By encouraging local governments to add a new clause into contracts when they purchase goods and services, one ESF-funded project could help thousands of people into work.

Social Innovation and Work in Public Procurement (SIEPP) is a joint project between Finland and Sweden which encourages municipalities to add an "employment condition" into all public procurement contracts. It ensures that companies who want to bid for the contract must employ people who would otherwise be unemployed, working part time, or from other under-employed groups.

In Helsinki and Vantaa, where the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare is piloting the scheme, city councils are already working towards establishing employment clauses as a fixed part of their procurement strategy.