Costs guidance
Our grants typically only fund direct research costs. This guidance is intended to help you understand which costs can and can't be changed to our grants.
This document provides general guidance, and in some instances the acceptability of costs may vary. When you are applying for funding, additional costs guidance may be provided in the application guidelines for the specific funding scheme you are applying to. If you are successful in your application, you will receive a Grant Award Letter (GAL) which sets out allowable costs.
If you require any further guidance on the acceptability of costs, please contact grants.helpline@cancer.org.uk or tel. 0203 469 5452.
Acceptable costs
Transaction |
Examples |
|---|---|
|
Salaries for grant staff |
Researchers on fixed term contracts to work specifically on the funded project. This may include fellows, research assistants, data managers, students (except overseas student fees), technicians and nurses. Salary costs may be used to fund salary, the employer’s national insurance contribution, and an employer’s pension contribution which will not be higher than the rate used by the University Superannuation Scheme (USS) or NHS pension scheme. Salary costs for Principal Investigators and Co-Investigators are generally ineligible costs except as provided in our Policy on Funding Investigator Salaries. Research nurse costs are not eligible for inclusion in grant applications. In exceptional cases, where a study is not eligible for research nurse support through local infrastructure such as NIHR, CRUK Centre, ECMC funding or equivalent, then these costs can be included for consideration by the funding committee. |
|
Laboratory expenses |
Laboratory chemicals and materials (e.g. reagents, isotopes, peptides, enzymes, antibodies, gases, proteins, cell/tissue/bacterial culture, plastic ware and glassware), as well as any associated charges for shipping, delivery and freight. Please note that ‘bench fees’ will only be covered if they are for named researchers on the grant, and only if the Host Institution confirms that they do not include charges for unacceptable costs. |
|
Protective clothing |
Gloves, lab coats (if CRUK branded), goggles, protective shoes |
|
Equipment purchase costs |
Costs may include purchase, delivery, and installation of scientific equipment where that equipment is specific to the grant. |
|
Equipment maintenance costs |
For equipment that has been purchased on a CRUK grant, where the warranty has expired. |
|
Equipment access costs |
Access fees charged by usage or size of grant where the equipment has not been purchased on a CRUK grant. |
|
Personal computing costs |
Where justified, personal computing costs for named individuals engaged to work specifically on the grant (capped at £1,000 per person over the duration of the grant). Standard per-unit IT charges are not acceptable. |
|
Animal research costs |
Animal purchase and transportation costs, maintenance (including food) and experimentation costs. (Home Office Licences and animal handling training costs are not covered). |
|
Cell line authentication costs |
Costs to support the authentication of cell lines, for example, screening for contamination by mycoplasma, STR profiling for human cell lines, or DNA fingerprinting for non-human cells. We will also cover purchase of cell lines from cell banks such as ATCC. |
|
Data sharing costs |
Archiving, repository fees, data storage costs and data management services. Data management and sharing costs must be reasonable and proportionate in the context of the overall grant. Data sharing costs do not include open access publication fees. |
|
Publication costs |
Page charges, costs of colour printing, reprints are not eligible to be included in application budgets but may be paid from grant underspend. |
|
Open access costs (article processing charges or APCs) |
APC costs should not be included in application budgets, because we fund these costs separately through contributions to university block grants from the Charities Open Access Fund (COAF). CRUK-funded researchers at any of the COAF eligible institutions should recover APC costs from their institution’s block COAF grant. If the Host Institution is not a COAF eligible institution, or if the Host Institution’s annual COAF allocation has been exhausted, grant underspend may be used to fund APCs where they are incurred during the course of a grant. |
|
PhD student expenses in the UK |
Stipends, running expenses and fees. |
|
Patient involvement costs |
For patient involvement representatives sitting on steering groups or advisory boards specifically relating to the funded research, reasonable travel and subsistence costs, as well as fees or honoraria where applicable. Fees or honoraria should be no greater than:
|
|
Subject and volunteer expenses |
Recruitment (excluding participation fees), reasonable travel and refreshment costs for subjects and volunteers in population studies. Incentives (such as cash or gift vouchers) for participation are not eligible costs unless specifically set out in the Application Guidelines for the particular scheme. |
|
Fees for professional or technical services |
Consultancy costs for a specific piece of work where appropriately justified. This may include paying an individual who is not a co-investigator or ongoing contributor to perform technical services such as processing samples, data handling. Where appropriately justified these costs may be paid to individuals based outside the UK. |
|
Tier 1 Visa Application Costs |
Tier 1 visa application fees for CRUK fellowship holders or grant staff whose salaries are funded by CRUK. (Other types of visa application costs for CRUK grantholders or CRUK-funded posts are not eligible costs – see ‘HR Costs’ in the ‘Unacceptable Costs’ table below). |
Conditionally acceptable costs
Transaction |
Examples |
Acceptable |
