FINANCE AND BUDGET Lucia Pacillo, REA-P4 Pisa, March 2013 Research Executive Agency Marie Curie host-driven actions

Project life cycle The cost categories Parental and maternity leave Subcontracting Overview

Project duration: 4 years Signature of the GA Periodic Report (after 2 years) Final Report Prefinancing Final Payment Interim Payment Project Life Cycle

Fellows Living allowance (salary)Cost Category 1 Mobility allowance Cost Category 2 NetworkingCost Category 3 Project ManagementCost Category 4 OverheadsCost Category 5 Small equipment for SMEs Cost Category 6 The cost categories

For Whom? Fellows newly recruited or on secondment Employment Contract or Stipend? Already agreed during negotiation, in general:  Employment contract (Type A) for recruitment and longer term secondments; also for short term secondments if national legislation/tax laws requires it  Fixed-amount fellowship (Type B) for short term secondments and split stays of short durations where fellow remains employed and paid by the home institution What does it include? The amounts include the provisions for all compulsory deductions under national applicable legislation Do we always pay the fellow in Euros? No, the fellow should be paid in the local currency Cost Category 1 - Monthly living allowance

How Much? Depends on 3 factors What are the base rates? Researches CategoriesEUR/year Early-stage researchers Experienced researchers (< 10 years experience) Experienced researchers (>10 years experience) Level of experience  Early-stage researcher  Experienced researcher (<10 years experience)  Experienced researcher (>10 years experience) Type of contract  Employment contract (Type A)  Fixed-amount fellowship (Type B) Country Correction Coefficient (in Work Programme and Annex 1)

For Whom? All recruited fellows Seconded fellows who has undertaken a physical transnational mobility at the start of the secondment period How much? Depends on 2 factors Family* status of the fellow:  With a family = € 1000 per month  Without a family = € 700 per month Country Correction Coefficient (in Work Programme and Annex 1) Cost Category 2 - Monthly mobility allowance * Family = persons linked to the researcher by: (i) marriage, or (ii) a relationship with equivalent status to a marriage recognised by the national legislation of the country of the host organisation or of the nationality of the researcher, or (iii) dependent children being maintained by the researcher.

How much? Flat rate of €1800 per researcher-month managed by the host organisation What is it used for? To contribute for expenses related to  The participation of researchers to training activities  Research costs  The execution of the training/partnership project  The co-ordination between participants Cost Category 3 - Contribution to the training expenses and ToK programme

How much? Amount agreed during negotiation up to 10% of the total EU contribution What is it used for? Reimbursement of costs related to  Maintenance of the consortium agreement (for multi beneficiary projects)  The overall legal, ethical, financial and administrative management for each of the beneficiaries  Obtaining the certificates on the financial statements and costs relating to financial audits and technical reviews  Any other management activities provided in GA and its annexes Cost Category 4 - Management activities Important notice: No scientific management costs can be charged under this category. Coordination of research and technological development activities cannot be charged under management costs. Management costs can cover the cost of the salary of a person dedicated to assist with the administrative, legal or financial management of the project

What records do we need to keep for EU audit purposes? Category 4 is a real cost category. Therefore full records of expenditure must be retained and provided to the REA (or any person/organisation acting on its behalf) upon request. For any salary costs charged to Category 4, timesheets must be completed and retained Do we need to spend the money evenly over the lifetime of the project? NO, the amount is calculated per project, and does not need to be spent in the same timeframe as the researcher-months How is it distributed between the partners? This is a decision of the consortium, normally the coordinator retains a larger share of the management costs. The distribution should be addressed in the consortium agreement What if our total project costs are less than planned? The 10% rate applies to the total accepted costs at the end of the project

How much? 10% of direct costs except for subcontractors and the costs of the resources made available by third parties which are not used in the premises of the beneficiary Do we need to claim the money evenly over the lifetime of the project? YES, the amount is applied per period, and must be proportional to the costs claimed for the reporting period How is it distributed between the partners? For multi-beneficiary Grant Agreements overheads are strictly limited to 10% per partner per period Cost Category 5 - Contribution to overheads

Can a fellow take maternity or parental leave? Yes, in accordance with the national legislation Are the costs of the leave eligible? When mandatory under national law What costs can be claimed? Only compulsory and non-recoverable costs under the applicable national law are reimbursed, under request and submission of pertinent documents together with the final reports at the end of the project Will the EU contribution automatically be increased by that amount? For maternity benefits it has to be noted that the Commission/REA can decide, on request by the beneficiary, to augment the sum of the total grant to cover for the additional mandatory (under national law or any other rule imposed on the beneficiary and thus not at its discretion) and non-refundable (from social security schemes or private insurances) charges Parental and maternity leave

Is subcontracting allowed? Yes, if foreseen in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement (except for minor tasks, e.g. printing of leaflets) What can be subcontracted? Beneficiaries may use external support services for assistance with minor tasks that do not represent per se:  Project tasks as identified in Annex I  Core management tasks What procedures do we need to follow? You need to follow the rules of your institution. Any subcontract, the costs of which are to be claimed as an eligible cost, must be awarded according to the principles of best value for money (best price equality ratio), transparency and equal treatment. Subcontracting

… further questions?

Thank you for your attention