5 Seeking Resources
5.1 Directly Incurred Costs
5.1.8 Other Directly Incurred Costs
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5.1.8
- Other Directly Incurred Costs are items dedicated to the project, for example:
- consumables. In most cases, office consumables such as photocopying, printing, postage, general transport costs, stationery, computer consumables and telephone costs, and also utilities costs, are not expected to be accounted for at the project level and should be found from indirect costs. However, items of this type may be charged as directly incurred where use is exceptional (for example, high electricity use). These exceptional costs would then need justification in relation to the research need; and there should be a clear statement indicating that these are separately accounted for and charged to the project as actual costs;
- books and specialist publication costs;
- predicted costs of dissemination of research outputs e.g. publication in author-pays journals, where these will be incurred during the period of the grant. Where these costs are likely to occur after the grant has ended, they should be included in the indirect costs of the Research Organisation;
- recruitment and advertising costs for staff directly employed on the project;
- field work;
- reprint/page charges;
- consultancy charges;
- computer costs dedicated to the project; eg. specialist stationery supplies, software licences not associated with central computing facilities;
- items of equipment costing less than £10,000 (including VAT) including replacement or upgrades of existing equipment;
- equipment over £10k to be used for instrument development is not affected by the new rules. Such items will normally be funded at 100% although Councils reserve the right to request institutional contributions where appropriate.
- equipment-related items (if not included as part of the Research Organisation's estates costs), eg maintenance; relocation; rental charges; access charges for major or small research facilities (specify the nature of the facility and the basis of charging: note that, in accordance with TRAC, the total FEC of a grant containing charges for use by the project of research facilities must not include any net depreciation costs if the facility was purchased with Research Council funding) The case for support should describe the service being sought, the usage and the basis of charging;
- insurance costs. Insurance costs are expected in most cases to be covered by indirect costs, but may be requested as a separate directly incurred cost where it can be shown that the cost arises specifically as a result of the project funded by the grant, is not covered by blanket policies, and is separately identifiable and audited;
- personal costs. Personal costs incurred by staff supported on the grant, such as relocation charges, home telephone/internet charges, etc. may be requested as directly incurred costs if their reimbursement is consistent with institutional policy, they are specifically incurred by the research project and will be subject to an audit record;
- subcontractor costs should appear under other directly incurred costs and are paid at the standard 80% rate.