Unacceptable |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Recruitment |
Post advertising, relocation costs, interviewee expenses |
If relating to recruiting patients/participants on a clinical trial or other study involving human participants |
If relating to recruitment of posts to a grant |
|
Travel, Subsistence and Childcare, Conferences, Meetings |
|
Not eligible costs on grant applications unless the application guidelines for the scheme specifically state otherwise. However, grant underspend may be used to cover reasonable travel, subsistence, childcare and conference costs if the person travelling is funded by the grant and the purpose of travel relates to the grant. Confirmation that the above criteria have been met must be obtained from the office before underspend is used in this way. |
First class travel Meetings organised/hosted by CRUK where attendee costs are reimbursed directly by CRUK (these costs should not be charged to grants) |
|
Catering / Hospitality |
|
Not eligible on grant applications, but may come from grant underspend if for collaborative meetings relating to the grant and not excessive in cost |
If for QQRs or reasons unrelated to research (e.g. staff parties) |
|
Training |
|
If related to the science of the award eg. scientific equipment |
If not science specific or general to HR eg. IT skills, personal development etc. |
|
Postage / Courier costs |
|
If posting scientific materials (including, if relevant, research survey responses), delivery costs |
General postage costs |
|
Software in excess of ‘personal computing costs’ (see acceptable costs) |
|
If specialised software specific to the funded research (eg. specialised bioinformatics software) |
Generic office software |
|
Website design, development and hosting |
|
If appropriately justified and relevant to the success of the grant activities. |
|
|
Telephone conference call costs |
|
If in lieu of travel expenses for attending a meeting. Also acceptable if incurred in the course of gathering data as part of the grant activities (e.g. telephone interview costs for subjects in behavioural studies). (Infrastructure costs remain the responsibility of host institution). |
All other cases |
Acceptability dependent on grant type
Transaction |
Examples |
Acceptable for these grant types |
All other grant types |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Regulatory licences/fees |
Human Tissues Act |
|
Only acceptable if outlined on the GAL. |
|
Article retrieval costs |
|
Grants supporting systematic reviews |
|
|
Printing / Photocopying |
|
All trials and Centres Grants supporting studies with human participants where surveys and similar materials are required |
Only acceptable if outlined on the GAL. |
|
Stationery |
Paper, pens, toner, office postage |
All trials and Centres |
Only acceptable if outlined on the GAL. |
|
Mobile phone costs |
|
Research Nurse mobile costs on trials, staff undertaking field work or telephone interviews of human subjects in population studies |
Not acceptable |
|
Promotional Material |
Pens, mugs, calendars, nurse uniforms, business cards. |
CTUs, Centres, ECMCs |
Only acceptable if outlined on the GAL. |
Unacceptable costs
Transaction |
Examples |
|---|---|
|
General estate costs |
Key cutting, electrical point installations, waste disposal, cleaning services, removal costs etc |
|
Furniture |
Chairs, desks, lab furniture, telephone handsets and conference call hubs |
|
Health and Safety |
First aid kit, hazard signs |
|
Utilities costs |
Electricity, gas, water costs |
|
Standard telephone and internet costs |
Broadband, mobile line rental and calls |
|
Standard IT charges |
Standard per unit IT costs |
|
Phone / computer accessories |
Drives, cases, chargers, batteries over and above the ‘Personal Computing Costs’ cap set out under ‘Acceptable costs’ |
|
Fees to professional organisations |
Journal subscriptions, professional membership |
|
Misc |
Paper wipes, laundry, reference books |
|
Departmental support staff |
Secretarial support, librarians, general lab support staff |
|
HR Costs and taxes |
Eye tests, CRB checks, redundancy, apprenticeship levies, visa application costs |
|
Shared catering |
Coffee, milk, water, vending machines and maintenance |
|
Printing / Photocopying |
Rental of copiers |
|
Insurance |
Laptop, travel etc |
|
Gifts |
Gift vouchers for trial participants |
|
Insufficiently evidenced costs |
No copy of invoice or receipt available |
Rates for PhD expenses
For Grant Award Letters sent on or after 1 April 2018
|
|
|
|
Indexation |
Total (4 years) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Stipend |
Outside London |
£19,000 |
0% |
£76,000 |
|
|
Inside London |
£21,000 |
0% |
£84,000 |
|
Running expenses |
Years 1-3 |
£13,500 |
2% |
£48,478.55 |
|
Year 4 |
£6,750 |
2% |
||
|
Fees |
Years 1-4 |
£4,195 |
2% |
£17,290.15 |
|
Overall 4-year total |
Outside London |
£141,768.70 |
||
|
Inside London |
£149,768.70 |
|||
For Grant Award Letters sent between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 (inclusive)
|
|
|
|
Indexation |
Total (4 years) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Stipend |
Outside London |
£19,000 |
0% |
£76,000 |
|
Inside London |
£21,000 |
0% |
£84,000 |
|
|
Running expenses |
Years 1–3 |
£13,500 |
1.75% |
£48,323.50 |
|
Year 4 |
£6,750 |
1.75% |
||
|
Fees |
Years 1–4 |
£4,195 |
1.75% |
£17,225.64 |
|
Overall 4-year total |
Outside London |
£141,549.13 |
||
|
Inside London |
£149,549.13 |
|||
For Grant Award Letters sent before 1 April 2017
|
|
|
|
Indexation |
Total (4 years) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Stipend |
Outside London |
£19,000 |
0% |
£76,000 |
|
Inside London |
£21,000 |
0% |
£84,000 |
|
|
Running expenses |
Years 1-3 |
£13,500 |
2% |
£48,478.55 |
|
Year 4 |
£6,750 |
2% |
||
|
Fees |
Years 1-4 |
£3,900 |
2% |
£16,074.27 |
|
Overall 4-year total |
Outside London |
£140,552.82 |
||
|
Inside London |
£148,552.82 |
|||