Project Budget The Accompanying Standard Budget Form Should Be

project budget the accompanying standard budget form should be completed for all applications for funding. further copies can be obt

Project Budget
The accompanying standard budget form should be completed for all
applications for funding. Further copies can be obtained from the
Policy and Research Department at The Homestead or the JRF website
http://www.jrf.org.uk. The following points should be observed when
preparing the budget for the project.
Policy
The JRF's policy is to meet the actual expenditure incurred by the
Organisation on an approved project, provided it falls within the
agreed budget. It is important that all anticipated costs are included
in the budget.
Guidance for Universities: Full Economic Costing
The JRF will meet all direct costs related to the management and
delivery of the project. It is the JRF’s policy not to pay indirect
costs for projects funded at Universities.
The JRF recognises that there are changes being implemented by
Universities in the way that they account for their costs and this has
implications for funding from charities. The Government has recognised
that it is not appropriate or desirable for all funding bodies to fund
research in the same way as the Research Councils. As part of the
Funding Councils’ block grant (QR) to Universities, there is a stream
of funding - the Charity Support Fund - which can be used to support
funding from charities. It is for each University to decide how it
wishes to cost and price a project, and this is one source of support
that Universities could use to underpin applications to the JRF for
those costs which are outside of the JRF’s remit. A requirement of
using the block grant is that the funder has a published research
strategy. This is in accordance with the JRF’s policy of publishing,
either electronically or in print, all of the research that it funds;
the only exception to this is if the research is methodologically
flawed or of poor quality.
Directly Incurred Costs: are those costs that are explicitly
identifiable as arising from the conduct of the research, are charged
on the basis of the actual amount spent, and are verifiable and
auditable from accounting records.
The JRF expects to meet the full costs that are directly associated
with the project. This includes the costs of principal investigators
for the time they spend on the project. The JRF will also pay for the
actual time spent by other staff such as administrative or IT support
staff on the project: these should be shown separately on the budget
form.
The JRF will pay for other items that are directly associated with the
project. These should be identified and shown separately on the budget
form.
Directly Allocated Costs: are costs which can be directly related to a
project but do not relate solely to it, such as the use of computing
services. They are shared with other projects. Costs are allocated to
projects based on the estimated share of use. The JRF will meet these
costs. Details should be separately shown on the budget form.
Indirect Costs: are costs which cannot be directly allocated to a
project. They represent expenditure which would be incurred
irrespective of the project such as use of buildings, general
maintenance, central services and other infra-structure costs. The JRF
does not expect to meet these costs.
VAT
1.
Under current regulations, most research work undertaken by
Universities does not attract VAT. Other organisations may also be
exempt from charging VAT if two conditions are satisfied:
a) the research is of a similar nature to that which a University
would carry out;
b) the research is undertaken otherwise than for profit. (for further
details, see the VAT leaflet on education ref 701/30/57).
2.
If irrecoverable VAT will be incurred on any subcontracted work or
consultancy, it should be included in the budget.
Additional Information for current funding holders:
October 2009 USS Pension Scheme Award.
For successful proposals that were submitted to JRF on or prior to
August 31 2009: JRF will consider retrospective requests made to cover
the cost of this award.
For successful proposals that were submitted on or after September 1
2009: JRF will not consider retrospective claims to cover the cost of
this award. (This is because we consider that the institution will
have had sufficient notice of the USS Pension Scheme Award to include
these costs on the JRF Budget Form when submitting their proposal to
JRF.)
Advisory Groups
The JRF may appoint an Advisory Group for a project to support those
carrying out the work. In these circumstances, the JRF will pay
expenses in addition to the agreed budget, so Advisory Group costs
should not be included in the budget. However, it is expected that the
costs of staff time spent preparing for and attending Advisory Groups
should be included in the budget. If an alternative arrangement is
envisaged, such as a formal Steering Group or an external panel, the
costs should be included in the budget under Other Costs.
Completing the Budget Form
The Budget Form is an Excel Workbook and can be downloaded from:
http://www.jrf.org.uk/funding
Please note the first sheet is the Budget Summary Form and the Staff
Cost Calculation Forms are on the subsequent sheets.
