Principal Investigators (PI) are ultimately responsible for the financial management of their grants, however support is provided by any project administration staff, the Post-Award team, departmental staff, and faculty finance teams.
The day-to-day administration of research grants is the responsibility of the PI working with Co-Investigators and the relevant departments.
The university advises that large and complex grants include funding for a project administrator to assist with the workload.
Throughout these pages, we reference the Post-Award team as central support for research projects.
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PIs are responsible for the financial management and integrity of their research projects in accordance with the funder’s terms and conditions, university regulations and the Concordat to Support Research Integrity.
Advice and guidance is provided to PIs by RSO through our webpages and departmental contacts and through your department and project administrators. Training can be arranged with colleagues across the university in all elements of grant management, please contact RSO for more information.
For each research grant they hold PIs must ensure that:
They have read and understood the grant/contract terms and conditions of award
Both funder and university procurement requirements are adhered to
Timesheets are completed by relevant staff and authorised on a monthly basis when required
Only legitimate costs that properly relate to the grant and which are in accordance with the contract are charged to the project
Potential cost overruns are notified to the HoD and RSO as soon as they become apparent
Interim and final reports are submitted to the funder on time
RSO PA work with the RSO Pre-Award team to set up your research grant on Agresso. They read the grant terms and conditions highlighting any important points and add your grant to the monitoring systems in RSO. For complex grants, RSO PA will arrange an initial meeting with the PI, research team and pre-award. RSO PA support the training of project support staff across the university, produce templates for grant management and are responsible for many of the financial management tasks relating to most research grants.
Where a Project Administrator is in place they are responsible for many of the tasks otherwise undertaken by the RSO PA alongside their other tasks supporting the PI undertake the research project activity. They should be familiar with their grant terms and conditions and the tasks needed to fulfil their responsibilities (as outlined below) but can ask for training and support from RSO PA when required.
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Expenditure monitoring can be undertaken by the PI at any time by using the online Tableau report of Agresso transactions. (for 6000 codes please use this link). This should be done on a regular basis to ensure that expenditure on the grant is correct and in line with the budget.
Post Award conducts a short review of expenditure against budget each time funds for new or amended staff contracts are approved and during invoice or claim preparations.
It should be noted that most funders are not supportive of large amounts of expenditure at the end of a grant, where this is not indicated in the proposal. This is particularly true for equipment, which should be purchased prior to the final 6 months of the grant, or a justification should be agreed with the funder where this is not possible.
It may be necessary to update the grant budget during its lifetime to reallocate under/overspends across budget headings within the overall budget; the movement between budget headings is called a virement.
Changes may be suggested by the PI, Post Award or a Project Administrator; however all parties must be involved in approval of such a change. It is the responsibility of Post Award (or the Project Administrator) to check that virements are allowed within the grant agreement and that the suggested change does not involve any ring-fenced funding. It is the responsibility of the PI to approve all budget changes in line with this advice.
Post Award is responsible for initiating all invoicing and claims by the due date in accordance with the funder’s terms and conditions. This is done in liaison with the PI to ensure eligibility of expenditure and full use of the available funds.
If the project has an administrator, it is their responsibility to assemble claims to funders; these must sent to Post Award for checking before submission.
Where Lancaster is the lead UKRI grants do not need regular invoicing or funder claims; income is prorated by the funders and paid quarterly to the university. Post Award assign these payments to the correct grant code and also prepares the Final Expenditure Statement (FES) at the end of the grant in liaison with the PI.
Travel
PIs are responsible for arranging their own travel and accommodation and submitting their own expenses. Booking guidance and support is available via Travel Services.
RSO work closely with our colleagues in Finance to ensure that the relevant policies are being adhered to for Research Grants, all of the audits we are subjected to audit us to LU policy, if policy is not adhered it is likely that expenditure will be deemed ineligible and will have to be removed from the grant. Different funders expect different levels of evidence at audit, we would always refer you back to the Lancaster University policies, however if you have a specific query please get in touch.
RSO are not responsible for the individual policies held in other departments, and cannot offer assistance on the processes. However, we can offer assistance on eligibility and terms and conditions for individual grants.
Purchasing equipment and consumables, or organising events, conferences and complicated trips as part of your research grant is the responsibility of the PI but can be delegated to a member of your research team or a Project Administrator. Procurement will offer guidance and has an online portal for purchases.
In most cases, your funder will expect grant expenditure to have been procured following the university's procurement regulations. Failure to do so may result in your expenditure becoming ineligible, in which case your department will have to cover the total cost. If you have any queries about how to comply with the procurement process, please contact the procurement team.
If you are organising a conference at LU then you can now speak to the conference team (Conferences)
High-value equipment items
This should be identified on your project proposal. Post Award will inform Procurement on all research projects with equipment items over £25,000* as these items require a formal tender as part of the procurement process.
