Finance Guidance

Finance guidance for applicants

This guidance outlines the costs that can and can’t be included in your research funding application. Any additional eligibility criteria/restrictions that are specific to a particular grant call will be provided in the corresponding guidance notes for that round. 

Direct vs indirect costs

• Prostate Cancer UK does not fund full economic costs (fEC), but will pay for the Directly Incurred Costs related specifically to the planned research. Such costs must be directly related to the agreed research and must be supported by an audit record.  Direct costs may include: salaries, research consumables, equipment (where absolutely necessary and agreed before commencement of award), dissemination activities (including travel to collaborator meetings and conferences), patient and public involvement etc.
   
• Grants cannot be used for Directly Allocated Costs (resources used by the project that are also shared with others, such as estate costs), with the exception of fees relating to the use of core equipment/services/research facilities absolutely necessary for the project (see ‘Equipment’ section below).
  
  
• We will not cover Indirect Costs or any other non-attributable overhead costs in your budget. However, such costs may be eligible under the Charity Research Support Fund.
  
  
• Apprenticeship levy fees are not considered to be directly incurred costs and therefore should not be included within the proposed budget.
  
  

Staff & employment costs

Applications are assessed for value for money and so any salary costs that appear to be excessive will be queried and may be reduced, and any costs considered inappropriate will be removed.

Staff costs

• Salary costs for staff positions that would be directly employed through this grant can be included. This includes, but is not restricted to:
  • postdoctoral researchers
  • graduate research assistants
  • technicians
  • research nurses
    
    
• Eligible staff costs may include the employee’s basic salary, any employer’s contribution and London allowance where applicable. Allowances for annual pay awards and inflation should also be included in the grant application (your university/institute finance office should be able to advise on appropriate pay and inflation levels).  
  
  
• Global Talent visa application fees and associated Immigration Health Surcharge Costs for named staff whose salaries are funded by the award may only be requested if these costs cannot be covered by another means. This also includes renewal of visas. Please contact the Research Team for specific requirements.
  
  
• The number and seniority of any staff to be employed on the project must be carefully considered and clearly justified within the application.
  
  

Lead Applicant salary

• Eligibility of lead applicant salary is scheme dependent. See the corresponding guidance notes for the specific call for more information.
  
  

Ineligible costs

• Grants cannot be used to cover departmental/institutional support staff or services, such as: administration, HR services, libraries, IT support, telephone and infrastructure maintenance. Such costs may be eligible under the Charity Research Support Fund.
  
  
• Grants must not be used to off-set the salary of any applicant whose salary is supported from core institution funds, or by another external source such as a fellowship. If specialist expertise is required, for instance a statistician or a health economist etc., then you may include a reasonable allocation for the proportion of their time that would be committed to the grant as long as suitable justification is provided.
  
  
• In addition, grants cannot be used for: redundancy costs, costs of maternity, paternity or sick leave, or for staff recruitment and advertising costs.

Research expenses

All consumable costs must be broken down in as much detail as possible, with sufficient justification provided in the relevant section of the application form.  Budgets that do not contain sufficient detail may be sent back following submission or may be queried by the reviewing scientific committee.  Excessive costs may be reduced or removed.

Any costs related to carrying out the research outside of the host institution should be included under research expenses and clearly labelled with the name of the host that will incur those costs.

Equipment

• Fees can be requested for the use of core/equipment/services/research facilities which are absolutely essential for the proposed project. The cost per sample/unit time should be stated, for example: Imaging Costs- MRI and PET £270 per hour, Flow Cytometry 150 units at £32 per hour
  
  
• Equipment should only be included if essential for the project and if that equipment that could not reasonably be expected to already exist within the research setting.  Applications solely or primarily to fund the purchase of equipment are not eligible. Equipment must be purchased within the first half of the grant and should not represent a substantial proportion of the overall budget.
  
  
• Any equipment awarded is donated to the Research Institution and is provided solely for the benefit of the research grant.
  
  
• The Research Institution must ensure that any equipment purchased through the grant is appropriately insured and maintained throughout the lifetime of the grant, these costs must be covered by the host institution.
  
  
• The inclusion of funds for computer equipment or software can be requested if essential for the project. Such costs should not exceed £1,500 per item and a robust justification must be provided.
  
  
• Grants cannot be used for stationery, photocopying and postage charges, unless it is a direct expense of the research project.

Animal purchase and maintenance costs

Animal costs should be listed separately from other research expenses and must be split into purchase and maintenance costs.  Any animal costs that are not fully justified and which appear excessive will be queried and may be reduced/removed.

Please ensure you adhere to the 3Rs and have used the minimum number of animals possible, for further details refer to www.nc3rs.org.uk.

