FSE+: the complete guide to European funding for employment, training, inclusion and skills in France (2021-2027)

The European Social Fund Plus (FSE+) is the European Union's main financial instrument for supporting employment, social inclusion, vocational training and skills development.

For the 2021-2027 period, France has a European allocation of €6.67 billion under the FSE+.

Unlike the FEDER, which mainly finances productive investments, equipment and infrastructure, the FSE+ focuses primarily on people, career paths, skills and support schemes.

It can finance projects carried out by associations, training organisations, local authorities, public institutions, work-integration social enterprises, local youth employment missions (missions locales), employment support organisations, businesses (in certain configurations), and networks and groupings of stakeholders.

The FSE+ generally does not operate as a direct aid paid to an individual or as a classic grant to a business for purchasing equipment. It co-finances operations that pursue an employment, training or inclusion objective.

For a business, the benefit may be indirect: financing a training action, developing employees' skills, taking part in an integration scheme, contributing to a local project, or collaborating with a beneficiary organisation.

It is therefore essential to understand the different management arrangements of the FSE+ before seeking funding.

1. Understanding the FSE+ and its allocation in France

1.1. A European allocation of €6.67 billion

For the 2021-2027 period, France's FSE+ allocation is €6,674,708,658.

This allocation is distributed through 20 programmes: 18 regional programmes and 2 national programmes managed by the State.

The national FSE+ programme "Emploi, Inclusion, Jeunesse et Compétences" (Employment, Inclusion, Youth and Skills) alone represents around €4 billion of European contribution. The regional authorities and other managing authorities hold the rest of the allocation through the regional programmes.

Indicator	Amount
European FSE+ allocation for France 2021-2027	€6,674,708,658
National FSE+ programme managed by the State	Around €4 billion
Number of regional programmes	18
Number of national programmes	2
Period	2021-2027

Note: the national FSE+ programme and the regional programmes do not form a single one-stop shop. Rules, priorities, calls for projects and contacts can vary.

1.2. Who manages the FSE+ in France?

Management of the FSE+ is split across several levels.

The Délégation générale à l'emploi et à la formation professionnelle (DGEFP) is the managing authority for the national FSE+ programme. It steers national priorities, coordinates decentralised services and organises the mobilisation of funding.

The DREETS and DEETS act at regional and local level to manage part of the national programme's funding.

Intermediate bodies may receive a delegation of management for certain territories or themes. These may notably include departments, metropolitan authorities, or local structures such as the PLIE (local integration and employment plans).

The Regions manage their FEDER-FSE+ or FSE+ regional programmes, depending on the organisation adopted in each territory.

For a project sponsor, the first task is therefore to identify the right programme and the right managing authority.

1.3. The FSE+ is not a direct aid to individuals

An individual generally cannot submit an FSE+ grant application to individually finance their own training or job search. The beneficiary of the grant is normally a legal entity carrying out an operation. This entity can then offer support, training or a service to the people concerned.

For example: an association may finance an employment support pathway, a training organisation may develop an action for jobseekers, a local authority may implement an integration programme, a work-integration structure may finance support for employees on an integration pathway, and a business may act as a partner in a training or inclusion project.

2. The seven priorities of the national FSE+ programme

The national FSE+ programme "Emploi, Inclusion, Jeunesse et Compétences" is organised around seven priorities, which address the main challenges of the French labour market.

Priority 1 — Promoting professional integration and social inclusion

This priority targets people furthest from employment and vulnerable populations. It represents around €1.979 billion in the national programme's presented breakdown.

Supported actions may concern identifying people far from employment, personalised support, career guidance, removing barriers to employment, social support, access to housing, work-integration through economic activity, the fight against poverty, and support for people in situations of exclusion.

Potential beneficiaries notably include associations, integration structures, local authorities, support organisations and specialised operators.

Example project: an association sets up an individualised support pathway for people who have been durably excluded from employment, including an assessment, remobilisation workshops, social support and introductions to employers. The FSE+ can contribute to financing the human and operational resources required, within the limits set by the call for projects.

Priority 2 — Promoting youth access to employment

This priority aims to improve young people's employability and facilitate their professional integration. It represents around €1.073 billion.

