Before you start recruiting people affected by cancer and members of the public for your activity, make sure you know exactly what expenses and payments you can offer. By having a good understanding of your budget, you can clearly communicate what costs are covered in your involvement role profile or advertisement.
Our patient and public involvement (PPI) payment policy might differ from your organisation, so you should check for any other policies you might need to follow via your institution or organisation.
Many of our funding schemes cover PPI expenses if you include them in your application budget.
We recommend seeking advice from your local research support service or research institutes’ PPI staff.
Read our costs guidanceLearn about the NIHR research support servicesHere are a few things to make sure you consider when creating your budget:
travel expenses for the people you involve
paying for involvement time (honorarium) - this acts as a form of reward and recognition, as opposed to payment
carer or childcare costs
venue hire
food
cost of an external facilitator
advertising costs
You should also make sure people affected by cancer and members of the general public understand that in some cases, reimbursed expenses and payments may be regarded as earnings. This can affect any benefits they are receiving. They should seek advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Explore the NIHR's guidance on payments
Our PPI payment policy covers standard class public transport travel costs for travel to and from our PPI activity. We recommend you book travel as far as in advance as you can to ensure the best rates. Be sure to apply any rail or discount cards the patient may have to the booking.
Before booking, discuss which stations and times people prefer, ask if they require assistance at the station and arrange this if needed.
We reimburse taxi fares for our involvement activities if people have accessibility needs and cannot take public transport. The use of a taxi must be agreed with staff in advance.
If people need to travel by their own car to the station, we reimburse them for parking and mileage from their home to the station at 45p per mile.
For people who require flights, our policy is to always book the lowest cost option available between the most convenient airports. Be sure to ask if they require assistance at the airport and arrange this when booking.
We try to keep these costs to a minimum by providing any needed material to the people you involve. Examples of this would be posting documents to people instead of asking them to print at home and including freepost envelopes to send papers back so they don’t have to purchase stamps/postage.
If events start early, finish late, or people have to travel long distances, we cover the cost of overnight accommodation. We cover up to £150 (in London) or £125 (out of London) per night. Book as far in advance as you can to ensure the best rates.
If people need an informal (unpaid) carer such as a relative or friend to accompany them, we cover their travel and subsistence at the same rates. If the person you are involving is a carer themselves, they may need to arrange an alternative carer so they can be involved. In this case, it is best practice to contribute to the cost of an alternative carer.
In addition to providing catering for your focus group or meeting, it is also important to consider whether people will need other meals or snacks. If someone is travelling over two hours each way to attend then we will reimburse for a snack and drink.
The rate according to our PPI payment policy is up to £4 for snacks or lunch. If someone is staying overnight to attend, we will reimburse up to £35 (in London) or £25 (out of London) for dinner. We can’t cover any alcoholic drinks.
It is best practice to offer a payment (honorarium) in recognition of people's time and contributions (including any reading, preparation or pre-meeting tasks). This would include interviews, focus groups, patient representatives, and advisory panels, etc.
The current rate of payment for our involvement activities are:
£80 per day (where more than four hours is contributed)
£50 per half day (where two to four hours is contributed)
£30 from 20 minutes up to two hours (including breaks and social time)
£5 ‘virtual activity’ allowance for teleconferences, focus groups and online activities - in addition to the honorarium
How you recruit and induct the people you involve will depend on the goals of your activity and the involvement methods you choose.
We’ve put together advice, useful templates and case studies to help you when planning, delivering and evaluating your PPI activities.
Writing in plain English or ‘lay’ can help your audience, people affected by cancer, members of the public, or professionals, understand your message exactly as you meant it.
