UKRI guidance on FEC grant terms and conditions

RGC 1 Variation to Terms and Conditions

The latest version of the Terms and Conditions apply to both new and existing Grants unless stated otherwise, however these do not supersede any Specific Grant Terms and Conditions. For auditing purposes, the Terms and Conditions applicable at the time of the activity or purchase resulting in a subsequent charge to the Grant will apply. Where a change to Our Terms and Conditions requires a new policy and or process, We expect You to implement this within a reasonable timescale and as an interim We will expect You to take steps to mitigate against any risks that have arisen as a result of non-compliance due to changes to Our Terms and Conditions.

RGC 2 Accountability and Responsibilities of the Research Organisation

RGC 2.1

Any Organisation in receipt of UKRI grant funding must have a security management plan and hold relevant certification to provide an appropriate level of assurance. A robust set of controls, based on a cyber security risk assessment, must be implemented. A positive cyber security culture should be achieved through a cyber security training programme for all staff and students and in line with UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation Principles.

RGC 2.2

Any Research Organisation carrying out business in the UK is required to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. You must take steps to ensure that operations and supply chains are trafficking and slavery free, including imposing substantially similar obligations to those in this guidance where You are permitted under the Standard Terms and Conditions of Grant and any Specific Terms and Conditions of Grant to subcontract your obligations, so that multi-level supply chains are addressed.

The Research Organisation must ensure that neither itself, its officers, employees, nor so far as it is aware any subcontractor or other persons associated with it, have been convicted of any offence involving slavery and human trafficking.

RGC 3 Research governance

RGC 3.1 Research Ethics, Misconduct and Conflicts of Interest

Ethical issues should be interpreted broadly and may encompass, amongst other things, the involvement of human participants or remains, tissue or data in research, the use of animals, research that may result in damage to the environment, dual use, “research of concern” and the use of sensitive economic, social or personal data. Relevant professional codes of practice and ethical guidance provided by professional bodies should be followed. Read further guidance on managing the risks of research misuse.

Research involving human participants or personal data that falls outside the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research, such as research within the sciences, must meet the provisions and guidelines of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Research Ethics Framework.

You must report to us any investigations and their outcomes into research misconduct associated with the Grant within one month of deciding to undertake any formal investigation, and subsequently notify us of the findings and actions taken. You must provide information on Your management of research integrity and ethics as described in the policy on governance of good research practice.

RGC 3.2 Use of Animals in Research

You must comply with the provisions of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, and any amendments, where applicable and ensure that all necessary licences are in place before any work requiring approval takes place.

The expectations of researchers are set out in the NC3Rs Responsibility in the Use of Animals in Research.

Wherever possible, researchers must adopt procedures and techniques that avoid the use of animals. Where this is not possible, the research should be designed so that:

the least sentient species with the appropriate physiology is used
the number of animals used is the minimum sufficient to provide adequate statistical power to provide a robust and reliable answer to the questions posed
the severity of procedures performed on animals is kept to a minimum, appropriate anaesthesia, analgesia and humane endpoints should be used to minimise any pain and suffering

RGC 3.3 Health and Safety

Appropriate risk assessment must be taken where researchers are working on and off site. This includes working internationally where there may different health and safety legal requirements. The Research Organisation must satisfy itself that all reasonable health and safety risks are managed and controlled. This includes reasonable adjustments to secure the health and safety of individuals who have pre-existing conditions as well as those whose circumstances change. Responsibility for completing suitable and sufficient risk assessment lies with the research organisation. UKRI expects that risk assessments will be completed by competent people and risk assessment control measures will be followed.

Research Organisations should have health and safety policies in place for all researchers including pregnant and disabled people. Health and safety risk assessments should be carried out where necessary, and in a proportionate way, to consider the requirements of all individuals, including, where appropriate, to explore reasonable adjustments.

You are responsible for complying fully with the requirements of all regulatory authorities for the storage, use and transfer of all potentially harmful materials, including pathogenic organisms, and any additional provisions to safeguard security that may be specified by such authorities. You are also fully responsible for the management, monitoring and control of all research work funded by Us.

You should have clear policies and processes for considering dual use risks wherever and whenever they emerge, providing advice and guidance to staff and actively monitoring the progress of research where potential risks are identified. This may entail, for example, having mechanisms to call on expert advice or to convene expert groups (this might include individuals with scientific, biosafety, security and ethics expertise) to assess risks and benefits associated with projects of potential concern. You should also include provision of appropriate training and education to all staff working in areas where dual use issues could emerge and have policies in place to ensure staff and students can safely raise legitimate concerns.

Health and Safety of Participants

There must be effective and verifiable systems in place for managing research quality, progress, and the safety and wellbeing of patients and other research participants, in line with the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research (or equivalent). These systems must promote and maintain the relevant codes of practice and all relevant statutory review, authorisation and reporting requirements. Find more guidance on the conduct of medical research.

Research Organisations should also have policies in place for individuals to raise health and safety concerns, and to ensure that these are dealt with proportionately and quickly.

Any significant developments that affect safety and wellbeing of research participants must be assessed and mitigated as appropriate in a timely manner as the research proceeds (this may include suspending or terminating the research) and should be reported to the appropriate authorities and to Us. In the event of a serious incident we require that you inform us of this for risk purposes, and which should include but not be limited to:

death
serious injury
notifiable diseases
dangerous occurrences

RGC 3.4 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As per the FEC Grant condition, your approach to supporting equality, diversity and inclusion is expected to at a minimum meet all relevant legal obligations, including but not limited to those of the Equality Act 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales, and equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland.

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society, including education settings. The protected characteristics (section 4) under the Act are:

age
disability
gender reassignment
marriage and civil partnership
pregnancy and maternity
race
religion or belief (including lack of belief)
sex
sexual orientation

Disability may include physical or mental impairment where the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the individual’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. These characteristics are the grounds upon which discrimination may arise.

RGC 3.5 Safeguarding

Safeguarding is defined as taking all reasonable means to prevent harm, particularly sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment from occurring; to protect children and vulnerable adults from harm and to respond appropriately when harm does occur.

