Factsheet

Guide to non-staff costs

Updated on 7 January 2021

This is an overview of the kinds of non-staff costs that are eligible in most funding applications. Most questions can be answered by reviewing the terms and conditions relevant to the funder you are applying to.

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Please ensure you submit your PRF at least 10 days prior to the funder’s deadline to the Research Finance Office, and any costing discussion should be carried out in conjunction with the Research Finance Officer assigned to your application.

Consumables, general research materials and expenses

Costs to consider may include (all project specific):

  • Research materials: general office costs, books and journals, reprographic materials, photography, photographic materials, cartography, courier charges, dedicated telephone costs/power charges, report costs
  • Laboratory supplies: glassware and disposable plasticware, reagents, (e.g. chemicals, media, antibodies, custom-made reagents, such as oligonucleotides), gases (including liquid nitrogen), kits (e.g. for sample preparation), bench fees, waste disposal, protective clothing
  • IT: new computing hardware, software, computing consumables, server costs, licenses, specialist web-hosting costs, web subscriptions, etc.
  • Data collection: interview costs, participant payments, fieldwork fees, social survey costs, transcription, translation
  • Data management costs: cost of maintaining significant data sets after a project has finished.
  • Fees: patient fees if applicable for clinical research
  • Other: casual assistance, animal licences, photography, pharmacy costs (clinical trials), x-rays, archiving costs of clinical trial records, additional/exceptional insurance cover, specialist facilities charges, licences required to undertake the project, impact or public engagement costs.
  • It is essential that such costs are clearly described and justified in the justification for resources.

Equipment purchase, access, maintenance

Equipment costs may include the following, depending on project requirements and funder rules:

  • New equipment – include VAT (if applicable), import duty and delivery costs
  • Charge out rates for use/rental of existing equipment
  • Servicing/maintenance costs of equipment
  • Equipment re-location costs
  • Building works necessary to install/house certain equipment
  • Major equipment spares
  • Project/equipment dedicated software
  • Equipment installation charges e.g. delivery, calibration, essential premises modifications e.g. provision of clean rooms, extensions to air conditioning.

Check the sponsor’s definition of ‘equipment’ and also any special requirements. For UKRI applications there may be an expectation of match-funding by the University for expensive items of equipment, this should be discussed with the School/School’s Dean and ADR along with the VP for Research and Director of Finance.

In cases of purchases costing more than £50k, information is available on the University’s Procurement webpages

VAT for consumables and equipment

Where VAT is chargeable, all new equipment and/or consumables required for the project should be costed inclusive of VAT at the appropriate rate. For further information on VAT see University’s VAT Guidelines

University of Dundee Research Facilities (major and small)

Obtain an estimate for the use of specific research facilities directly from the facilities concerned.

Travel and subsistence

Travel and subsistence costs for journeys, conferences and workshops that are directly related to the research project can be sought as a directly incurred cost.

Standard fares should be quoted to include taxes, parking costs, rail/taxi transfers to/from the airport (where applicable). For travel in the UK, where practicable, public transport should be used where this provides the best value for money.

Key Travel are the current University Travel Agent, and should be contacted to arrange any and all travel/accommodation requirements The figures given below are an estimate of what you can expect to pay.

Potential costs

Costs to consider include (suggested ranges you should expect to pay as at June 2020):

  • UK travel
    • Train fares
  • Overseas travel
    • European flights between £250 and £400 return
    • International flights between £900 and £1,200 return
  • Accommodation
    • £80 to £120 per person per night depending on location
  • Subsistence Costs (to cover all meals and refreshments):
    • UK: £40 per person per day
    • Europe and overseas: £50 per person per day
  • Travel insurance
  • Visa costs
  • Conference fees
  • Staff and patient travel

Mileage Rates

The rate which can be claimed for journeys using your own vehicle are as follows:

  • Car  - 45p per mile
  • Motorcycle  - 24p per mile
  • Bicycle - 20p per mile

Taxis and buses

In pursuit of the University’s sustainability targets, before planning travel by motor vehicle, consideration must be given to public transport alternatives. However, staff at various times may be required to utilise taxis during the execution of their duties.

For taxi journeys within Dundee where a bus is not practicable, the University has appointed an approved taxi provider who can be used for internal journeys within Dundee and airport pick-up and drop-off journeys.

In certain locations and countries, the use of taxis may be the only safe or convenient form of transport. Only licensed taxis should be used, as advised by local contacts. All staff should obtain receipts for every journey. The receipts should show the destination and departure point, date and time of travel. 

Project meetings, workshops and conferences

  • How often and where will project meetings be held? Factor in travel and subsistence costs for project parties to attend as well as the cost of hosting meetings (room hire and refreshments)
  • Which events are useful for staff involved in the project and/or for disseminating project results? Factor in travel, subsistence and conference fees for those attending
  • Consider the total number of people attending
  • Consider number of days the conference/workshop will last
  • Contact the University’s Conference Services about costs of venue (room hire) and equipment hire for an event
  • Contact the University’s Hospitality Services for food and refreshments (day delegate rates, conference dinner)
  • Include travel, accommodation and subsistence costs and honoraria payments (if applicable) for invited key speakers/participants – using travel websites for indicative travel costs
  • Consider the cost of administration to help organise an event, including casual staff and cost of conference packs etc.

Other costs to take into account

  • Postgraduate fees and stipend rates
    • Fees: see the University’s postgraduate fees webpage. If is not clear what fees in future years are going to be, the advice would be to add 5% inflation per year on top of the rate calculated on the PG fees page
    • Stipend: if the funder has not stipulated a stipend rate, the advice would be to adopt a rate equivalent to UKRI stipend rates
  • Costs of dissemination of research outputs, where these will be incurred during the period of the grant
  • Transcription fees
  • Recruitment and advertising costs for staff directly employed on the project
  • Where allowed by a funder, include the cost of advertising for new staff posts, otherwise you will need to find funding for these costs from elsewhere. The cost depends on where you wish to advertise. See the following for example costs:
  • Relocation expenses (up to £2,500 allowance)
  • Work permit/visa costs
  • Fieldwork
  • Reprint/page charges
  • Public engagement costs
  • Impact costs
  • Computer costs dedicated to the project
  • Equipment related items (e.g. maintenance, relocation)

Publication and dissemination

  • How are the results of the research project to be disseminated and how will the costs of that dissemination be covered?
  • Major funding bodies have policies requiring open access publication of the results of the research they fund
  • Publication costs can be very expensive (£3,000 plus VAT for open access publication in the British Medical Journal) so it's important to know how publication costs can be met
  • Some funders state that they will reimburse open access fees, including
    • Wellcome Trust – provide a block grant to the University of Dundee towards publication and have strict publication rules
    • Research Councils – provide a block grant to the University of Dundee for Open Access publication
  • Other funders may allow you to include publication costs in the application and these should be included where permitted by the funder.

Participating organisations

  • Third parties (e.g. universities, NHS Trusts, companies, consultants etc.) should provide details of their costs. If VAT is applicable to the work of a party, it should be included in their budget.
  • Individuals acting as external consultants should not be an employee of the University of Dundee and, if they are earning over the HMRC VAT level, they will need register for VAT and VAT included in their project budget.
  • Each university has different rates for Estates and Indirect Costs so where proposals require the inclusion of these costs, they should be obtained from each university and applicants should allow plenty of time to obtain figures.
  • To avoid disagreements over budgets, it is advisable to make the costs of each organisation easily identifiable (as belonging to that organisation) in the proposal at application stage.
Corporate information category Research support