← All programmes

How ESF+ reaches an education and training provider

This is the same money as the ESF+ entry, seen from a provider’s side. Ireland’s ESF+ programme is Employment, Inclusion, Skills and Training (EIST), and ETB Training sits under its employment priority. ETB Training is claimed on unit costs, not by proving actual spending: the Exchequer funds the gross cost and reclaims 40% from the EU in the Southern and Eastern & Midland regions, 60% in the Northern & Western. Retention: CPR Art. 82 runs five years from 31 December of the year DFHERIS last pays the ETB, and your own contract may require longer — apply the longer period.

ESF+ — via SOLAS and an ETBReg. (EU) 2021/1057 · CPR Reg. (EU) 2021/1060Set by your ETB contract — ETB Training is €98.75m of EIST (€47m ESF+ + €51.75m Ireland) across the 16 ETBs; see the ESF+ entry
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
Allocates €508m ESF+ to Ireland under Reg. (EU) 2021/1057, approves the EIST programme and accepts the annual accounts submitted to it.
🏛
DFHERIS — ESF+ Managing Authority and Accounting Function
Manages the EIST programme, runs management verifications with the Intermediate Bodies (CPR Art. 74), draws up the accounts (Art. 76) and submits the payment applications to the Commission.
🏢
SOLAS — Intermediate Body for ETB Training
Named in writing under CPR Art. 71(3). Allocates the further education and training funding, sets the reporting and verification requirements, and checks the claims that come up from the Boards.
🎓
Education and Training Board — the contracting body
Sixteen Boards. The Board holds your contract, is the ESF+ beneficiary, and is due payment within 80 days.
👉 Your organisation sits at this level
🤝
Your training organisation — the contracted provider
Delivers the training and keeps the learner records; the Board holds the QQI validation and is the ESF+ beneficiary that claims.
👥
Learners
The people on the course. In ESF+ language the beneficiary is the organisation that claims; these are participants, and most common indicators are collected under an EU rule; disability and minority need consent.
⚖️
Audit Chain
Built upward from your own records. Your learner files, attendance and cost records → the Education and Training Board checks the claim → SOLAS as Intermediate Body runs management verifications (CPR Art. 74) → DFHERIS as Managing Authority and Accounting Function draws up the accounts (Art. 76) and claims from the Commission → the ESF+ Audit Authority — the Internal & EU Audit Unit of the Department of Education and Youth, functionally independent of the Managing Authority under Art. 71(2) — audits systems, operations and accounts (Art. 77) → the European Commission accepts the accounts. The C&AG audits each ETB's own accounts (ETB Act 2013, s.51); alongside: the ECA and OLAF.

Process maps under this programme

Where this came from

Human reviewed2026-09-21Automatically checked2026-10-12Current source statusAutomatic check incomplete — human check requiredThe source could not be reached automatically. Published content has been preserved for human checking.

Read against the source on 2026-09-21. This is the human-reviewed version.

What that check changed: Reviewed and updated on 21 September 2026 against the EU Common Provisions Regulation and the programme bodies' own pages; 18 sources are listed below. The audit chain runs upward from the provider's own learner and cost records through the Education and Training Board, SOLAS as Intermediate Body and DFHERIS as Managing Authority and Accounting Function to the Commission, with the Comptroller and Auditor General, the European Court of Auditors and OLAF alongside. The Audit Authority sits outside that line, as Article 71(2) requires it to: in Ireland it is the Internal and EU Audit Unit of the Department of Education and Youth. For a provider, the money is reimbursement of checked spending — 40% EU in most of Ireland, 60% in the North-West, with the Exchequer paying the rest.