Published on 15 May 2020
Furlough of Staff funded from Research Grants
The Financial Implications Task Force has produced a briefing note that provides guidance on the processes that the University has put in place to furlough staff who are unable to work while employed on a research grants. A presentation on this topic will be given at the Research Grants User Group Meeting on 21st May, see item below.
RGUG - Thursday 21st May at 11am
The Research Grant User Group (RGUG) meeting has been re-scheduled as a Live Event to take place on Thursday 21st May at 11am - 12pm.
The agenda will cover two items; the new application deadlines that have been temporarily introduced and the furloughing of staff funded from research grants. If you would like to ask a question in advance of the meeting please contact hannah.pawson@admin.cam.ac.uk, there will also be the opportunity to use the Q&A function during the meeting.
EC Funding & Covid-19 Drop-in Webinar on Tuesday 19th May - Reminder
The EC team will be running a pilot 'EC funding & Covid-19 drop-in session' on Tuesday 19th May, 11:30 - 12:30. The session will start with a brief presentation on the EC's current guidance on the impact of Covid-19 on Horizon 2020 awards, followed by an interactive Q&A. This will be an opportunity to raise concerns related to the current disruption and to share best practices with colleagues. The session will also give the EC team the opportunity to better understand the current challenges and raise questions with the Commission if needed.
Audience: Departmental staff and researchers involved and managing Horizon 2020 awards. Please note that a separate event will be organised for MSCA fellows.
Date: 19th May, 11:30 -12:30
Location: No pre-registration is required. Please join via the link below:
If you have any technical issues on the day, please contact francesca.nieto@admin.cam.ac.uk.
New Payscales in X5 from 20th May
On Wednesday 20th May from 07:30 to 09:00, we are expecting to be able to import the following new rates which means X5 will be unavailable during this time.
Updated Clinical payscales with an effective date (COLA date) of 01/04/2020
- New NI rates:
- Including Apprenticeship Levy: file date of 06/04/20
- Without Apprenticeship Levy: file date of 05/04/20
To apply these new rates to existing costings, go to the rates table tab and update the out of date files by clicking on “apply all updated files now”.
Applications Deadline Calculator
On the ROO website there is a deadline calculator to show when research proposals need to be sent to us. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic we have had to extend some of the deadlines as outlined in previous bulletins. These changes have now been incorporate into the deadline calculator so that when you put in the funder deadline, the ROO deadlines will match the new temporary arrangements.
Innovate UK "no cost" Time Extension Requests
Innovate have created a fast track process to facilitate “no cost” time extension requests of up to three months for reasons relating to COVID-19, subject to a valid business case and normal legal and compliance requirements. They recognise that some projects are currently not eligible to be considered for extensions, for example Smart programmes and those that have hard budget deadlines, such as the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). These projects will now be able to submit Project Change Requests (PCRs) for extensions of up to three months for reasons relating to COVID-19, in line with all other Innovate UK projects.
In cases where it is unclear how to proceed, the Lead Partner will make a request to the Monitoring Officer who submits an extension on their behalf. Once approval has been given, the Monitoring Officer will update the Lead Partner. The notification of the no cost time extension will be sent by email and Innovate UK will not be providing a formal letter. Please forward the original approval email to ROO so that we can update your project details in CUFS and other systems. The email is important because it will also be required at Audit stage. If you have any queries, please contact tanya.burton@admin.cam.ac.uk
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – Start Certificates Reminder
Departments should be aware that it is their responsibility to log in the Je-S and retrieve the start certificate, complete the information on the expenditure that has triggered the start of the project, and then submit back to the Je-S submitter pool. The Department should then inform the Research Operations Office so that they can forward it to the Research Council. The grant may lapse if not started within this period. If you have any queries then please contact your (Senior) Reserach Support Advisor.