RGC 3.6 Bullying and Harassment

Please refer to grant condition.

RGC 3.7 Whistleblowing

You must have clear, well-publicised policies and processes in place that are consistent with good practice, which at a minimum must cover:

the organisation’s commitment to investigate the whistleblowing report and how it will protect the individual reporting the issue
reporting steps
internal and external reporting contact points

The National Audit Office Assessment Criteria for Whistleblowing policies provides useful guidance on how to both write Whistleblowing policies and assess the effectiveness of these.

RGC 4 Use of Grant

Grants funds include a provision for inflation based on the GDP Deflators published by HM government. Subject to the Standard Terms and Conditions of Grant and any Specific Terms and Conditions of Grant, grant funds may be used without reference to Us, in such a manner as to best carry out the research.

Public funds should be deployed with due consideration to value for money, environmental impact, welfare and business needs across all activities.

All travel claims should evidence value for money alongside environmental impact, welfare and business need. Consequently, these should only include travel by standard class by train and economy class by air. Exceptions to this would be permitted where there is a justifiable health and wellbeing need and approved by the Research Organisation prior to purchase and evidence of this should be available. Consideration to the environmental impact of travel should be in line with the institutional policy.

Directly Incurred and Exceptions funds cannot be used to meet the costs of an activity that will fall outside of the end of the Grant Period, for example where travel falls after the end of the grant, the associated costs cannot be charged to the grant even if the travel booking can be purchased in advance.

RGC 4.6

For all members of Directly Incurred/Exceptions staff who work across more than one activity, where the individual is not working 100% of their time on one project, the following audit records must be maintained:

timesheets must be retained over the life of all UKRI funded projects, and these must be completed and authorised, as a minimum, by the relevant line manager in a timely manner to ensure records are accurate, but no later than two months after period end
timesheets must include all activities the individual has worked on during the relevant period
timesheets must be completed on an all hours worked basis totalling the cumulative hours per month (as a minimum time period), including any non-productive time for example, annual leave

RGC 5 Starting Procedures

5.1 Offer Acceptance

For successful grant applications a Grant Agreement setting out specific details of the grant, and an Offer Acceptance document, will be issued to the Research Organisation. To formally accept a Grant the Offer Acceptance document must be completed and returned within ten working days of issue. This will result in a Grant Start Confirmation document and Payment Schedule being issued.

RGC 5.2 Start Confirmation

A Grant can be started with a cost that is incurred as a direct result of activity for the delivery of the Grant, this includes Directly Incurred, Directly Allocated or equipment costs, but not estates or indirect costs.

RGC 6 Extensions

A no-cost extension may be requested where additional time is required to complete the grant activity. The maximum duration of an extension will depend on the primary reason for the additional time being needed.

Extensions arising from people related reasons may be granted for up to the duration of the actual delay incurred.

Extensions relating to non-people related reasons may not exceed six months over the lifetime of the Grant, except where exceptional circumstances apply. No-cost extensions approved prior to 1April 2026, including for non-people related reasons, will not count toward the six month limit.

Contingency time may not be requested.

No-cost extension requests must be submitted as soon as the requirement for additional time is identified and must specify one primary reason as justification, additional reasons should not be included. Requests should reflect the objectives that have been achieved to date and how any outstanding work will be completed within the revised timeframe.

Requests submitted near the grant end date may not be processed before the end date is reached, after which the extension cannot be given. Requests for no-cost extensions should be made via the appropriate funding system.

People related reasons might include:

parental leave
sick leave
change from full to part time working due to reduction in working hours
bereavement
jury service

Non-people related reasons include but are not limited to:

recruitment delays, including delays in obtaining visas
reduction in time worked on the project to allow a staff member to take up other professional activities
delays to equipment/facility availability
large research infrastructure delays
seasonality, for example crop failure leading to delay in ability to conduct fieldwork until the following season
delay in obtaining ethical approval, research permits or licences for work involving animal or human participants, delays in availability of participants, tissues or biological samples, or additional time required for the work to be completed to the appropriate ethical standards
procurement delays
political disruption making it difficult to work with partners in country X as originally planned
travel restrictions
natural disasters
delays related to Trusted Research and Innovation, for example, export control licences

No-cost extensions of longer than six months for non-people related reasons may be approved under extenuating circumstances for exceptional reasons and might include:

for work involving animal or human participants, delays in availability of participants, tissues or biological samples, or additional time required for the work to be completed to the appropriate ethical standards
travel restrictions
natural disasters
delays related to Trusted Research and Innovation, for example export control licences
large research infrastructure delays
seasonality, for example crop failure leading to delay in ability to conduct fieldwork until the following season

If animal or human participation will occur during the extended period, your request must also include confirmation that any associated costs can be met by the grant budget. No-cost extension requests that do not include this confirmation, or which confirm that such costs cannot be met by the grant budget, may not be approved.

Recruitment Related Delays

Where additional time is required in order to offer a suitable duration of contract when a vacancy happens towards the end of a grant, the request should include details of the work to be carried out during this period. For time being requested to cover recruitment or training of a new appointee replacing a post vacated unexpectedly, dates and an explanation must be provided for the individual parts of the extension as to why this is being requested. For example:

“Staff Member left; recruitment took two months with the new appointee starting after three months of actual vacancy. We would like to request an additional two months for training the new appointee, giving an overall extension request of five months”.

General

For absence occurring towards the end of a grant, but where the person is to return to work on the project, a request can be submitted via the appropriate funding system for an extension to cover the time taken to date, with a further request submitted for the remainder when the person returns, and the date is known. This will ensure that the grant does not end before the full length of the absence is known.

