How to extend or postpone your grant end date

The grant end date is determined by the start date of a grant and the duration agreed with Wellcome when it is awarded.

You must start the grant within 12 months of the date of your award letter. 

If we fund the grantholder's salary, all posts funded on the grant must end when the grantholder's salary support ends.

You must send us an end-of-grant report when your grant ends.

The grant end date will change if:

• we agree a no-cost extension
• you are awarded a costed extension (for research-related reasons)
• changes due to parental leave, sick leave or changes to working hours

Covid-19 extensions

For grants with an original end date in 2024, we will consider an extension to your grant of up to 12 months due to disruption caused by the pandemic. This is in addition to our standard no-cost extension policy. 

Submit your request using the online no-cost extension form, making sure to specify that you are requesting an extension due to Covid-19 disruption.

You must do this at least two months before your original grant end date.

Other no-cost extensions

We will consider a request for a no-cost extension for up to 12 months to continue activities related to your original grant, if there are sufficient funds remaining on the grant to do so. We will not give you any more funds.

If agreed, you can't ask for any other changes to the end date, including bringing the end date earlier, unless they relate to changes due to parental leave, sick leave or changes to working hours.

We will not award a no-cost extension and a costed extension on the same award. See our supplementary funding policy for more information on costed extensions.

Examples of when we will agree to a no-cost extension

• Delays in receiving ethical (or other) approvals.
• Patient/participant recruitment delays.
• Procurement issues.
• Facilities being shut down/refurbished or research site changes.
• Staff recruitment delays (where multiple posts do not all start at the same time) or there are gaps in posts being occupied during the grant (for example, a postdoctoral research assistant leaving).
• Original research objectives not yet achieved.

Examples of when we will not agree to a no-cost extension

• Expansion of the project. For example, if the original aims/activities on the grant have been completed, or the extension of activities are significantly different from the original project plan.
• Funds would be shifted into budget headings not covered by the original award, or if funds are ring-fenced, for uses other than that originally agreed.
• Conference/meeting attendance.
• Writing new grant proposals.
• Bridging funds to cover a period between grants.
• Writing up a thesis.

How to request a no-cost extension

Submit your request using the online form within the last 12 months of the grant and no later than two months before the current end date. No-cost extensions will not be considered if requests are received after the current grant end date.

If, for recruitment reasons, you require earlier confirmation that your grant will be extended please contact your Funding Manager who will provide written confirmation of our commitment to extend the grant for up to 12 months when the request is submitted.

Talk to your research and finance offices about the funds remaining on your grant before asking for an extension.

You will need to tell us:

• your proposed new end date 
• why you are asking for a no-cost extension
• that you have enough grant funds to continue your work during the extra time requested 
• that remaining funds are not being used from ring-fenced budget headings for other purposes

If you are the grantholder and Wellcome funds your salary on the grant, you can use existing grant funds to support your salary during the extension. If you don't have enough funds to do this, your salary must be supported by another source.

Where a grant for follow-on funding has been awarded, this will not be activated until the no-cost extension period on the existing award has ended.
 

Holders of a joint grant must get agreement from all the other grantholders to change the grant's end date. Grantholders are responsible for telling their research and finance offices of changes to the end date.

The person with the latest end date will need to submit the end-of-grant report for the whole grant.