Commission launches Skills Guarantee to support workers in transition

Last November 27, the European Commission has launched a new scheme – the Skills Guarantee – to support workers and businesses and tackle labour shortages in strategic and growing sectors. A flagship initiative under the Union of Skills, the Skills Guarantee will reinforce strategic sectors in line with the future European Competitiveness Fund. Ιt will enable workers to transition into strategic industries, secure new jobs, and develop additional skills.

As a first step, the Commission has launched a Skills Guarantee Pilot – with a budget of €14.5 million. It will focus on workers from the automotive industry and its supply chain, who are at risk of unemployment. This pilot will test how to accelerate and improve the transition of workers from these strategic sectors to jobs in companies in growing or emerging strategic sectors, providing targeted upskilling and reskilling programmes. The pilot will support workers with on-the-job training and support to learn new skills, while companies in sectors with increased demand will be able to recruit the talent they need more quickly, helping them be competitive.

Through a call for proposals launched today, this initiative will test different job-to-job transition schemes. The pilot is a first step in shaping a future fully-fledged Skills Guarantee scheme, which is set to be implemented under the EU’s future long-term budget (2028-2034).

Next Steps

The call for proposals launched today will remain open until 29 January 2026. An online training session for applicants will take place in mid-December 2025. Grant agreements under the pilot will be signed in June 2026 and projects will run for up to 24 months, until summer 2028.The results of the pilot will inform the design of the future Skills Guarantee scheme.

Member States are invited to scale up the use of Skills Guarantee as early as possible, including through the available funding for the remaining years of the current multiannual financial framework (2021-2027).

Background

The pilot will be implemented together with the European Competence Centre for Social Innovation, which helps to speed up the adoption and the scaling-up of innovative solutions in employment, education, and social inclusion. It is financed under the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the main EU fund to invest in people. The projects will bring together companies, public employment services, social partners, and education and training providers from at least two Member States. Interested parties in this pilot can apply for funding via a call for proposals.

More information: European Commission