Payment of awards/Grant maintenance
The submission of the Starting Confirmation will initiate the payment of the funds awarded. NERC research and fellowship grants are paid, in arrears, using a system of equal payments profiled over the duration of the grant. NERC training grants are generally paid, in quarterly payments, in advance.
The award letter will contain a payment schedule detailing the quarterly profile payments. Payments will be made from the actual start date notified on the Starting Confirmation and will be paid to the Research Organisation automatically each quarter.
During the duration of the award, any proposed changes to the conditions of the award should be notified to NERC as soon as possible. For example, NERC must be notified immediately if an investigator resigns, retires, is made redundant or transfers to another Research Organisation.
If there are unforeseen circumstances that have severely affected the progress of the grant, NERC will permit no cost extensions to awards. These are exceptional but are designed to cover instances of maternity leave, sick leave or other external factors leading to the rescheduling of fieldwork or ship time.
Within three months of the end of the grant, the Research Organisation must submit a Final Expenditure Statement (FES) to NERC. The final payment of the grant will be withheld pending receipt of the FES, which will allow the overall expenditure of the grant to be reconciled against the total amount awarded. Financial sanctions will be imposed if the FES is not received within the period allowed.
NERC grants are cash limited and no payments will be paid in excess of the amount awarded, regardless of actual expenditure, except for additional costs for paid maternity leave, sick leave, etc as detailed in the Core Terms and Conditions, available in the NERC Research Grants & Fellowships Handbook and the NERC Studentship Handbook.