Extensions will not normally be permitted for reasons including, but not limited to:

use unspent funds on supplementary work not specified in the original grant as awarded.
allow additional papers to be completed and submitted to conferences and journals
bridge employment of key staff- keeping them employed until a new (unrelated) grant starts which will employ them
allow invoices to be received while the grant is live (invoices for spend occurring during the grant duration can be received in the three-month period between the end date of the grant and the final expenditure statement due date)
allow attendance at additional conferences unless a case is made outlining the enhanced impact this would create
enabling linked projects to finish together

RGC 7 Monitoring

Suspensions

A grant suspension should be requested when all work and expenditure has temporarily ceased on a grant. This could be because of reason including, but not limited to:

staff have gone on parental leave and there are no other members of staff actively working on the grant
major building issues, for example fire, which mean that all work has ceased on the grant and is unlikely to resume soon

In both instances, a suspension should be requested through the appropriate funding system.

To start work again following a suspension, a grant resumption request must be submitted via the appropriate funding system. A no-cost extension may be also requested to compensate for the delay caused by the suspension in completing the grant activity, however please note that where this has arisen due to non-people related reasons the no-cost extension may not exceed six months over the lifetime of the Grant, unless exceptions apply.

When submitting your request, the justification must include confirmation that your project will not incur any costs associated to animal or human participation during the suspended period. Suspension requests that do not include this confirmation, or which confirm that such costs will be incurred during the suspended period, will not be approved.

RGC 7.1 Changes to Project

You must consult us in the event of any major change that may affect the progress or delivery of the proposed research, including:

failure to gain access to research facilities and services
failure to gain ethical committee approval for the research
removing or adding a work package
changing the fundamental research question being investigated

In addition, for research involving the use of animals or human participation, any substantive changes to the experimental design that was originally endorsed by the awarding Board or Panel which might subsequently impact on the ethical characteristics of the award must be authorised by Us. Such changes would include, but may not be limited to, the use of different animal species and/or significant changes to the experimental design or clinical protocol.

It is the responsibility of the Research Organisation to manage the resources on the grant, including the staff, and We do not need be consulted if staffing levels on the grant are changed. However, a proportionate reduction should be made in the value of Estates, Indirect Costs and Infrastructure Technicians claimed by the Research Organisation in the following circumstances:

a post that attracts these costs is not filled
a staff member who attracts these costs leaves more than six months before the end of the period for which the post was funded and is either not replaced or is replaced by a category of staff that does not attract the costs for example, associated student

RGC 7.2 Transfer of a Grant to another Research Organisation

The relinquishing Research Organisation must send a request via the appropriate funding system if the Grant Holder intends to transfer to another organisation, detailing why and when the grant needs to be transferred. We will wish to be assured that satisfactory arrangements have been agreed that will enable the project to be undertaken and to continue in accordance with its research objectives, including the provision of the required facilities. The new Research Organisation must be eligible to receive funding from UKRI. Note that transfers to European universities may be covered by the Money Follows Researcher Agreement.

If suitable arrangements cannot be agreed, We will consider withdrawing our support or terminating the grant.

Where there is a basis for continuing involvement by the relinquishing organisation, agreement should be reached between both organisations on the apportionment of work and the distribution of related funding.

All unspent funds will be offered to the new organisation in the Offer Acceptance. Grant funding will not be revised on account of transfers. The new receiving organisation will be required to confirm, by return of an Offer Acceptance, that it will provide any additional resources needed to complete the project.

The transfer of a grant is not a quick process to carry out as the grant will need to be reconciled at the original Research Organisation before the remaining funds can be transferred to the new Research Organisation. Allow at least four months for this process to be completed from the date of the request being made.

Grant transfer requests cannot be created and submitted when a grant has not yet started (that is, the status of the award is ‘announced’). In these circumstances, contact the awarding Council for further advice.

RGC 7.3 Change of Grant Holder

For Research Grants, the Research Organisation must consult Us via the appropriate funding system if it is proposed to change the Grant Holder, for example following retirement or resignation. We will wish to be assured that the replacement Grant Holder meets the eligibility criteria and has the expertise and experience to lead the project to a successful conclusion, in accordance with its research objectives. The Research Organisation must ensure that they have carried out their eligibility checks and considered any grant specific conditions before submitting a request to change the Grant Holder.

A fellowship grant is awarded on the basis of a named individual’s suitability to undertake and benefit from the period of research, therefore changes to the Grant Holder are not permitted. The resignation of the Research Fellow, or the termination of their employment, constitutes the end of the grant for the purpose of submitting a Final Expenditure Statement and Our financial liabilities.

RGC 7.4 Research Monitoring and Evaluation

You must use UKRI’s specified online system to submit information for monitoring purposes on the outputs and outcomes of the Project during and for some years after the expiry of the Grant Period. In addition, UKRI may authorise an affiliate organisation to contact the Grant Holder or other project partners on its behalf to request further information on the project, or to participate in an event.

RGC 7.5 Disclosure and Inspection

We shall be entitled to inspect any financial or other records and procedures associated with the Grant as are reasonably required to verify the regularity and propriety of Grant expenditure, or to appoint any other body or individual for the purpose of such inspection. This includes expenditure by Third Parties associated to the Project. Examples include:

annual report and accounts
external audit management letter
ISA260 – communication with those charged with governance
related internal audit reports

RGC 8.0 Staff

Providing that it is related to the research project on which they are currently working, research staff and fellows may, during normal working hours, undertake teaching and demonstration work, including associated training, preparatory, marking and examination duties, and NHS clinical sessions for up to an average of six hours a week (pro rata for part-time staff) calculated over the period that they are supported on the grant. Where activities are supporting a fellow’s progression towards their research and/or career goals this average of six hours per week can include other commitments such as additional funded projects, and specific opportunities may allow greater flexibility in the second half of the award.

Depending on the specific fellowship opportunity’s time commitment requirements, we will consider requests to reduce a fellow’s time commitment to the fellowship to allow the fellow to take on additional professional responsibilities, with the following conditions:

this is only possible for fellowships that do not require an individual to commit 100% of their working time to the fellowship
individuals may only hold awards totalling up to 100% of their time
each UKRI fellowship requires a minimum overall time commitment of 0.5 FTE
any concurrent awards must comply with the specific terms and conditions of the fellowship originally awarded

RGC 8.1 Employment

Recruitment costs for staff directly related to the project, excluding project leads and co-leads, may be charged to the project as Directly Incurred providing that they occur after the date of the agreement.