Other costs

All other costs must be broken down in as much detail as possible, with sufficient justification provided in the relevant section of the application form. Any excessive costs may be reduced/removed.

PhD Studentships

We will consider the inclusion of costs for a PhD Student or Clinical Fellow working towards a PhD qualification as long as it’s sufficiently justified. Where a PhD Studentship post is included in your proposal, please note that:

• The studentship/fellowship must be part of a larger project and not form the sole focus of the proposal.
  
  
• You must provide justification in your application that this is the most appropriate way to deliver the proposed research.
  
  
• We will not fund part-completed PhDs.
  
  
• The studentship can include a tax-free stipend and tuition fees for the student. Tax-free stipends are fixed at £20,000 for year 1, £20,500 for year 2 and £21,000 for year 3.
  
  
• The charity will only fund UK student fees, in accordance with the requirements of the University or Institute. If a non-UK student is recruited, any extra fees must be borne by the institution. College fees will not be funded.
  
  
• We are unable to cover costs associated with sick leave or parental leave for PhD students.  
  
  
• Students based at institutions within the M25 can also request a London weighting of £2,000 per annum which must be costed into the application.
  
  

Travel and accommodation

• You must clearly specify and justify any travel and accommodation costs to visit collaborators/co-applicants or attend project related meetings. Any excessive travel costs will be queried and may be reduced/removed. (PLEASE NOTE - standard class travel must be used unless cheaper alternatives are available, and tickets must be purchased in advance where possible to benefit from cheaper rates).
  
  
• Costs of visas required for project related travel may be requested as part of the award.
  
  

Conferences

• Costs for staff directly employed on the grant to attend conferences whilst the grant is active to present work from the grant or for their own personal development can be included. This may include travel, subsistence and accommodation costs; however, the total cost should not exceed £5,000.  Subsistence costs should reflect the normal rates applying in the host institute.
  
  
• Costs for caring responsibilities to enable attendance at conferences/meetings cannot be requested on the award. However, please do contact the research team if you’re unable to source funds to cover these costs elsewhere as with prior approval, we may consider the use of any grant underspend to cover these costs.
  
  

Licences, approval & sponsorship

• Funding will not be released to successful applicants until all regulatory approvals for the project are in place (or an appropriate timeframe for this has been agreed with Prostate Cancer UK).
  
  
• Costs associated with obtaining ethical approval are not eligible. 
  
  
• We will not cover costs for personal animal licences. Animal project license costs are eligible (if the host institution is unable to cover these) where the licence is specific to the proposed programme of work and considered essential for its delivery.
  
  
• Cell lines to be used in the proposal should be authenticated/validated at the outset of the project. Costs can be included in your application to conduct these checks.
  
  

Publication costs

Publication costs can be requested via our open access reimbursement scheme and should not be costed into the application.

Training costs

Reasonable training costs for staff members whose salary is paid for by the grant can be included.  Any included costs requested must be for training required specifically to carry out the proposed research eg training on scientific equipment or techniques.  It may also be used to cover costs for scientific skills such as experimental design and methodology, and statistics.   Course details and full justification must be provided.  We will not pay for general training such as IT, personal development etc.   We are unable to cover the costs of training to obtain a personal animal license.  If you are unclear about whether or not training costs can be included, please get in touch with the Research Team.

Clinical research

For cost attribution associated with clinical studies only:

• Research supported by Prostate Cancer UK must comply with the Department of Health’s guidance on “Attributing the costs of health and social care research and development (AcoRD)”.
  
  
• As stipulated in AcoRD, there are three types of costs associated with clinical research within the NHS:
  • Research Costs
    Costs of the R&D activity itself; such as data collection, analysis, trial registration, dissemination of results, and the salaries and employer's costs of staff employed directly to carry out the research. Depending on the specific cost or activity, Research Costs are divided into two categories called ‘Part A’ and ‘Part B’ which are supported by different means (see below). 
    
    
  • NHS Support Costs
    Any patient-related costs associated with the research that will end once the research activity has stopped.  These could include extra diagnostic tests, appointments, nursing care and staff time taken to obtain informed consent from participants.
    
    
  • Treatment Costs
    Patient care costs that would continue were the service/treatment to continue after the R&D activity stops.  For this purpose, it is assumed that the service/treatment being studied will continue to be offered after the end of the project.  Treatment Costs cover all types of patient care including diagnostic tests, preventative measures, care services, rehabilitation and health promotion.  Where the service/treatment being studied is more expensive than standard care, the difference is deemed an Excess Treatment Cost.
    
