Research Operations Office Bulletin - Issue 239

The Symplectic Elements upload to Researchfish is now complete and PIs are advised to check this new data when completing their Researchfish return. The annual submission period on Researchfish is 3 February 2020 to 4pm on 12 March 2020 for most funders. For researchers involved in the current industrial action there are a few days during the submission period when strikes are not taking place: Thursday 27^th February, Friday 28^th February and Friday 6^th March where the funders will expect PIs to make a return. Please encourage your PIs to log onto their Researchfish account and submit their return. Further details are available on the ROO website.

As a result of the employer’s pension contributions increasing due to changes in the USS Pension Scheme, Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has agreed to cover the increase where applicable across all their awards. They will continue to check on-costs percentages as they will only cover standard USS and NHS pension contributions, along with standard employer NI contributions. For existing awards, it is expected that institutions will be able to cover any increase in pension costs using the flexible virement policy. In the event that additional funds are needed, these may be claimed at final reconciliation. For new awards, CRUK will incorporate this increase into the on-cost calculations and will still continue to check all on-cost rates to ensure these are being calculated at the correct rate.

CRUK  has reviewed it’s indexation date for grants awarded in FY20-21 and as of 1 April 2020 the new indexation rate will be set at 1.75% per annum across all awards issued after this date.

• Grant Award Letters from 1 April 2020 will have the indexation rate of 1.75% per annum applied for the duration of the award.
• For grants awarded prior to 1 April 2020, the indexation rate that applied at the time of award will continue to be used.
• Applications should continue to be submitted without indexation applied to costs – this will be added by Cancer Research UK prior to any grant award. A reminder also that, once a grant is awarded, CRUK allows institutions to transfer (vire) funds freely between salary and running expense allocations.

The CRUK website will be updated in due course.  

Spaces are available for the introduction to X5 training session in April, topics include setting up an X5 using the Project Wizard as well as using the correct methodology for capturing costs. To book a place please contact Debbie.West-Lewis@admin.cam.ac.uk at the Research Operations Office.