Employment related costs including maternity, paternity and sick pay for staff costed as directly allocated may not be requested, as we expect these to be covered by the Research Organisation. Redundancy costs, costs for reimbursing staff for annual leave not taken and proposal preparation costs cannot be charged for any staff as these are covered within indirect costs, regardless of whether they are costed as Directly Allocated, Directly Incurred or Exceptions.

Merit pay and bonus award schemes offered by a Research Organisation for their employees are not considered to be a direct research cost and therefore cannot be charged to the grant.

Relocation costs may be permitted for research staff who are working 100% of their contracted time on the project, including those that are recruited after the start date of the grant, provided the Research Organisation has a general policy in place to pay relocation costs and this is not already included as part of indirect costs. No additional funds for such costs will be given.

RGC 8.2 Career Development

The Research Organisation must create an environment in which research staff are selected and treated on the basis of their merits, abilities and potential. It must ensure that reliable systems and processes are in place so that the principles of the 2019 Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers are embedded into practice within the Research Organisation. You must ensure compliance with all relevant legislation and government regulation, including any subsequent amendments introduced while work is in progress.

RGC 8.3 Parental Leave

Staff, including fellows, costed as Directly Incurred will receive parental leave/pay from their Research Organisation (RO) based upon their RO contract of employment for their parental leave period.

The net cost that We will reimburse to the Research Organisation to cover any additional net parental leave costs, as defined in the Terms and Conditions, is the amount paid to the individual less the amount the Research Organisation can recover for Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay from HMRC.

The Research Organisation can claim from Us the net parental leave pay for the duration of the person’s parental leave that falls before the original grant end date, for example, if parental leave begins two months before the original grant end date then the RO can claim for the net parental leave costs for those two months.

The Grant can be extended by the period of time to cover both the parental leave, and the remaining additional time, for example, two months, to enable the Grant to be completed unless there are time dependencies.

RGC 8.4 Sick Leave

Staff, including fellows, costed as Directly Incurred will receive sick leave/pay from their Research Organisation (RO) based upon their RO contract of employment for their sick leave period.

The net cost that We will reimburse to the Research Organisation to cover any additional net sick leave costs, as defined in the Terms and Conditions, is the amount paid to the individual less the amount the Research Organisation can recover from HMRC. These additional costs must be claimed under the “Absence” heading on the Final Expenditure Statement.

The Research Organisation can claim from Us the net sick leave pay for the duration of the person’s sick leave that falls before the original grant end date, for example, if sick leave begins two months before the original grant end date then the RO can claim for the net sick leave costs for those two months.

The Grant can be extended by the period of time to cover both the sick leave, and the remaining additional time, for example, two months, to enable the Grant to be completed unless there are time dependencies.

Other Leave

Staff may be entitled to time off to help a dependent in an emergency or bereavement leave, additional to parental and sick leave as per the terms and conditions, and should be based upon Your own policies. If Your organisational policy is to pay for such leave, this should be covered by indirect funds and within the original cash limit of the grant. No additional funds can be claimed for such costs.

RGC 9 Equipment

RGC 9.1 Procurement of Equipment

The procurement of equipment, consumables and services, including maintenance, must comply with all relevant national and EU legislation. Accepted procurement best practice in the higher education sector must also be observed. Where applicable, consideration should be given for energy efficiency and waste minimisation in line with good practice. Where the contract value is more than £25,000 (excluding VAT) professionally qualified procurement staff must be consulted before the procurement process begins and if necessary, they must approve the order or contract before it is placed with a supplier.

Any proposal to purchase an item of equipment in the last six months of the Grant is subject to prior written approval by Us. We will wish to be assured that the item of equipment remains essential to the research.

Items of equipment dedicated to the project costing less than £25,000 should not be charged under the Equipment heading.

Energy Efficiency in Procurement

When purchasing equipment to support research consideration must be given to energy efficiency, for example, ensuring the purchased power capability or size of a product does not excessively exceed need.

Where applicable, applicants should seek to purchase powered equipment with good energy efficiency ratings. Current energy labelling can assist when making procurement decisions or specifying energy efficiency within product requirements, including but not limited to:

Energy Star rating
EU Energy Label
EU Ecolabel

The Carbon Trust and S-Lab provide good practice guidance on how to build energy efficiency into procurement decisions.

Waste Minimisation in Procurement

When selecting and procuring equipment to support research you should consider the waste hierarchy: Prevent – Reduce – Reuse – Recycle – Other Recovery – Disposal.

Through effective research planning and procurement you should look to reduce generation by making informed procurement decisions. Questions to consider may include:

what are the disposal costs likely to be for the equipment?
how the equipment will be treated once it is no longer required – could it be safely reused or recycled?
through research design and smart procurement decisions, how could the use of consumables be reduced? For example, using refillable consumables or built-in recovery systems
how to avoid excessive packaging associated with equipment and what options and what options does the supplier provide to ‘take back’ and/or recycle packaging

The Waste Action Resource programme (WRAP) provided good practice guidance on how to reduce waste generation and apply the waste hierarchy.

RGC 9.2 Ownership of Equipment

Where there is spare capacity in the use of the equipment, We expect this to be made available to other users. Priority should be given to research supported by UKRI and to UKRI funded students.

A relevant share of the annual costs of the equipment may be charged to each Grant involving use of the equipment. This may be either Directly Incurred if usage by each project is auditable and charged based on actual usage, or Directly Allocated if based on estimates. Under Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) the annual costs include depreciation, which is then deducted from the estates costs. Note that if the equipment was originally purchased with funding from Us, then in accordance with TRAC methodology the actual depreciation would not have been charged to the estates cost in the first place, so by deducting it, the total FEC of the project includes no net charge for this depreciation.