*this limit refers to the total price of all related purchases that render the equipment useable, for example all parts and installation costs (but not on-going maintenance).
These equipment costs will be automatically depreciated using the university’s standard 5-year policy; if it becomes obsolete before 5 years (e.g. high-spec computer) please inform Post Award on purchase.
Equipment purchase orders
PIs and departments are required to ensure that the purchase order for these high value items includes a reference that it should be charged within the grant project code to account code 4038 (either within the description or in the ‘account’ box on advanced requests).
University match funding
If there is university match funding for the equipment costs, on grant set-up an additional code (LEA1***) will be created for the university’s portion. Post-Award will inform the PI of this code and it should be included (with the amount of funding to be charged to each code) on the purchase order. There is a facility to do this on an advanced request or you can write this in the description in the procurement portal. Where the equipment costs less than the proposal, the full amount of the grant funding should be utilised and the amount of university funding should be reduced, unless a percentage split was agreed with the funder.
It should be noted that most funders are not supportive of large amounts of expenditure at the end of a grant, where this is not indicated in the proposal. This is particularly true for equipment, which should be purchased prior to the final 6 months of the grant, or a justification should be agreed with the funder where this is not possible.
UKRI decided to remove the link to OJEU Thresholds for Equipment as of 12th March 2018, with any future changes in threshold limits being decided by UKRI. This means that the fEC Grants full Terms & Conditions RGC 9.3 “Equipment Data” will be as follows:
all new equipment purchased over £138,000 (£115,000 ex VAT) using public funding sources should be registered on the national database to be discoverable and enable greater sharing.
There is no change to the application process via Je-S etc.
There is also a list that is maintained by Faculties that shows all the equipment the university has purchased.
It is important that financial management of research grants be completed with the highest levels of accuracy. In order to ensure this the RSO PA team have a series of internal checks by peers, Team Leaders and Managers depending on the action and value of expenditure. Post Award review claims made by Project Administrators prior to submission; these must be forwarded for checks using the agreed templates and in advance of the deadline.
The PI will be asked to confirm accuracy of any major financial aspects of the grant, such as adjusting budgets or submitting financial reports.
In order to comply with funder regulations and to pass an audit Lancaster University must provide the relevant evidence against all research project expenditure. Failure to provide evidence can put the funding for individual items of expenditure or whole projects at risk. In these cases, the department will be responsible for funding any ineligible expenditure.
It is important that PIs send all receipts that evidence staff expenses and university credit card expenditure to finance so that these can be kept. Copies of many different types of expenditure are held electronically on Agresso, where this is not possible RSO has an archive containing paper copies.
Recently funders have required more evidence of expenditure and we are now asking PI’s to keep travel and internal journal evidence. If there is any internal catering we need to know about the split of attendee’s so it conforms with University regulations and therefore HMRC rules – to ensure it is not a taxable benefit.
In most cases payments in lieu of notice, holiday pay and redundancy aren’t eligible.
Once all claims are made and final payments have been received, Post-Award closes the grant. If a grant is overspent the cost will be passed to a department and we would require the PI to have a discussion with the department regarding any overspends.
PIs holding Research Council grants with students attached must ensure all student details entered on Je-S by their department.
PIs may have contacts with their research project funder and may liaise directly with them over matters concerning their project. If any aspects of your project change as a result of these communications PIs should inform RSO PA as soon as possible to ensure that all resulting actions are followed up.
RSO PA or your Project Administrator will liaise directly with the funder if required by the PI. Similar to above PIs will be kept informed of any communications/changes relating to their grant and asked to approve where necessary.
During your grant a number of details can change such as PI or Co-I names or you may need to extend the project dates to allow for full budget expenditure or to complete the research objectives. Requests for any changes should be sent to RSO PA in plenty of time so that changes can be requested and approved by funders.
UKRI-funded grants maintenance takes place via the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) online portal. RSO PA will submit any extension requests or change of details through Je-S on behalf of the PI.
When requesting extensions or changes to Research Council grants, requests should be submitted in a timely manner, i.e. as soon as you know a staff member is leaving, or there has been a technical problem.
They should contain actual dates and be as detailed as possible. Multiple requests for the same grant can be submitted in certain circumstances.
Please do not hesitate to contact Post Award if you require assistance writing an extension request.
During a grant, changes may need to be made to a collaboration agreement or other research contracts. Requests for change (including as many details as possible) should be submitted via RSO PA who gather any additional information and forward to the (who may forward to a delegated departmental contact) for review and negotiation. Please allow sufficient time for all aspects of this process when requesting changes, negotiating with partners is often not a quick job.