Actions may notably concern support towards a first job, career guidance, remobilisation schemes, work-study programmes, apprenticeships, the fight against early school leaving, support for young people not in employment, education or training, and bringing businesses and young candidates together.

Local youth employment missions (missions locales), associations, training organisations, local authorities and other support structures may be involved.

Example project: a structure develops an employment preparation pathway for unqualified young people, combining training, internships, individual support and meetings with local businesses.

Priority 3 — Developing skills and adapting training to economic change

This priority represents around €365 million. It aims to improve the skills of the workforce and anticipate changes in the labour market.

Operations may cover employee training, adapting skills to new technologies, digital transition, ecological transition, forward-looking management of jobs and skills, developing new teaching methods, improving training systems, and supporting sector-wide transformations.

This priority is of particular interest to businesses, but they are not automatically direct beneficiaries of all actions. Projects may be led by training organisations, collective operators, professional branches, associations or public bodies.

Example project: an operator organises a training programme for employees of an industrial sector facing automation and the energy transition. The aim is to enable workers to acquire the skills needed to fill new positions.

Priority 4 — Promoting an inclusive, quality labour market

This priority represents around €134 million. It aims to improve access to employment and the quality of the working environment.

Actions may notably concern gender equality in the workplace, the fight against discrimination, improving quality of working life, preventing occupational wear and tear, active ageing, adapting working conditions, and access to employment for under-represented groups.

Projects may be led by associations, specialised organisations, local authorities and structures that support businesses.

Priority 5 — Food and material aid for the most deprived

This priority concerns the most vulnerable people. It notably finances food aid, the distribution of essential goods, associated social support, and schemes providing access to basic necessities.

Arrangements are specific in overseas territories, where social and food needs may justify specific interventions.

Associations and specialised organisations are the main project sponsors.

Priority 6 — Promoting social innovation

This priority supports experimentation and the development of innovative solutions in the field of integration and inclusion: new support methods, social experiments, projects to combat exclusion, innovative employment-access schemes, the scaling-up of solutions that have proven their effectiveness, and partnerships between public and private actors.

The maximum co-financing rate can reach 95% for this priority, subject to the conditions of the programme and the call for projects.

This is not a general grant for technological innovation: the innovation must concern practices, schemes or social responses.

Priority 7 — Addressing the specific challenges of outermost regions

This priority targets the specific needs of France's outermost regions. It supports actions adapted to the geographical, economic and social constraints of these territories: access to employment, training, inclusion, skills development, support for vulnerable groups, and improvement of local schemes.

The precise arrangements depend on the programme and the calls applicable in each territory.

3. Regional FSE+ programmes: a funding level not to be overlooked

The FSE+ is not limited to the national programme. The 18 regional programmes make it possible to finance operations defined by local priorities.

Depending on the region, interventions may notably concern vocational training, career guidance, apprenticeships, integration, support for jobseekers, social innovation, inclusion, access to digital skills, and the specific needs of local businesses and sectors.

The dividing lines between the State and the Regions matter. A training action may, depending on its nature and target audience, fall under the national programme or the regional programme. One should therefore not assume that the same project is eligible under both schemes.

To identify the right funding, it is necessary to examine the territory where the project is carried out, the target population, the type of action, the project sponsor, the programme concerned, and the call for projects actually published.

4. Who can benefit from the FSE+?

The FSE+ is aimed at a wide variety of project sponsors, provided their operation matches the programme's objectives.

4.1. Associations

Associations are frequent beneficiaries of the FSE+. They can carry out operations to combat exclusion, support employment access, promote social inclusion, provide training, deliver food aid, support professional remobilisation, support young people, and foster social innovation.

The project must present measurable objectives and a sufficiently solid organisation to ensure it is carried out.

4.2. Training organisations

Training organisations may be involved when they carry out actions that meet the programme's priorities: training for jobseekers, upskilling of the workforce, training linked to economic transitions, integration pathways, training for young people, and innovative training schemes.

Simply having a training activity does not make an organisation eligible. The operation must meet an FSE+ objective and the conditions of the call for projects.