After the research project has ended, the Research Organisation is free to use the equipment without reference to Us, but it is nevertheless expected to maintain it for research purposes for as long as is practicable.

RGC 9.3 Equipment Data

Refer to grant condition.

RGC 10 Financial Reporting

General

When completing an Expenditure Statement, expenditure shown in the Directly Incurred and Exceptions headings must show the actual expenditure incurred by the Grant. Settlement by Us will reflect the proportion of FEC stated in the award letter applied to actual expenditure, providing this is within the Grant cash limit.

For the Directly Allocated and Indirect Costs headings we will pay the amount that is shown as requested, providing this is within the Grant cash limit and that the Grant ran its full course.

Where a Grant is terminated more than six months before the planned end date a pro rata share will be paid. Where a Grant terminates within six months of the planned end date, estates and Indirect Costs will be paid in full, but project lead and co-lead costs and Other Directly Allocated Costs will be paid pro rata. A proportionate reduction will also be made in the value of Estates, Indirect Costs and Infrastructure Technicians claimed by the Research Organisation in the following circumstances:

a post that attracts these costs is not filled
a staff member who attracts these costs leaves more than six months before the end of the period for which the post was funded and is either not replaced, or is replaced by a category of staff that does not attract the costs for example, associated student

Costs arising from parental or sick leave should be identified in the Absence heading of the statement.

International Expenditure

UKRI have introduced a new attachment to the Final Expenditure Statement (FES) to capture funding going overseas. Any UK or overseas research organisation submitting a FES for a grant on or after 1 October 2018 that has involved distributing funding to any non-UK organisation (both as a lead organisation or as a sub- contractor), is required to complete the following attachment and submit it along with their FES. Please only include funds paid directly to the organisation. It is not necessary to include, for example, travel and subsistence claims paid direct to individuals.

Due Date Extensions

If there are exceptional reasons that will prevent submission of the expenditure statement by the due date, a written request may be made via the appropriate funding system for the submission period to be extended. This must be submitted before the due date passes.

Supplementary Expenditure Statement (SES)

Where a Research Organisation has identified an error with their original Final Expenditure Statement (FES), they can submit a request for a Supplementary Expenditure Statement (SES). Requests for a SES must be made via the appropriate funding system within 60 days of when the reconciliation payment has been paid. If the Research Organisation fails to submit their Grant Maintenance Request within this 60-day deadline, the request will be rejected. All ineligible expenditure which has been identified on a Grant must be returned, including errors where too much funding has been claimed, regardless of the length of time that has passed since the error occurred.

Annual Statement

If an Annual Statement has been issued, the Research Organisation must confirm by returning the Statement that:

expenditure has been incurred in accordance with the grant conditions
grants showing as ‘current’ are continuing

No further payments will be made until the Annual Statement has been received and accepted by Us.

RGC 11 Sanctions

Refer to grant condition.

RGC 12 Exploitation, Impact and Acknowledgement

Every reasonable effort should be made to ensure that intellectual assets obtained in the course of the research, whether protected by intellectual property rights or not, are used to the benefit of society and the economy. Research outcomes should be disseminated to both research and more widespread audiences, for example to inform potential users and beneficiaries of the research.

Where the grant is associated with more than one Research Organisation and/or other project partners, the basis of collaboration between the organisations including ownership of intellectual property and rights to exploitation, is expected to be set out in a formal collaboration agreement. It is the responsibility of the Research Organisation to put such an agreement in place. The expectation is that collaboration agreements (CA) are in place within six months of the grant start date. Where a project may be at risk without a formal CA in place before the project begins, additional grant specific conditions of for the individual award will specify it that a CA must be in place either before the project begins or within a specified timeframe, in the additional T and Cs. A signed CA can be requested by UKRI Funding Assurance at any point in time after six months of the grant start date.

Arrangements for collaboration and/or exploitation must not prevent the future progression of research and the dissemination of research results in accordance with academic custom and practice. A temporary delay in publication of research findings is acceptable in order to allow commercial and collaborative arrangements to be established.

In individual cases, We reserve the right to retain ownership of intellectual assets, including intellectual property (or assign it to a third party under an exploitation agreement) and to arrange for it to be exploited for the national benefit and that of the Research Organisation involved.

Should this right be exercised, further details may be set out in an additional grant condition if the intellectual property or asset is foreseen before the grant is awarded.

There should be suitable recognition and reward to researchers who undertake activities that deliver benefit through the application of research outcomes. The Research Organisation must ensure that all those associated with the research are aware of, and accept, these arrangements.

Research publications must acknowledge funding received from UKRI Research Councils. This includes, but is not limited to, research articles published in journals, conference proceedings and publication platforms, and monographs, book chapters and edited collections, and includes versions of outputs deposited institutional or subject repositories.

It is not permissible to charge open access costs for research articles and longform publications to the grant, as UKRI provides separate funding to support open access. Read about UKRI’s open access requirements and funding.

Regarding costs associated with clearing rights for third-party materials in longform publications, these should be charged to the grant continue to be included in the application for funding where possible and where the cost will be incurred during the its lifetime of the grant. Funding for these costs may also be available via Our dedicated open access fund.

Where there is likely to be significant public or media interest, the Grant Holder may wish to provide Us with advance notice and sight of any public communications, via the Research Organisation, for review and support.

RGC 13 Disclaimer

Refer to grant condition.

RGC 14 Status

For clarity, all sub-contracts that sit under a UKRI Grant must be subject to the exact same terms and conditions of the UKRI Grant. This includes jurisdiction and applicable law, meaning that any changes to the UKRI Grant resulting from a change in government policies will also apply to any sub-contracts.

Costings Information

Full Economic Costing

The principle behind Full Economic Costing (FEC) funding is that Research Organisations should indicate in their grant proposals the full economic cost of a project. We will then pay a fixed percentage of 80% of this sum unless stated otherwise, which includes an attribution of the cost of academic staff time, and the Research Organisation’s facilities, estates and indirect costs. This helps institutions to understand the full costs of the research they carry out and supports their research activities on a sustainable basis, with appropriate investment in research infrastructure, including buildings, facilities, and staff.

