checkedAuto: review needed
- Beschwerdestelle des ESF Plus-Bundesprogramms — who may complain, about what, and that complaints may be made anonymously, including breaches of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, Referat EF 1B · Official operational guidance checkedAuto: review needed
- Bundeshaushaltsordnung — §§ 23 and 44 (the legal basis on which a grant notice is issued) and § 91 (the Bundesrechnungshof’s right to audit grant recipients directly) — Bundesministerium der Justiz, gesetze-im-internet.deA · Governing source checkedAuto: review needed
- Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz — § 3a electronic form, § 36 ancillary provisions, §§ 48 and 49 withdrawal and revocation, § 49a repayment and interest at five percentage points over the base rate — Bundesministerium der Justiz, gesetze-im-internet.deA · Governing source checkedAuto: review needed
- Förderportal Z-EU-S — the project management system through which every phase of the federal ESF Plus grant procedure runs, and where both project holders and sub-project partners must register — Deutsche Rentenversicherung Knappschaft-Bahn-See for the ESF Plus Managing AuthorityB · Official operational guidance checkedAuto: review needed
- Partnership Agreement with Germany 2021-2027 — the structure this map sits inside: 52 programmes, of which 31 regional and 2 national, and a separate ERDF and ESF+ programme for each Land — European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and InclusionB · Official operational guidance checkedAuto: review needed
Read against the source on 2026-09-20. This is the human-reviewed version.
What that check changed: Reviewed and updated on 20 September 2026 against the ESF Plus Fördergrundsätze version 14.0 of 12 June 2026 and the binding BNBest-P-ESF-Bund; 11 sources are listed below. The principles cover three ministries — BMAS, BMWSB and BMBFSFJ; the BMWE and BMFTR programmes under the same CCI run outside them, through their own Projektträger rather than Z-EU-S. ANBest-P does not apply: BNBest-P-ESF-Bund replaces it. Eligible salaries are capped either way — by the Besserstellungsverbot, or by the Finance Ministry's PSK rates where it does not apply. An appeal runs one month, or one year under § 58(2) VwGO where the instruction is missing or defective. Two cautions: the proof-of-use deadline differs between the governing documents — six months in the special conditions, four in the principles — so follow your own Bescheid; and no programme-wide co-financing rate is published.
Independent process overview based on publicly available information. It is not official guidance and is not endorsed by the European Union, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, or any granting body. This page covers the federal ESF Plus programme only; the sixteen Land programmes are governed separately and are not described here. Requirements vary by funding directive and by grant notice. Users must verify current conditions against the applicable funding directive, the current ESF Plus funding principles and their own grant notice.