We need to provide you with an accurate costing that will meet the requirements of the funder. Without the information provided through this form, Bid Support cannot create a budget in a timely manner.

Timescale

To ensure we can provide high-quality support for funding applications, we would be grateful if you start to engage with the Bid Support Unit (BSU) at least three weeks prior to the funder's submission deadline. If you are an early career researcher or a new bidder, you are encouraged to engage with BSU team as soon as possible.

We require active engagement to support your bid in a timely manner.

Activity timescale examples

Less than 1 week

• A short costing query for example just for a day rate
• Outline applications that do not require a budget breakdown

Less than 2 weeks

• Outline applications that require a budget breakdown
• Consultancy and tenders

More than 3 weeks

• Funding calls that do not cover the whole cost of the project
• Large scale bids
• 2nd stage applications for UKRI, NIHR, Royal Society, British Academy, and the Wellcome Trust
• All Leverhulme applications (outline and main application both)

It is essential to allow sufficient time to ensure that the funder guidelines are followed and only high-quality proposals are submitted.

Funder name

Including the name of the funder is essential for correctly aligning the proposal with their specific eligibility criteria, application process, budget requirements, and reporting frameworks.

As a university, we must report on the Higher Education Business and Community Interaction (HEBCI) Survey categories. This is defined by who the funder is.

It is also required for budgeting - ensuring that, if the bid is awarded, the correct funder is named on the contract and costing.

Links

Providing a link to the funding call (when available) ensures all key instructions, terms and conditions, and submission guidelines are accurately followed.

It also enables the Bid Support team to know the required timeline for the bid.

Classification

By correctly classifying the project—as research, consultancy, or another type of activity (e.g. teaching,training, public engagement, service delivery)—it ensures that VAT is appropriately charged, if applicable. Please note: VAT is not charged for research activity.

The Frascati Manual (page 47) provides a definition to determine whether the activity qualifies as research.

For example:

Research
Choose this option if your project meets the criteria in the Frascati definition - if you know the outputs of the project are for public benefit and/or you intend to publish from the project.

Consultancy
Defined as the giving of advice or assistance with problem solving from within an existing knowledge base.

The University adheres to the Governmental guidance on Trusted Research. Therefore, we need to know about your plans to collaborate with any external partners (national and international) to ensure we comply with NPSA and NCSC guidance.

Read the NPSA Guidance [PDF]

Read the UKRI guidance

We are creating a costing to establish the expense to the University, not just to determine the amount of funding required. The costs which are not grant-funded are subsidised by student tuition fees.

As staffing costs typically represent a significant proportion of a project’s total expenditure, it is important to have a good idea of what resources you will require to deliver the project.

Please provide either the names of the existing staff members or, if recruitment is planned, the salary grade and spine point for each post with the FTE or number of days working. This enables Bid Support to calculate appropriate costs, apply correct overheads, and ensure compliance with institutional and funder requirements.

Research allocation option

If the budget does not provide funding for all salaries, there is an option of using your research allocation. For example, research allocation (internally funded time) can be used in cases where the funder does not cover staff time or where match funding is required. It is important to identify this early, as it will require the necessary internal approvals.

You will require written confirmation (e.g. email) that the cost of your time on the project is covered by your department. This should be provided by the budget holder/Head of School, stating the number of required days from your research allocation, covering the time spent on the project, and will be paid for from the designated cost centre. This will be required for every member of staff that is not funded by the project.

You will also need to write a short paragraph to explain how this research activity is of strategic importance to the University.

Teaching buy-out costs

If you intend to ‘buy-out’ teaching time, the cost must be included in the project budget and approved by your Head of School or Department. It is also essential to identify this early, as some funders do not permit teaching buy-out costs, and the Bid Support team needs to ensure the budget complies with funder guidelines and internal approval processes.

Non-salary costs

We also require the non-salary costs, to add to your budget. This includes the items that the funders guidance states as ‘eligible costs’, including travel, fieldwork, equipment, consumables, software, participant incentives, transcription services, consultants and participant incentives.

If you are purchasing equipment, please ensure that you have the cost available, inclusive of VAT. When completing this question, please provide a value against each item, for example, ‘flight to Paris - £150’. The value cannot be provided by the Bid Support team.

The information you provide is essential for developing an accurate and complete budget.

The University will decide on whether the costing is viable based on this information – thus, approving or rejecting the proposal.