Costs guidance for knowledge transfer partnership projects
Guidance for knowledge bases applying to a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) competition. As part of your application we will ask for all of your costs.
Getting started
Calculating your costs
The total eligible costs for a KTP project depend on 4 parameters:
- duration
- the nature of the work to be undertaken
- geographical location of the business partner or the project
- costs of the knowledge base
Once you’ve established what your project is trying to achieve you’ll need to set out the tasks and stages in a work plan. This will allow you to understand which individual costs you can claim.
Your project must include the costs for:
- employing the associate
- the knowledge base supervisor
- any laboratory or office space used by the associate
- additional associate support
Business partner’s costs
The business partner must cover all their own costs for supervising the associate and supporting the project.
Budget management
The KTP programme will establish a local management committee (LMC) for your partnership, which will control the costs according to the grant offer letter.
Cost categories
You must calculate the costs of your project in whole months.
You must not:
- charge the business partner any project costs that have not been included in your application.
- reduce the costs to the business partner after KTP has approved the grant
Associate employment
This is the associate’s salary.
The maximum costs you can claim for employing the associate are £45,000 per 12 months.
If the business partner’s premises where most of the project work will be undertaken is within 16 miles of Charing Cross, London, you can include an extra London weighting of £3,000 per 12 months. This brings the total to £48,000 per 12 months.
The knowledge base and business partner are responsible for any salary and additional employment costs that exceed these maximum amounts.
Associate development
This supports the associate’s personal and professional development, providing:
- additional developmental training that is specifically required for the project
- training that helps the all-round development of the associate
The maximum associate development costs are £2,000 per 12 months. There are no exceptions to this maximum. The business partner is solely responsible for associate development costs that exceed this amount.
During the project the associate can use up to £700 of this on fees for a higher degree.
Travel and subsistence
These are only the travel and subsistence costs of the associate and the knowledge base supervisor. The business must list its own travel and subsistence in the additional company cost estimates section of the application form.
The standard travel and subsistence costs are £1,250 per 12 months. You can exceed this amount but you must justify your request in the application. Your request will be approved or rejected by the KTP programme manager. We encourage the business partner to help with any costs over the standard amount.
You must take into account the environmental impact of your travel and be prepared to justify your choices. In order of preference you should consider:
- Walking and cycling.
- Public transport.
- Vehicles, including pool, hire and private cars.
- Taxis.
- Flying.
Consumables (materials)
This only covers consumable items that are essential to carry out and complete the project. You can include the associate’s personal computer but not capital items that the business partner will use after the project is completed.
Items must have been purchased from third parties other than project partners and must not:
- have already been purchased
- have been included in other costs categories
Standard consumable costs are £2,000 per 12 months. You can exceed this but you must justify your request in the application form. Your request will be approved or rejected by the KTP programme manager. In your justification, make clear which stage of your work plan each cost relates to. We encourage the business partner to help with any costs over the standard amount.
Other costs
These costs help develop and support KTP offices. If you want to claim for this you must contact the KTP programme manager before you submit your application.
Knowledge base supervisor
The calculation of these costs varies for fEC and non-fEC projects.
This is the cost of the knowledge base employee who will give the associate academic supervision in the partnership.
The knowledge base supervisor must spend half a day a week supporting the project. In rare cases the partners may need the knowledge base supervisor to provide more support but you must justify your request in the application form. Your request will be approved or rejected by the KTP programme manager.
We will not fund the supervision and support given to the associate by the business partner. These costs must be met by the business partner.
Associate estates cost
The calculation of these costs varies for fEC and non-fEC projects.
This includes the use of existing facilities and anything chargeable within the knowledge base.
Normally this will be zero as the associate is located at the business partner’s premises.
When using fEC, the knowledge base partner can request up to £10,000 extra for each project where the work plan demonstrates that the associate needs to spend significant time using the knowledge base’s facilities, including laboratory or office space. You must explain why this is needed and your request will be approved or rejected by the KTP programme manager. There are no exceptions to this maximum. We encourage the business partner to help with any costs over the standard amount.
Additional associate support
The calculation of these costs varies for fEC and non-fEC projects.
These are the costs for managing the associate, such as computing, personnel admin, learning resources and secretariat support to the LMC.
Project costs for fEC and non-fEC
There are 2 costing methodologies used by knowledge bases:
- fEC (full economic costing method) used by higher education institutions
- non-fEC (standard costing method) used by further education colleges, research and technology organisations (RTOs) and catapults
Below are the standard costs for a project that lasts 12 months. You must calculate the figures for your project on a pro rata basis.
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Associate employment more than 16 miles away from Charing Cross, London | 45,000 |
| Associate employment within 16 miles of Charing Cross, London | 48,000 |
| Associate development | 2,000 |
| Travel and subsistence | 1,250 |
| Consumables | 2,000 |
| Associate estates cost | Varies for fEC and non-fEC – see below |
| Knowledge base supervisor | Varies for fEC and non-fEC – see below |
| Additional associate support | Varies for fEC and non-fEC – see below |
Project costs for fEC
The principle behind fEC funding is that knowledge bases need to indicate the full economic cost of a project.