Research organisations, in accepting an FEC grant, undertake to provide the remaining 20% from their own resources.

Where part funding for a project has been committed from another external source such as a project partner, this contribution will be treated as additional to FEC. You can apply to Us for the full economic cost of the remaining resources required to complete the project, We will then contribute 80% of this cost.

Exceptions

Associated studentships: Associated studentships are funded at 100% of the standard values of stipend and fees agreed by Us each year.

Postgraduate training is not included within the FEC methodology therefore students must not be counted in the FTE when charging estates and indirect costs on the application form, nor should any project lead or co-lead time be funded on the grant to cover provision for student supervision. Any other eligible resources requested for the project student as part of the grant proposal (such as equipment, travel, consumables) will be funded at the standard 80% rate.

Other

Externally contracted social surveys are funded within the Exceptions heading at 100%, other subcontractor costs will be funded at the standard 80%. Other specific FEC exceptions may be specified at funding opportunity level.

Directly Incurred and Directly Allocated Costs

Directly Incurred costs (DI) are those costs that are explicitly identifiable as arising from the conduct of the research, these should be charged on the basis of the cash amount spent and must be verifiable and auditable from Your accounting records. Directly Allocated costs (DA) are shared costs charged on estimates, and therefore not represent directly auditable costs on a project-by- project basis.

Staff Time Costs

The cost of a teaching replacement cannot be requested, as it is considered to be related to teaching and not research. FEC only relates to research, and the underlying principle is that the full cost of the project should be calculated including the cost of researcher’s time.

We will fund project leads and co-leads up to 100% of their salary, which is determined as a maximum of 37.5 hours a week, 44 weeks per year, 1650 hours a year. While project leads and co-leads can indicate that they will spend more than this time on grants, they cannot charge more than this time and we encourage maintaining a work-life balance.

We will seek assurance at organisation level that the costs paid for project leads and co-leads are in balance with total time attributed to grants, however we accept the need for flexibility in relation to individuals because of the difficulties of estimating both time and likelihood of success of applications.

Project lead and co-lead’s time can be charged as either Directly Allocated or Directly Incurred, see Pre-Award Directly Incurred and Pre-Award Directly Allocated headings below for further information.

Research Organisations can choose to either use average band salaries, or actual values for salaries as long as they are consistent with the organisation. See TRAC guidance.

UKRI pay up to 100% of staff salary costs which includes National Insurance, Superannuation and the Health and Social Care Levy.

Peer reviewers will see all costs, which will include a salary figure, but, if Directly Allocated, they will not know how it has been calculated (that is, actual or banding).

In order to avoid double funding a research grant proposal should not seek to duplicate any funding of all or part of a salary that a project lead or co-lead already has in place from any other externally sponsored projects supported from public funding, examples include research grants, centre grants, fellowship grants funded by Us, government departments or publicly funded learned societies.

Where a project lead or co-lead’s salary is fully supported in this way, the proposal should show the amount of time to be spent on the grant, but with zero hours charged to the grant. If the investigator is unpaid or receives salary wholly funded through non-FEC sources, their time can still be charged to the grant for the purpose of determining estates, infrastructure technicians and indirect costs. In this case, the relevant amount of time to be charged to the grant should be shown, but with a zero salary.

Technician support can be applied for in one of three ways:

Access to a pool of technician effort – Pooled staff costs can be based on estimates and included within the Directly Allocated fund heading. Justification must be included for the time required and be charged on a cost per hour basis. Alternatively this staff effort can be based on actual amounts of time to be spent on the project, and charged as Directly Incurred.
Specific (named or unnamed) technician posts – the proposal should include full details of staff costs and amount of time required. This can be included within the Directly Incurred (requiring timesheets if not working 100% of contracted time on the grant) or Directly Allocated fund heading.
Infrastructure technicians – if your institution has calculated infrastructure technician rates (separately from estate rates), they should be added to the proposal in the same way as estates and indirect rates, which is as a standard rate/research FTE. The inclusion of a charge for infrastructure technicians, along with the per-FTE rate in use, does not need to be justified and will not be assessed.

Research Software Engineers may be included as support staff. However, it is up to the Research Organisation to decide how these posts are attributed, either as:

Directly Incurred, where (unless they have been given an academic research contract) the proposal would identify them under ‘Other’ Staff costs and time would be accounted for by the appropriate time sheets (if not 100%)
if the Research Organisation views them as Directly Allocated then they can be costed under Directly Allocated costs

Home working/Overseas

Research Staff, excluding project leads and co-leads, employed on a grant are able to work remotely, including homeworking and from overseas, on a permanent basis if the research project allows as long as organisational policies are adhered to. You continue to be wholly responsible for their terms and conditions of employment as set out in RGC 8.1, including any additional laws for overseas staff. UKRI expect Staff employed on a grant who are permanently based remotely and/or overseas are able to meet their objectives and that they will be fully supported to carry out their role and have access to appropriate facilities. UKRI may, at any time, request assurances that You are supporting such arrangements and are able to demonstrate and evidence the staff member is being fully supported to carry out their role. Where a staff member is recruited to work permanently overseas or remotely, You are responsible for informing UKRI of their working location, including if their location changes mid-way through the grant project.

Where staff are recruited to work remotely and/or overseas on a permanent basis by a UK Research Organisation, estates costs should not be charged to the grant. Indirect costs may be included in the funding application for these individuals. Some exceptions may apply where staff are employed at overseas units and institutes and you should refer to the eligibility criteria and specific funding opportunities. If a member of staff is employed as a percentage of their time remotely or overseas, estates costs should be commensurate to their time where they are working 100% of their time at the Research Organisation.

Where staff are recruited by an overseas Research Organisation, estates and indirect costs should not be charged to the grant. Some exceptions may apply, and you should refer to the eligibility criteria and specific funding opportunities.

Directly Incurred

Costs may be requested under Directly Incurred if they meet the general requirement that they are project-specific, auditable costs. Fellow’s time should be charged as Directly Incurred.