When completing the budget form, please ensure the following details
are provided:
1 Details should be provided for each project year
2 Staff Costs
Salaries
A Staff Cost Calculation form should be completed for each member of
staff employed on the project to be funded by JRF. The total staff
costs should be recorded on the budget form. If daily rates are to be
used (see below) then please indicate the number of days, the daily
rate and, where relevant, the annual salary from which this derives
for each individual.
Costing for salaries should be based on the current available national
salary scales. The JRF will meet the increased cost of salaries
arising from nationally negotiated cost-of-living awards or increases
based upon such awards. The JRF will only meet the increased costs
caused by incremental rises when these have been allowed for in the
budget; it is, therefore, important that all proposed increments are
included in the budget - but no attempt should be made to anticipate
future cost-of-living awards.
Daily Rates
Where staff are working on projects intermittently and for very short
periods of time, the calculation of staff costs in the manner outlined
above may be difficult. In these cases (and only in these cases) the
JRF will consider using daily rates to calculate salary costs. There
should, however, be a demonstrable relationship between an
individual’s annual salary and the daily rate charged for their time.
These daily rates should not include any non-salary costs such as
overheads.
3 Fieldwork and Surveys
a.
If work is to be carried out by a survey company, please ensure an
up-to-date quotation is used, and check that it includes all
expected costs (including VAT).
b.
Where any fieldwork will be carried out by people other than
project staff or a survey company, the following details should be
provided:
Proposed number of days/interviews
Cost per day/interview
Total cost (including VAT)
4 Consultancy Fees
If advice is needed outside the project team on a consultancy basis,
reasonable daily rates will be met by the JRF. The following details
should be given:
Number of days
Rate per day
Total cost (including VAT)
5 Equipment
Details should be given of any proposed purchase of equipment. The JRF
does not normally fund capital costs. However, it is prepared to meet
the cost of equipment which is specifically required for a project.
Equipment is assumed to have a life of 3 years. Projects with a
timescale of less than 3 years will usually have an amount deducted
from the final payment deemed to reflect the residual value of the
equipment.
6 Travel and Subsistence
Details should be given if the cost of travel exceeds £1,000. The JRF
does not normally fund overseas travel, but if this is planned as a
key feature of the project, full details should be given.
7 Staff Recruitment
The cost of placing an advertisement for recruiting staff specifically
for the project should be included (so long as the date of the
advertisement is after the JRF’s confirmation of the project).
8 Direct Administration/Office expenses
Please specify details of any proposed expenditure on postage,
telephone, stationery, photocopying etc if the total is in excess of
£1,000.
9 Interim Outputs
Please provide costings for each interim output, eg seminars to be
held during the course of the project, working papers, publicity etc.
This section should not be used to present the costs of the
publication of the final outputs from the project.
10 Other Costs
Give details of any items of proposed expenditure in this category.
11 Indirect costs
Indirect costs should be calculated as a percentage of the total staff
costs, indicating the percentage used. Please specify the services
included within the charge and indicate the proportion allocated to
each of these headings.
NB. It is the JRF's policy not to pay indirect costs for projects
funded at Universities. However, the JRF will meet any direct costs
related to the management and delivery of the project.
12 Final Publication and dissemination
Towards the end of the project we will discuss the most appropriate
form of dissemination activity with the project team, taking into
account a range of factors including the external environment and
links with JRF programmes and priorities. If this involves additional
costs (such as for digital publishing or seminars, also the further
involvement of project team members during the Dissemination Period),
agreed costs will be covered by the JRF and therefore they do not need
to be included on the Budget Form.
For information, the majority of our research publications are made
available free of charge on our website in pdf format. These
publication costs are covered separately by the JRF.
However, please note that costs for interim outputs produced during
the course of a project ie. working papers, seminars, publicity
materials should be included in the budget under the heading Interim
Reports.
13 Queries
Please indicate the name of the person to whom any queries about the
budget should be directed.
26 November 2012