Youth projects

The UK National Agency, a partnership between the British Council and Ecorys UK, shares the management of the decentralised Key Actions for the youth sector, with Ecorys UK managing Key Action 1 youth mobility and British Council managing Key Action 2 Strategic Partnerships and Key Action 3 Structured Dialogue.

Getting started

If you are from a UK organisation working with young people who take part in an Erasmus+ project, this page will give you some useful guidance and advice. Please also review the Programme Guide for full details.

Project co-ordinators are encouraged to check the KA1 Youth FAQ (169KB) for guidance on common queries.

When travelling outside the UK, we advise you and your institution to consult the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) website for foreign travel advice.

Below you can find higher education sector information and guidance. Don’t forget you can also find guidance on: 

  • Project support – for key documents such as the programme guide and guide for experts. 
  • IT tools – for guidance on the European Commission's online tools that you must use including Mobility Tool+, Online Linguistic Support (OLS), Organisation Registration System (ORS) and the distance calculator. 
  • Promotion and dissemination – for details on submitting your results to the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform, working with the press and using the logo in your project promotion. 
  • Impact and evaluation – for Impact+ tool and resources to support your evaluation. 

Start Up Seminars

Our Start-up events are designed to help get your project off to a great start and hear from National Agency staff on topics including financial management.

2020 Call

Recent Start Up Seminars have taken place via webinars. You can view the recordings of the sessions below.

Key Action 1:

Key Action 3

Project handbooks

Project handbooks are available to download for guidance on managing your Erasmus+ project.

2020 Call

2020 Call Key Action 1 project handbook (888 KB)

2020 Call Key Action 2 project handbook (390 KB)

2020 Call Key Action 227 Partnerships for Creativity handbook (785 KB)

2020 Call Key Action 3 project handbook (370 KB)

Reporting

You must use our reporting guidelines, final report forms, receipt list and invoice templates to ensure that your report will be accepted and your costs are properly evidenced. Any changes to your project, duration, partners or participants can be discussed with the UK National Agency, but in most cases will need to be confirmed in writing by us in advance. This is to ensure that your project remains eligible for funding. You will be sent details of this during your project.

The European Commission (EC) produces templates for key reporting documents, such as interim reports which you will need to submit during your project’s lifecycle, and for final reports which need to be submitted after the end date of your project.

We advise that you keep any important documents and receipts for exceptional costs in case of audits or checks carried out by the UK National Agency.

Please find below Guidance documents for the different Key Actions:

Take a look at some handy hints and tips for completing your final reports in our Top Tips for Key Action 3 Reporting Guide (326 KB) and Top Tips for Key Action 2 Reporting Guide (373 KB).

You may also want to use the KA105 Youth mobility project timetable spreadsheet (52 KB) or the Youth structured dialogue project timetable spreadsheet (18 KB) during your project.

Exceptional costs for the Implementation of Virtual Mobility

Beneficiaries under Key Actions 2 and 3 are allowed to transfer up to 10% of the funds from any budget category based on unit contributions to exceptional costs in order to cover costs related to buying and/or renting of equipment and/or services necessary for the implementation of virtual mobility activities due to COVID-19, even if no funds were initially allocated to the Exceptional Costs budget category. Any request to record exceptional costs associated with virtual mobility implementation must be reviewed and approved by the UK NA prior to being encoded in the MT+. Please complete and return the Exceptional Costs Virtual Mobility Implementation Youth Form (69 KB) for Key Actions 2 and 3 by emailing the team.

Mobility agreements

All participating organisations involved in a youth mobility project are strongly recommended to sign an internal agreement between them to clearly define responsibilities, tasks and financial contribution for all parties involved in the project. It is up to the participating organisations to jointly decide on how the EU grant will be distributed and which costs it will cover.

Prior to their departure, each volunteer must sign a volunteering agreement with the sending and receiving organisation.

Mobility Tool+

Once volunteers or youth worker participants are selected, your institution must provide general information regarding the participants and the type of mobility activity they will carry out (e.g. participant name, destination, duration of the mobility, etc.) using the European Commission’s (EC) online management and reporting system, ‘Mobility Tool+’. This tool will support your institution in the management and reporting of Erasmus+ mobility activities.

Visit our IT Tools page for an overview of the European Commission's online tools including Mobility Tool+ and further support and guidance materials, such as the Mobility Tool+ quick start guide for Key Action 2 projects.

Who should I contact?

If your question is about Key Action 1 youth, please contact Ecorys UK by email. The Ecorys UK helpline is now closed. We are currently receiving a high number of emails but a member of the National Agency team will respond to each one as soon as possible.

If you have questions about Key Action 2 youth or Key Action 3, please contact the British Council by email or telephone on 0161 957 7755.

If you have any questions about European Solidarity Corps please email the dedicated team.