4.3. Local authorities

Local authorities can mobilise the FSE+ to develop public policies on integration, support and training: integration pathways, support actions, employment-access schemes, social projects, local training actions, and partnerships with local stakeholders.

4.4. Work-integration social enterprises

Work-integration social enterprises (structures d'insertion par l'activité économique) occupy an important place in the programme. They can mobilise the FSE+ to support people far from employment in pathways combining professional activity, training and social support.

Projects must demonstrate consistency between the resources deployed, the people supported, and the expected results.

4.5. Private businesses

Businesses may be involved, but their eligibility depends on the nature of the project and the scheme. The FSE+ is not a fund intended to freely finance a business's capital investments or operating costs.

Possible situations notably include a business taking part in a collective training project, a business acting as a partner of a beneficiary organisation, a training or support project carried out within an eligible framework, and an operation under a regional or national call that explicitly allows businesses as beneficiaries.

State aid rules and rules on economic activities must then be examined.

5. What expenses can be financed by the FSE+?

Eligible expenses vary according to the programme and the call for projects. The FSE+ frequently finances costs linked to carrying out operations.

5.1. Staff costs

Staff costs can represent a significant share of an FSE+ project: integration advisers, trainers, coordinators, support officers, social workers, project managers, and staff assigned to the operation.

Justification is based on working-time tracking rules and the cost methods set out in the call for projects.

5.2. External services and contributors

Some operations may include training services, studies, assessments, evaluations, specialised interventions, and support services.

The conditions for using service providers and the justification of costs must comply with applicable rules.

5.3. Indirect costs

Indirect costs may be taken into account according to the simplified cost options provided for by the programme. Flat rates may be applied to certain categories of expenditure, where the scheme allows it.

A flat rate must not be applied automatically: the rate set out in the call for projects or in the applicable management rules must be used.

5.4. Participant-related expenses

Depending on the type of operation, certain expenses relating to participants may be eligible — notably costs directly linked to taking part in a support or training action.

Such costs must be provided for in the scheme and justified according to applicable rules.

6. What funding rate can be obtained?

The FSE+ operates as co-financing. The maximum rate depends on the territory and the priority.

For the national programme, the co-financing ceilings presented are as follows:

Territory or project type	Maximum rate shown
Île-de-France and the former Rhône-Alpes territory	40%
Other metropolitan regions	60%
Overseas departments and regions	85%
Projects financed at national level	53%
Priority 5 — material aid	Up to 90%
Priority 6 — social innovation	Up to 95%

These rates are co-financing ceilings, not automatic entitlements. The rate actually granted depends notably on location, priority, the call for projects, the nature of the expenses, the financing plan, cumulation rules, and the quality of the project.

Calculation example

An association wants to implement an employment-support programme with total eligible costs of €200,000.

If the maximum applicable rate is 60%, the FSE+ contribution could reach €120,000. The association must then raise the remaining €80,000 through co-financing, own funds, or other authorised resources.

This example is purely illustrative: the actual rate and the eligible expenses depend on the call for projects and the appraisal process.

7. How do you submit an FSE+ application?

The submission process depends on the programme concerned. Sponsors must start by identifying the managing authority and the call for projects that matches their project.

Step 1 — Identify the right programme

It is necessary to determine whether the project falls under the national FSE+ programme, a regional FSE+ programme, a specific priority, or an intermediate body with a delegation of management.

Step 2 — Look for a call for projects

The sponsor must check which calls for projects are actually open. The presence of a priority in the programme does not mean that a window is permanently available.

Opening and closing dates, eligible beneficiaries, target groups, expected objectives, eligible expenses, selection criteria, and co-financing arrangements must be checked.

Step 3 — Define the operation

The project must be sufficiently precise. It must present an assessment, objectives, a target group, a timetable, human resources, a budget, indicators, a monitoring method, and expected results.

Step 4 — Build the financing plan

The FSE+ generally does not finance 100% of operations. The sponsor must identify the necessary co-financing and ensure that the same expenses are not financed twice by European funds.

Step 5 — Submit the application

The application is submitted on the platform indicated by the managing authority. The national FSE+ portal provides information and calls for projects under the national programme. Regional programmes may have their own submission and management arrangements.

