What you need to know about Brexit and EU Funds from WCVA

Friday 31 of January 2020 marked the date at which the UK left
the EU. Here at WCVA we run a number of different EU funded
projects and it’s only natural for people to have questions about
how these will continue in light of Brexit.

To put it simply: Brexit will have no effect on how WCVA
delivers our current programme of EU funded projects.

The current programme of European Funding will continue to run
as planned. All approved operations will continue until their
planned end date and any projects still in business planning will
continue through the process as they always have done. All of the
rules related to running a European funded project still apply from
submitting claims, evidence requirements through to document
retention periods. It’s business as usual!

The doors are very much still open if you think you have a
project that could benefit from European funding. It is possible
that projects can run into 2022/23 so there’s still time for you to
get involved. All of the support to help you identify relevant
funding and guide you through the application process is also still
available to you, whether that’s through the 3-SET team
or the Regional
Engagement Teams (RETs). So, if you have an idea for a project
please get in touch to discuss how you could benefit from the
funding by emailing 3set@wcva.cymru.

Our focus for the remainder of the funding programme is still
to:

• support all voluntary organisations with an interest in
  delivering European funding access the relevant pots of money
• support all voluntary organisations delivering ESF and ERDF
  projects to do so in a compliant way to help ensure their
  success
• celebrate the success of the voluntary organisation using
  European Funding to benefit our most deprived communities across
  Wales
• help the voluntary organisations to plan for the succession and
  legacy of the current European funding programmes

Of course, we also recognise that just because we have now left
the EU, that doesn’t mean our work surrounding Brexit and its
effect on the voluntary sector in Wales will stop.

If you have any questions on how Brexit will affect the
voluntary sector in Wales, then the Wales Civil Society Forum on
Brexit is a project that connects voluntary organisations and
leading industry experts to stimulate informed debate and
discussion, share knowledge and co-ordinate the sector.

It’s a project in partnership with Cardiff University and we’ve
run a series of events and produced several publications to help
better inform the sector. If you’d like to find out more, please
visit www.brexitforumwales.org
or contact Charles Whitmore (WhitmoreCD@cardiff.ac.uk).

We’ll continue to liaise with the sector over the coming months
and run events, such as the ‘Disabled people and Brexit: What
next?’ regional events coming up in
Conwy and
Carmarthen.