Project lead and co-lead costs can be charged to a project as Directly Incurred if their time spent on the grant is auditable, this includes project leads and co-leads who are either contracted to work 100% on the project or where timesheets are used. Directly Incurred project lead and co-lead costs can be vired with other Directly Incurred costs. However any additional costs incurred over budget will need to be met out of the Research Organisation’s own resources.

Childcare

The costs of additional childcare, beyond that required to meet the normal contracted requirements of the job and which are directly related to the project, may be requested as a Directly Incurred cost if the institutional policy is to reimburse them. However, childcare costs associated with normal working patterns may not be sought.

Visas, Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) and Certificate of Sponsorship: Visa costs, including the IHS and Certificates of Sponsorship, incurred as a direct result of an individual being employed as Directly Incurred (DI) staff for at least 50% of their contracted time, can be charged to the grant. Visa costs for family members cannot be charged to the grant. Costs incurred by individuals recruited to DI posts after the grant start date are eligible if they meet the minimum 50% time requirement. All costs must be met within the original grant cash limit. Funds can be utilised from other DI or indirect funds to cover these costs. Contingency costs for unknown researchers at point of application are not eligible.

Project Partners

In general Project Partners are expected to provide contributions to the delivery of the project and should not therefore be seeking to claim funds from UKRI. However, where there are specific circumstances where Project Partners do require funding for minor costs such as travel and subsistence, this will usually be paid at 80% FEC unless otherwise stated by us. Note that any applicable Subsidy Control regulation and HMRC guidance will also be taken into account which may affect the percentage of these costs that we will fund. These costs should be outlined and fully justified in the proposal and will be subject to peer review.

Other costs

In most cases laboratory consumables such as gloves and blue roll, as well as office consumables such as photocopying, printing, postage, general transport costs, stationery, computer consumables and telephone costs, and also utilities costs, are not expected to be accounted for at the project level and should be found from indirect costs. However, items of this type may be charged as directly incurred where use is exceptional (for example, high electricity use). These exceptional costs would then need justification in relation to the research need, and there should be a clear statement indicating that these are separately accounted for and charged to the project as actual costs.

Equipment costing less than £25,000, and other items that are dedicated to the project including grant specific consumables, books, survey fees, purchase and hire of vehicles, or recruitment and advertising costs for staff directly employed on the project, should be added as Directly Incurred under the “Other Costs” heading. The Research Organisation is expected to provide laptops for staff on continuing contracts. We define a continuing contract position as being where a person is already employed by the Research Organisation and is then moved to work on the grant, and therefore are not employed only for the purpose of working on the grant. Laptops may only be costed where a new member of staff who is employed purely for the grant will require this, if a person is employed by the Research Organisation (RO) to work on multiple projects then the RO cannot charge a laptop to the grant for that person, unless a higher specification of laptop is required for the completion of specific grant related activities such as data modelling and enhanced graphics.

Insurance costs are expected to be included as part of indirect costs, but may be requested as directly incurred costs where it can be shown that the cost arises specifically as a result of the project funded by the grant, is not covered by existing institutional policies, and is separately identifiable and audited.

Carbon offsets are not considered to be a direct research cost and will not therefore be funded on grants; further information can be found in our position statement on carbon offsetting.

Alcohol is not permitted and should not be sought as an eligible cost.

Directly Allocated

Directly allocated (DA) costs are costs of resources on a project, where the resources are also shared by other activities and projects, these costs should be based on estimates and should not change during the project life. Laboratory technicians, major research facilities, and estates fall under this category. Charge-out rates for each of these items should be estimated by applying the charge rate to researcher Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) to derive an estimated cost for each project.

Under Directly Allocated, no record of actual costs at a project level is required during the project life. These costs cannot be vired, that is, budgets cannot generally be transferred between fund headings when accounting for spend to sponsors. Indirect costs are not directly related to any one project or activity, but are a necessary part of the costs of undertaking an activity. These costs are attributed to projects through a proxy – £/FTE.

Where project lead or co-lead costs are based on estimates and therefore an auditable record cannot be provided, these costs should be charged as Directly Allocated. We will pay Directly Allocated Investigator costs based on the estimates shown in the Grant Agreement, unless the grant has been affected by cancellation, early termination or financial sanction.

Costs should appear on only one of the three categories (DI, DA or indirect) – there should not be any double counting.

General Costing

Estates costs cover those costs related to buildings and premises, including capital (depreciation), maintenance, utilities costs, cleaning, security and safety.

TRAC is a process of taking institutional expenditure information from consolidated financial statements, adding a margin for sustainability and investment to represent the full ‘sustainable’ cost of delivery, and then applying cost drivers (such as academic staff time allocation and space usage) to allocate these costs to academic departments and to specific activities.

TRAC dispensation default rates can be used by institutions that have less than £3 million annual research income from public sponsors. TRAC default rates are reviewed annually by representatives of UKRI and the UK higher education funding bodies.

The Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of individuals in non- research roles on the project, including infrastructure technicians and associated studentships, should not contribute to the indirect and estates costs on a project that is claimed from UKRI. The FTE used as the multiplier for indirect and estates costs must be based on research roles on the project, this includes those acting as researchers, project lead or co-lead and visiting researchers. In addition, indirect and estates costs may be claimed for technicians, pool technicians, specialists and professional enabling staff costed to applications submitted to opportunities launched on or after 22 May 2023. Read more about roles and costs. Institutions must ensure that where roles are eligible to attract indirect and estate costs, this is fully considered in their TRAC or FEC methodology to avoid double counting.

Where a research project involves periods of more than six months away from the home institution for one or more research staff, indirect costs may be included within the funding application for those individuals, including for the time away. Estates charges should be included for the period of absence only if the researchers concerned are working at another UK Research Organisation eligible to receive funding from Us. Under such circumstances, We would expect the grant-holding organisation to pass the relevant share of estates costs to the organisation hosting the staff. Where an individual will be working at a non-eligible organisation for a period of six months or more, estates costs should not be charged for the period of absence. Absences for periods of less than six months do not require a reduction in estates costs.

