Research Councils UK (RCUK) has agreed with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to raise the threshold at which UK universities and colleges will be eligible for dispensation from the need to comply with the full Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) requirements.
The threshold is currently set at £500k per annum of publicly-funded research income, calculated as a five-year rolling average). With effect from 2013-14 (i.e. reporting on academic year 2012-13), this will be increased to £3 million. This will reduce the administrative burden of TRAC for research organisations that have low levels of publicly-funded research.
This change follows a review by the Higher education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in January 2013 which found strong support for TRAC, the activity-costing method used by UK universities and colleges, but with some suggestions for improvement to streamline the process and save money.
All Research Organisations are required to submit annual TRAC and TRAC(T) returns for accountability purposes, but those eligible for claiming dispensation are not required to comply with the following requirements:
- Obtain time allocation data from academics (heads of department could, for example, provide this information)
- Use more than four to six cost drivers to allocate indirect costs
- Identify space use across the whole institutions
- Calculate laboratory technicians and research facility charge-out rates, and apply these separately from estates rates
- Calculate indirect costs rates and estates rates
- Robustly calculate staff FTEs
Eligible Research Organisations wishing to comply with full TRAC requirements may still do so.
Since 2010 the dispensation rates have been set at the sector lower quartiles, which for 2013/14 are:
Indirect cost rate £33.7k
Laboratory estates rate £9.0k
Non-laboratory estates rate £4.9k
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Further information
Contact:
Katie Clark
Press and Communications Manager
Tel: 01793 444592 or email: Katie Clark
Notes to editors
Further information about HEFCE’s review of TRAC is available at: www.hefce.ac.uk/news/newsarchive/2013/name,81786,en.html
Notes to editors
Research Councils UK (RCUK) is the strategic partnership of the UK's seven Research Councils who annually invest around £3 billion in research. We support excellent research, as judged by peer review, that has an impact on the growth, prosperity and wellbeing of the UK. To maintain the UK’s global research position we offer a diverse range of funding opportunities, foster international collaborations and provide access to the best facilities and infrastructure around the world. We also support the training and career development of researchers and work with them to inspire young people and engage the wider public with research. To maximise the impact of research on economic growth and societal wellbeing we work in partnership with other research funders including the Technology Strategy Board, the UK Higher Education funding bodies, business, government, and charitable organisations. www.rcuk.ac.uk.
The seven UK Research Councils are:
- Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC);
- Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC);
- Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC);
- Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC);
- Medical Research Council (MRC);
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC);
- Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC).