FAQs for grantees

We do not cover recruitment costs. These should be covered by the employing institution/university.

We do not pay for maternity/shared parental or sick pay. This is the responsibility of the employing institution.

Please ensure you let us know in good time that your researcher is going on maternity/paternity/adoption leave. You can employ someone as maternity/paternity/adoption leave cover within the salary budget that has been agreed, but please note we do not pay maternity/paternity/adoption pay – this is the responsibility of the employing institution.

You may instead choose to freeze the grant until the researcher has returned to work. You will need to agree with us the date at which the grant will be frozen and the anticipated re-start date. We will not make any payments on the grant for expenses incurred between these dates. You can finalise the re-start date once the researcher has agreed her/his return to work date with you.

We will pay for conference costs and related travel expenses only if these costs were included in the original grant application. We are unable to make supplementary awards.

You should get in touch and let us know about this change as soon as possible. Generally we will allow grants to move with the Principal Investigator within the UK but will require letters from the current and new host institutions agreeing a transfer date for the grant. We will not pay any invoices for expenses incurred after that date for the current host and before that date for the new host institution.  In exceptional circumstances we may require the grant to remain at the original host institution, so please get in touch to discuss this matter with us.

Yes. We do not limit the number of grants held by any one individual.

We will make payments against your grant quarterly in arrears on receipt of an invoice from the Host Institution. Please include your grant reference on the invoice.

We do not currently make supplementary awards. It is your responsibility to correctly budget for all the required costs and to manage these post-award. If the increase in budget is due to circumstances beyond your control, we may agree to allow you to vire funds between headings within the already agreed budget, but this must be discussed with the Head of Research at the earliest opportunity.

We may agree to allow you to use an underspend if the additional work specifically furthers the objectives of the current grant, but this would need to be fully justified and the request may be reviewed by members of our Scientific Advisory Board. We are unlikely to allow you to use it for other purposes however. Any no cost extensions of the grant to use an underspend must be discussed with the Head of Research in advance.

We cannot agree a start date without seeing evidence that ethical approval has been granted. In exceptional circumstances we may allow you to back-date the start date but please discuss this with the our research team.

You must contact our Head of Research prior to making any changes to the agreed budget. Generally, prior to agreeing any changes we will require a short justification and an updated copy of the budget. This can be sent via email to research@bowelcanceruk.org.uk.

It is important that the Head of Research at Bowel Cancer UK is consulted with regards to changes in the start date of the grant. As soon as you know that the start date is changing, please contact us at research@bowelcanceruk.org.uk. Failure to do so may result in payments against grant invoices being withheld.

Please ensure you let us know in good time that the researcher is leaving the post and what your plans are for recruiting a new member of staff. We will also need to know the leaving date of the individual. If there is to be a lengthy gap between the original post-holder leaving and a new person being employed, you may wish to freeze the grant. You will need to agree with us the date at which the grant will be frozen and the anticipated re-start date. We will not make any payments on the grant for expenses incurred between these dates. You can finalise the re-start date once someone has been recruited to the post and a start date agreed. We are also happy to discuss other possible working arrangements with you, but please get in touch as soon as possible.

You will be required to complete an annual report and a final report (for grants of 12 months or less there is no annual report). Non-compliance with reporting requirements will result in grant payments being withheld and may affect your chances of obtaining funding in future grant rounds. We may also contact you at other times for short updates for donors who are supporting your research. We will also contact you annually after your grant is completed to obtain updates on outcomes, such as publications or further funding, that may have occurred since the grant finished.

We require that an ‘End of Project’ report be submitted within three months of the end of the grant. This is specified within the Terms and Conditions of the grant and non-compliance will result in payment being withheld. This may also affect the Principal Investigator’s chances of obtaining another grant from us.

Yes! We may wish to issue a press release about the paper and put some information on our website and social media about your findings. Please let us know as soon as your paper has been accepted, or ideally at the point of submission. We will need a copy of the paper (we will of course keep this confidential until the publication date) and details of the likely publication date. If the journal or host institute is going to issue a press release, you will also need to include our marketing and communications team in this. Call on 020 7940 1766 or email press@bowelcanceruk.org.uk.