Project costs which are calculated based on a formula funding methodology, whereby the cost of certain resources such as travel and subsistence and support staff are calculated algorithmically, are not permitted. The full cost of the research must be indicated, with resources requested at the required level and justified in the funding application.

Cost Justification

All resources requested to carry out a project must be justified in the appropriate application section – ‘justification of resources’ (Je-S Portal) or ‘resources and cost justification’ (Funding Service). This includes all directly incurred costs, project lead and co-lead effort, use of pooled staff resources and access to any research facilities and equipment.

Estates, Indirect and Infrastructure Technician costs do not need to be justified within the funding application.

UKRI funding services

UKRI Funding Services provides support for System users and the administrative and transactional activities related to research funding for grants, studentships and fellowships, in support of the following seven UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Councils:

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

The gateway for engagement between research community and UKRI is through the Je-S portal or the Funding Service. It is through these systems:

that applications are submitted
review documents are exchanged
grant offers are issued and accepted
amendment requests are submitted
payments are tracked and expenditure statements received

The grants service depends on close cooperation between the research councils and will:

respond to all enquiries within 10 working days of receipt
communicate decisions within agreed timescales
give notification of decisions within agreed timescales
make timely payments
maintain up-to-date information in the funding system
seek feedback from all stakeholders
acknowledge receipt of complaints promptly and aim to resolve those about the Grants Team services within ten working days of receipt

Timescales and specific arrangements are agreed between relevant research councils and the Grants Team. Timescales and arrangements may differ depending on the nature of the funding.

Contact

Support for the Funding Service

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org

Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm
Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

Support for the Je-S System users

Email: JeSHelp@je-s.ukri.org

Phone: 01793 444164

The Helpdesk is open:

Monday to Thursday 8:30 am to 5pm
Fridays 8:30am to 4:30pm

Operations Team

Phone: 01793 867121

Email: grantspostaward@funding.ukri.org

Contact this team for:

support of “Active” Grants through their life cycle, for example Grant transfer requests, Grant extension requests, Deliverable extension requests and Grant transfer requests
Grant payments
final reconciliation of Grants
preparation of Grant offer

Annex A: Definitions

Project co-lead

A person who assists the grant holder in the management and leadership of the project.

Council

Any of the bodies listed under the introduction.

Directly allocated costs

Costs of resources used by the project that are shared by other activities. They are charged on the basis of estimates rather than actual costs and do not represent actual costs on a project by project basis.

Directly incurred costs

Costs that are explicitly identifiable as arising from the conduct of the project which are charged as the cash value actually spent and are supported by an audit record.

End of award report

A report which the grant holder must provide at the end of the grant period, detailing the outputs, outcomes and impacts of the project to date.

Exceptions

Directly incurred costs that councils fund at 100% of FEC subject to actual expenditure incurred, or items that are outside FEC.

Fellowship grant

An award made through a fellowship competition providing a contribution to the support of a named individual. It covers the cost of the time dedicated by the fellow to their personal research programme, and may or may not include research support costs.

Full economic costs (FEC)

A cost which, if recovered across an organisation’s full programme, would recover the total cost (direct, indirect and total overhead) including an adequate recurring investment in the organisation’s infrastructure.

Funding Assurance Programme

A programme of visits and office based tests by UKRI to seek assurance that grant funds are used for the purpose for which they are given and that grants are managed in accordance with the terms and conditions under which they are awarded grant support for a proportion of the full economic costs of the project. A grant may be either a research grant or a fellowship.

Grant

Support for a proportion of the full economic costs of the project. A grant may be either a research grant or a fellowship.

Grant holder

The person to whom the grant is assigned and who has responsibility for the intellectual leadership of the project and for the overall management of the research funded by the grant.

Grant period

The duration of time between the project start and end date.

Grant terms and conditions

The standard terms and conditions of grant together with the specific terms and conditions of grant that together comprise the basis on which the grant is awarded to the research organisation.

Indirect costs

Non-specific costs charged across all projects based on estimates that are not otherwise included as directly allocated costs. They include the costs of the research organisation’s administration such as:

personnel
finance
IT
legal
general laboratory
office consumables
library
some departmental services

Je-S

Joint Electronic Submissions system used for the submission of grant-related information.

Offer acceptance

A document to be completed and returned by the research organisation either accepting or declining the grant.

Grant agreement

An official document setting out specific details of the grant, including the project start and end date, grant value and any specific terms and conditions of the grant as required by the relevant council.

Official start date

The official start date of the grant, as set out in the start confirmation.

Project

The project funded by the grant as set out in the grant agreement

Project partner

A collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities. Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.

Research grant

A contribution to the costs of the research project which has been assessed as eligible for funding through the procedures established by the relevant council.

Research organisation (RO) or grant awardee

The organisation to which the grant is awarded and which takes responsibility for the management of the project and accountability for funds provided.

Research worker

Any person or third party working in any capacity on the project.

Specific terms and conditions of grant or specific conditions

The specific conditions of grant required in addition to the standard terms and conditions on a grant by an individual council of UKRI.

Standard conditions of grant or standard conditions

The standard terms and conditions of grant published on UKRI’s website.

Start confirmation

A document to be completed and returned to UKRI by the research organisation, confirming the official start date on which the project commences

Studentship

The term used for the funding award made by a research organisation to a student for the purpose of undertaking postgraduate training leading to the award of a postgraduate degree.

The UKRI Funding Service

UKRI’s system for submitting and managing applications

Third party

Any person or organisation to which the award-holding research organisation passes on any of the grant funds awarded by the council.

Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC)

An agreed methodology used by universities and other higher education bodies for calculating full economic costs.

Timesheets

A record of the amount of time an individual has spent on each activity they have worked on for a fixed period, typically one calendar month. Timesheets can be physical copies of paper with wet signatures, or an electronically completed workbook or dedicated software solutions which maintain an audit trail of completion and authorisation dates.

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