Estates and Indirect Costs

Estates and Indirect Costs are a single value and do not require justification in the case for support.

If the proposal is for more than one organisation, for example has Co-Investigators from multiple organisations, the component parts of the indirect or estate cost for each organisation should costed separately and added together to be entered as a single composite cost.

Estates: These costs may include building and premises costs, basic services and utilities, and any clerical staff and equipment maintenance or operational costs not already included under other cost headings.

Indirect Costs: These include non-specific costs charged across all projects based on estimates that are not otherwise included as Directly Allocated costs. They include the costs of the Research Organisation's administration such as personnel, finance, library and some departmental services.

- THE FOLLOWING IS COUNCIL SPECIFIC GUIDANCE -

ESRC - Specific Requirements

Public sector and Business Placement Fellowship schemes only

These two schemes operate outside of usual fEC regulations. Estates costs can be claimed for the first 6 months of any project.

MRC - Specific Requirements

Estates Costs: These costs should be shown as a single figure. There is no requirement for information regarding its derivation or justification. These costs may include building and premises costs, basic services and utilities, lease/rent/rates, insurance, cleaning/portering/security/safety, staff facilities, and any clerical staff and equipment maintenance not already included as either a Directly Incurred or Directly Allocated cost.

The standard default rates should be used where Research Organisations have not developed their own rates; these are publicised at:

https://www.ukri.org/about-us/policies-standards-and-data/funding-assurance-programme/

If you are away from your Research Organisation at an 2nd UK centre, overseas or industrial placement for a period of six months or more, Estates costs will not be payable to your Research Organisation during this period. Please ensure that your Estates Costs are adjusted accordingly. However, your Research Organisation should request Estates Costs on behalf of your 2nd UK Centre, overseas or industrial placement for the duration of your training period there. For periods away of less than 6 months, Estates costs will continue to be payable.

The estates and indirect costs associated with overseas locally employed research staff may be requested under Other Directly Incurred Costs.

Indirect Costs: These include non-specific costs charged across all projects based on estimates that are not otherwise included as Directly Allocated costs.

Indirect costs should be shown as a single annual figure (£ total pa for the project). These costs are non-specific costs charged across all projects based on estimates that are not otherwise included as Directly Allocated costs. They may include general office and basic laboratory consumables, library services/learning resources, typing/secretarial support, finance, personnel, public relations and departmental services, central and distributed computing and the cost of capital employed (including redundancy).  The costs of ethics reviews can be included under this heading.

The standard default rates should be used where Research Organisations have not developed their own rates; these are publicised at:

https://www.ukri.org/about-us/policies-standards-and-data/funding-assurance-programme/
 

Indirect Costs will continue to be paid to the Research Organisation if a Fellow undertakes a training period overseas, in a 2nd UK centre, or in an industry placement.

The indirect and estates costs associated with overseas locally employed research staff may be requested under Other Directly Incurred Costs.

Pre-Doctoral Fellowships only: Estates and indirect costs are not awardable for pre-doctoral fellowships, therefore £0 should be entered for these.

UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships: Check the Call Guidance documentation to determine whether there are specific UKRI specific requirements which would override the information above.