Step 6 — Monitor the operation

The beneficiary must keep the records needed to justify expenses, working time, participants' involvement, results, actions carried out, co-financing, and compliance with publicity obligations.

The FSE+ requires particularly rigorous monitoring and justification.

8. FSE+ and businesses: how to turn the fund into an economic opportunity?

Even though the FSE+ does not directly finance all business needs, several situations can be of interest.

8.1. Financing training pathways

A business can be associated with an organisation carrying out an eligible training programme. Employees, jobseekers or future recruits can benefit from actions designed to improve their skills.

8.2. Developing skills within a sector

Professional branches, business networks and specialised organisations can build collective operations. Projects can address skills needs linked to industry, digital technology, ecological transition, logistics, tourism, hard-to-fill occupations, and new technologies.

8.3. Supporting integration and recruitment

Integration projects can facilitate meetings between employers and people far from employment. Businesses can take part in employment-preparation, immersion or pre-employment training schemes, subject to the applicable framework.

8.4. Supporting economic transformations

Digital and ecological transitions bring new skills needs. The FSE+ can support collective schemes that anticipate these changes and support employees.

9. FSE+: mistakes to avoid

Confusing the national programme with the regional programmes. Allocations, calls for projects and managing authorities are different. A scheme open in one region is not necessarily open in another.

Treating the FSE+ as an investment grant. The fund is mainly geared towards people, career paths, skills and inclusion. A business looking to finance a machine or a building should look at other instruments, notably the FEDER or national schemes.

Assuming individuals can apply directly. The beneficiary of the grant is generally a legal entity carrying out the operation. Individuals are the participants or end beneficiaries of the actions.

Confusing FSE+ and FTJ. The Just Transition Fund (FTJ) addresses the economic, social and territorial consequences of the climate transition. It has its own programmes and rules.

Confusing the FSE+ with standard vocational training funding. A training action is not automatically eligible for the FSE+. It must meet a programme priority and the conditions of the call for projects.

10. FAQ — European Social Fund Plus

What is the FSE+ budget in France?

France has a European allocation of €6.67 billion for the 2021-2027 period.

What is the difference between FSE and FSE+?

The FSE+ succeeds the European Social Fund of the previous period and brings together several instruments, notably the Youth Employment Initiative and aid for the most deprived.

Can a business receive an FSE+ grant?

Some businesses can be beneficiaries or partners of operations, but the FSE+ is not a general aid for productive investment. It is necessary to check that the call for projects explicitly allows the business and its type of project.

Can an association obtain FSE+ aid?

Yes. Associations are important beneficiaries of the programme, notably for integration, inclusion, training and support for vulnerable groups.

Does the FSE+ finance salaries?

Staff costs assigned to an operation may be eligible according to the rules of the call for projects. Working time and duties must be justified.

What is the maximum funding rate?

The rate depends on the territory and the priority. In the national programme, the ceilings shown notably range from 40% to 85%, with specific rates reaching up to 90% or 95% for certain priorities.

Does the FSE+ finance training courses?

Yes, when the training meets the programme's objectives: integration, youth employment, skills, adaptation to economic change, or inclusion.

Can training be financed for a business's employees?

This may be possible within an eligible operation, notably a collective one or one carried out by an authorised organisation. The call for projects and the rules applicable to businesses must be examined.

How do you find FSE+ calls for projects?

The national FSE+ portal and the "L'Europe s'engage en France" portal allow you to search for programmes and calls for projects. The Regions and decentralised services also publish their own schedules.

Can FSE+ and FEDER be combined?

A project can mobilise different funds when their objectives and expenses are distinct and cumulation rules are respected. The same expense cannot be financed twice by European funds.

Conclusion

The FSE+ represents a major European funding allocation for projects related to employment, training, inclusion and skills.

For businesses, its value lies mainly in training, support for economic transformations, and collective projects that bring employers closer to people seeking employment.

For associations, training organisations, local authorities and work-integration structures, it is an essential funding lever.

The FSE+ should not be presented as a uniform list of direct aid to businesses: it is necessary to start from the actual operation, the sponsor, and the programme (national or regional) that can actually be mobilised.

Last updated: 30 October 2026.