    
• Prostate Cancer UK will only fund “Part A” Research Costs associated with a study. For a list of eligible “Part A” Research Costs, please refer to Annex A of the “Attributing the costs of health and social care research and development (AcoRD)”
  
  
• We will not fund “Part B” Research Costs, NHS Treatment Costs or NHS Support Costs but you will be automatically eligible to claim these costs from other sources. Prostate Cancer UK is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and as such any associated “Part B” Research Costs will be met by the Department of Health, where the activity is undertaken by existing staff employed by the NHS, National Institute for Health Research Research Delivery Networks (NIHR RDN) or other organisations funded by the NHS to provide patient care services.  For further details on “Part B” Research Costs please refer to Annex A of the “Attributing the costs of health and social care research and development (AcoRD)”
  
  
• Grants therefore cannot be used for: Patient care, Treatment and healthcare Support Costs associated with clinical research that ought to be covered by other sources of funding (see below).
  
  
• NHS Support Costs should be accessible through local NIHR Research Delivery Networks (NIHR RDN). Prostate Cancer UK is a NIHR RDN non-commercial partner organisation, and any clinical studies funded by us will automatically be adopted by the appropriate research network.  The charity will expect any clinical studies it funds to be integrated with the work of, and receive support from, the local Research Delivery Network.  Further information can be found via the NIHR website.
  
  
• Treatment Costs, including Excess Treatment Costs, are funded through normal NHS commissioning arrangements for patient care. Where Excess Treatment Costs are unusually high and the study involves only a few centres, it is sometimes possible to apply for a subvention from the Department of Health. Further information can be found via the NIHR website.
  
  
• Investigators conducting clinical research are required to complete the Schedule of Events Cost Attribution Tool (SoECAT). You must complete the SoECAT form if your proposal includes any clinical element at one or multiple study sites in England. This is mandatory for studies eligible for the NIHR portfolio and the support this provides (including access to excess treatment cost payments). A blank copy of the SoECAT form including some helpful guidance notes can be downloaded from this web page. We encourage you to contact the Research Delivery Network as early as possible for advice and guidance on how to have complete your SoECAT, and to ensure you give them sufficient time for sign-off following completion of the SoECAT ahead of any grant submission deadlines.
  
  
• If you wish to apply for a grant to support clinical research, you must first discuss the costs with the NHS institution involved before you submit your application. Any costs considered to be incorrectly attributed will be queried and may be removed.
• As of December 2024, the way Excess Treatment Costs (ETCs) are reviewed and approved for clinical studies in England has changed.  Any studies with high ETCs (over £1m) that are recommended by one of our scientific committees for funding, will be awarded funding ‘in principle’ pending the ETC review process.   We will notify the Research Delivery Network Coordinating Centre and High-Cost Review team at the Department of Health and Social Care of the award in principle, and the PI on the grant must notify the lead Local Clinical Research Network in order to start this review process.   

General information

Currency and exchange rates

• Research must be conducted predominantly in the UK but can include a period of research outside the UK, where a collaborator is based overseas. Prostate Cancer UK will not pay invoices in any currency other than British Pounds (GBP).
  
  
• Any overseas costs must be converted into GBP using HMRC exchange rates at the time of the application submission. Within the ‘Justification of Budget’ section of the application you should confirm the conversion rate used (and the date this was calculated). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-exchange-rates-for-2023-monthly For example, 6-month placement in Denver, £17,650 in total to cover flights and accommodation. Calculated on 15/03/2023 using an HMRC exchange rate of 1:1.2002 (GBP:Dollar).
  
  
• We appreciate that Fellowship awards including a placement overseas may be detrimentally affected by fluctuations in exchange rates. Therefore, for active Fellowship awards ONLY, we will consider awarding a supplementary payment (of an amount determined by us) to compensate for these fluctuations during the period of time spent outside of the UK. Prior approval for such a supplement must be obtained from us before the corresponding travel placement takes place, and the additional expenditure must be included within the final invoice for the project in GBP.
  
  

Other sources of funding

The Host Institution and/or the Lead Applicant(s) may not be in receipt of any financial assistance from another source in respect of the same project, except with the knowledge and written permission of Prostate Cancer UK (where the financial assistance can be shown to be additional and complementary to the grant).

Tax

Whilst grants are not usually subject to Value Added Tax (VAT), in instances where VAT is applicable, please ensure VAT is included within those costs.

Changes to awarded budget

Once funding has been awarded, any changes in budget allocations must be approved in advance and in writing by Prostate Cancer UK.  Any increase in the total budget will not be permitted under any circumstances and any monies remaining unspent at the end of the grant cannot be made available for other purposes.

Contact us

If you have any queries regarding the above eligibility and costing of your application, please contact the Research Team at Prostate Cancer UK via email: [email protected]