It is important to determine in advance whether a public contributor participating in research activities is engaging as a volunteer, employee or as a casual worker. This distinction is important as it affects the tax obligations of both the individual and the University and is also critical in ensuring the appropriate internal payment procedures are followed.
Public Contractors Guidance: Guidance for making the correct assessment, and speeding up the process of payment.
Audit Requirements
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All major funders expect recipient institutions of research funding to provide assurance that public funds are spent efficiently and in a cost-effective manner. Some research projects are subject to financial audits. Scientific (technical) and management risk audits may also take place.
Most grant audits are managed by the Post Award Team, but will require assistance from the PI / Project Team. Please contact them if you are approached by a funder or by a funder’s appointed auditor with regard to arranging an audit.
As part of the reporting process for some research, projects there may be a requirement to include an independent report prepared by an external auditor of factual findings according to the term and conditions of grant.
Some funders (or their appointed auditors) conduct audits covering Lancaster University processes and the financial transactions of specific research projects to ensure that expenditure has been incurred according to the terms and conditions of the award. Audits are mostly conducted remotely and can last weeks, all funders have the right to audit the research they fund.
If any Principal Investigator or Faculty are approached directly by a funder or by the funder’s appointed auditor, they should contact Post Award Team immediately.
For financial audits, generally the following items will be looked at:
Copies of invoices and expense claims including relevance to the project
Back up for personnel costs, including signed timesheets, Statements of exclusivity, Contract of Employment and any subsequent contract extension or contract change letters
Evidence of following procurement process
Evidence of due diligence checks
Boarding Passes
Sign in sheets from events
Breakdown of guests from meals and the relevance to the grant
Technical audits will normally consider
Degree of fulfilment of the project work plan and deliverables for the relevant period
Continued relevance of the objectives
Management procedures and methods of projects
The beneficiaries’ contributions and integration within the project
Use of resources in relation to the achieved progress
Expected impact of the project with focus on dissemination
Very large grant or special circumstances - grant of £2m or more - Report required with (i) First Claim of Value; (ii) upon each anniversary and (iii) Last Claim
Grant £500k - below £2m - report required with first claim value, last claim only
Grant £100k - below £500k - Last claims only.
Grant £50k - below £100k for all organisations - last claim only
Grant less than or equal to £50k - formal report replaced by statement of expenditure, including eligible costs incurred and paid, signed by a Director of the Participants.
For European Commission (EC) funded projects there are different certification (audit) requirements for H2020 projects and Horizon Europe
H2020
For H2020 projects, a Certificate on the Financial Statements (Audit) covering all reporting periods will be required with the final claim when the total requested reimbursement is €325,000 or more. For Research and Innovation Actions, Innovation Actions & ERC grants, the €325,000 threshold is based on actual and unit costs, excluding Indirect Costs. No audit is required for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. Some H2020 projects may not need to be certified and there is no requirement for Faculty Research Services to apply a percentage adjustment.
It should be noted that the Consortium may decide that partners do need to provide certificates on the financial statements even when the European Commission contribution is below the threshold (either €375,000 for FP7 or €325,000 for H2020). In these cases, the costs associated with the certification are not eligible to be charged to the project, so will have to be covered by Faculty.
Horizon Europe
Horizon Europe funding falls under Innovate Rules and is subject to the same audit requirements
Claims are submitted on a quarterly basis with all evidence on the Innovate portal
The UKRI Assurance unit undertakes an annual programme of institutional visits on behalf of the Research Councils to provide assurance relating to the regularity, probity and accountability of funds provided.
All expenditures in relation to research projects must be checked to ensure that it is in line with the terms and conditions of funding. As a general rule, and in order to justify any expenditure, consideration should be given as to whether the cost:
Was included in the original Justification of Resources/Proposal?
Was subsequently awarded?
Is of direct benefit to the research and proper use of public funds?
Is economic, necessary and solely attributable to the project?
Is not deemed to be in any way excessive or reckless?
NB: Accountability for compliance with College policy and Funder requirements ultimately rests with the Principal Investigator (PI). The PI is accountable to their Head of Department.
Ensure that research projects comply with any monitoring and audit requirements.
Make sure that researchers charged with carrying out such monitoring and audits have sufficient training, resources and support to fulfil the requirements of the role.
Monitor and audit research projects to ensure that they are being carried out in accordance with good practice, legal and ethical requirements, and any other guidelines, adopting a risk based and proportional approach.
Consider any requirements for monitoring and audit at an early stage in the design of a project.
Must cooperate with the monitoring and audit of their research projects by applicable bodies and undertake such when required.
Must cooperate with any outcomes of the monitoring and audit of their research projects. If they become aware of a need for monitoring and audit where it is not already scheduled, they should report that need to the appropriate person(s).