As a knowledge base using fEC, you’ll have a breakdown of your costs readily available because the UK government requires you to calculate them as part of TRAC (the transparent approach to costing). These costs will have been audited and approved.
Providing your fEC certificate for KTP
You must provide a current fEC certificate when you apply to a KTP competition. It must still be valid on the date of the competition funder’s panel, listed in the competition guidance. A certificate is valid for 12 months from the date it was audited and approved.
Your certificate must:
- confirm that your proposed KTP finances only include costs that are authorised to be recovered and that have been audited
- list those costs in the certificate, with clear subheadings
- have the certificate signed by your finance manager or an appropriately authorised member of the finance staff
- confirm you will charge your business partner in full for its contribution to any project expenditure, and that the sums charged match your application
- submit the certificate with every new application, as KTP does not keep a copy of your certificate
- make the information available to your KT adviser
The project assessors will be able to view your fEC certificate (also known as an fEC letter) and must be satisfied that only these audited and approved costs are included in your project’s budget.
Your certificate will include these indirect costs:
- vice chancellor and pro vice chancellor’s office
- health and safety office
- internal audit
- registrar’s office
- legal costs
- library
- IT services
- development office
- human resources
- corporate communications
- strategic planning and change
- academic office (postgraduate research activity)
- international office (postgraduate research activity)
- research and economic development support services
- treasurer’s department
- interest payable
- treasury charges
- department indirect costs
- cost of capital adjustment
Estate costs will include these costs:
- buildings depreciation
- equipment depreciation
- insurance
- infrastructure adjustment
- utility costs
- building maintenance
- garden and grounds
- laboratory technicians
- departmental space costs
- other chargeable costs for use of equipment or facilities
Calculating fEC-specific costs
Knowledge base supervisor
Your knowledge base supervisors’ costs will vary depending on their current salary and the overheads levied by the knowledge base. KTP will support these costs for 0.1 full time equivalent (half a day per week or one day per fortnight). For example, in the table below, the knowledge base supervisor costs of £80,000 (salary plus overheads) are multiplied by 0.1 giving the figure of £8,000.
Additional associate support
Additional associate support costs include indirect costs and the costs of providing the LMC secretariat. For example, in the table below, £36,000 of costs have been calculated on the KTP fEC certificate and charged at 50% to the project (£18,000).
Standard fEC costs for one associate for 12 months
| All figures in £ | Eligible costs | SME project: Innovate UK grant at 67% | SME project: SME contribution 33% | Large business project: Innovate UK grant at 50% | Large business project: large business contribution at 50% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contribution to associate employment costs | 45,000 | 30,150 | 14,850 | 22,500 | 22,500 |
| Associate development | 2,000 | 1,340 | 660 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Travel and subsistence | 1,250 | 838 | 413 | 625 | 625 |
| Equipment, consumables, and other costs | 2,000 | 1,340 | 660 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Knowledge base supervisor | 8,000 for example | 5,360 | 2,640 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| Estate costs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Additional associate support | 18,000 for example | 12,060 | 5,940 | 9,000 | 9,000 |
| Grant payable or business contribution | 51,088 | 25,163 | 38,125 | 38,125 |
Project costs for non-fEC
For knowledge bases that do not use the full economic costing methodology, a fixed percentage is available to cover project costs. Check the costs carefully to make sure your overheads are met.
You must calculate the overheads of the knowledge base partner and direct staff costs, including the knowledge base supervisor, at 46% of the Innovate UK grant contribution.
You can calculate the eligible costs for your project on a pro-rata basis using the following table as a starting point.
Standard non-fEC costs for one associate for 12 months
| All figures in £ | Eligible costs | SME project: Innovate UK grant at 60% | SME project: SME contribution at 40% | Large business project: Innovate UK grant at 40% | Large business project: large business contribution at 60% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Associate employment costs | 45000 | 27000 | 18000 | 18000 | 27000 |
| Academic and secretarial support | 10500 | 6300 | 4200 | 4200 | 6300 |
| Associate development | 2000 | 1200 | 800 | 800 | 1200 |
| Travel and subsistence | 1250 | 750 | 500 | 500 | 750 |
| Equipment, consumables and other costs | 2000 | 1200 | 800 | 800 | 1200 |
| Sub total | 60750 | 36450 | 24300 | 24300 | 36450 |
| Overheads of the knowledge base partner and direct staff costs, including knowledge base supervisor | 46% grant contribution of Innovate UK grant sub total | 16767 | 11178 | ||
| Grant payable or business contribution | 53217 | 35478 | 35478 | 36450 |
Last updated 6 October 2020 + show all updates
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We have clarified that the associate employment costs only include their salary.
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We have corrected the wording for associate employment costs to make clear the knowledge base is also responsible for any costs over the maximum. We have also removed an incorrect line that said the consumables costs calculations are different for fEC and non-fEC.
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First published.