Staff costs and timesheets for EC grants

Staff costs

Staff costs (also known as personnel costs) are direct costs of a project. They’re eligible in EC-funded projects when someone:

  • works for the beneficiary
  • is under an employment contract (or an equivalent)
  • works part time or full time, or with a temporary or permanent employment contract
  • is assigned to the action

Personnel costs must be limited to salaries, social security contributions, the percentage of time dedicated to the grant, taxes and other costs related to remuneration.

Departments must also have a written agreement for students and temporary staff members. This agreement is only acceptable if:

  • the person works under similar conditions to an employee (for example, how their work is organised, their tasks and where they work)
  • the results of their work belong to the beneficiary
  • the costs are comparable to those for someone performing similar tasks under an employment contract

Find out more:

Timesheets

All staff working on an EC-funded project (including students and temporary staff) must keep accurate records of time spent on the project.

The University’s policy is that timesheets for staff working on EC-funded projects are:

  • obligatory if they work less 100% of their time on the project
  • recommended if they work 100% of their time on the project

Principal Investigators (PIs) who work on the project but are not charged to the grant must also keep records of time worked (for example, ERC grantees).

Time records showing actual hours worked must be kept for all staff working on EC projects. Costs must comply with the eligibility rules set out in:

We recommend that Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellows, who must work exclusively on their fellowship, also keep time records.

You can find out more about time recording requirements on the Research Grants Timesheets site.

Timesheets are the most robust evidence for audits. If timesheets are missing or not compliant, alternative evidence will be required to confirm the hours and expenses declared. Alternative evidence is more difficult to gather and is considered less reliable.

You can check guidance on acceptable types of alternative evidence (PDF, 184 KB) (University account required).

We strongly advise departments to keep reliable evidence to support financial statements and PI time commitments. This evidence must be made available during any future Certificate on the Financial Statements, EC check, review or audit.

Completing a timesheet

You can find a template timesheet on the Research Grants Timesheets site.

Timesheets must be:

  • completed monthly
  • signed by the employee and approved by their supervisor or line manager – we recommend doing this within 1 month of the end of the timesheet period
  • kept for 6 years (or longer if required by the sponsor)

Submit completed timesheets to the Research Operations Office within 1 week of the General Ledger closing date.

Evidence of leave for audits

Audit requirements also include independent HR evidence of leave for staff working less than 100% on a project (for example, PIs or PDRAs). This can be a departmental record of leave or a report from the HR system.

Find out more about audits

Staff working exclusively on a project

Horizon 2020 projects

Staff working 100% on a Horizon 2020 grant must complete a Declaration of Exclusivity at the end of each reporting period.

Working 100% on a grant means you cannot do any other work – for example, writing new proposals, unrelated training or general departmental tasks like teaching.

If you have other work or responsibilities, you should charge less than 100% to the grant and keep timesheets instead.

Completing a Declaration of Exclusivity

You can find a template Declaration of Exclusivity on the Research Grants Timesheet site. Check the footnotes in the template carefully.

It’s important to know that:

  • only 1 Declaration can be submitted per reporting period
  • the Declaration must cover at least 1 full month
  • if there’s a break from full time work on the project, timesheets might also be required – for example, if you work full time for 2 months and part time for 1 month, submit a Declaration for the full-time months and timesheets for the part-time month
  • if the reporting period falls after someone leaves the Department, you should complete the Declaration before they finish

Horizon Europe projects

Staff working 100% on a Horizon Europe grant must submit either a monthly day-declaration or timesheets (with the number of days rounded up to the nearest 0.5).

If you keep more than one system for recording time (for example, weekly timesheets and monthly day-declarations), they must be consistent. If checks, reviews or audits find significant differences between them, only the documents with the lower number of days will be accepted.

Additional evidence

The EC might ask for other evidence of hours worked – for example, logbooks, meetings minutes, papers, posters or timesheets.

For projects with multiple work packages, timesheets are also an accurate way of tracking person-months per work package. Because of this, we recommend timesheets for all staff, even those working 100% on a project.

Reporting personnel costs and person-months

At the end of each reporting period, send completed timesheets and Declarations of Exclusivity or monthly day-declarations to the Research Operations Office.

For collaborative projects, you must report the number of person-months per work package.

When completing the Declaration of Exclusivity, make sure you include the person-months per work package in the ‘Short description of activities’ section.

The timesheet template allows you to record the time worked per work package.