Social Surveys (ESRC only)

Social survey costs which are being sub-contracted should be included under this heading. 

However, costs for social survey work proposed to be done using in house resources should be included under the Other Directly Incurred fund heading.

Costs can be captured within proposals to meet externally commissioned surveys. Social survey costs which are being sub-contracted should be included under this heading. When surveys are commissioned via the sub contractor route and the work is done by third parties then these costs are eligible for fEC exception funding at 100 per cent.

The following fields are mandatory in this section and will need to be completed:

Description: provide a description of the survey

Survey Date: enter the start date of the survey (if known), or the start date requested for the project.

VAT: Please enter VAT amount if applicable.

Amount Sought: enter the amount sought from the Research Council.

It is optional whether (up to three) quotes are provided for costs above £25k.

As social surveys are ESRC specific and not treated in the same way as typical items of equipment, no threshold  limits should apply either for quotations or a business case.

Social Surveys cover investigation about the characteristics of a given population by means of collecting data from a sample of that population and estimating their characteristics. These surveys contribute to the advancement of science and informing public policies. Their outputs are available for use by the research communities adhering to cross-council principles on access to research outputs.

Surveys are required to be subject to normal competitive purchasing principles, including where these are expected to exceed £25k full tendering procedures. Survey costs should be estimated as robustly as possible. For all items exceeding £25k the proposal should explain the basis for the estimates, using bench marking figures wherever possible. Estimates for survey costs should NOT allow for inflation.

For social surveys which cost less than £138,000 but more than £25,000 it is optional to provide quotations and up to three can be uploaded.  For social surveys with a value over £138,000 (£115,000 exclusive of VAT) up to three quotations may be provided and where it is believed that there are less than three potential social survey providers this must be explained in the 'Justification of Resources' attachment. A business case in not required for inclusion of a social survey.