Supplementary grant funding

If your grant has been disrupted by the pandemic and is due to end in 2020 or 2021, you may have already received a supplement from us.

For all other grants, as well as those due to end in 2022 or later, we will only agree to provide a supplement in exceptional circumstances.

Instead, we expect you to manage your existing funds to lessen the impact of the pandemic disruption. For example, you could:

• adjust your research programme
• use your grant funds flexibly (read our policy on transferring costs between budget headings)
• ask for help from your organisation
• use the government support available, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (in the UK) if your employer determines that this is appropriate.

If your award is from our Innovations division and payments are conditional on milestones, you should discuss your needs with your Wellcome contact.

See our Coronavirus (Covid-19): information for grantholders.

We will provide supplementary funding to cover:

• the costs of paid parental leave or sick leave taken by Wellcome-funded staff
• additional direct research costs (such as research staff and expenses) when a Wellcome grantholder takes parental leave or sick leave.

For sick leave, tell us when you took sick leave and for how long, but please do not share any sensitive personal health information with us.

We may provide supplementary funding to cover:

• increases to Wellcome fellows' salaries resulting from:
  • promotions (within an organisation and when moving to another organisation)
  • regrading (for example when a clinician completes their clinical training and receives an Honorary Consultant Contract)
  • career breaks.

  You must include evidence with your request to show that the standard institutional process has been followed. For career breaks, please do not share any sensitive personal information with us.

• specialist support to enable Wellcome-funded postgraduate students to complete their studies if:
  • they are disabled or have a chronic health condition, and
  • their Disabled Students' Allowances are insufficient.

  The support must be project related. It can include assistive technology (for example text to audio software) to help students use computers, research equipment or materials. When you ask for these costs you must include details of the:

  • support you already have in place
  • source of this personal support.

• open access charges from publishers who support the open access model (but your organisation should cover these costs if it receives Wellcome open access block grant funding)

• exceptional or unforeseen circumstances.

We don't provide supplementary funding when the actual costs of employing staff are more than the salary budget we've awarded. For example, when:

• actual pay awards for staff are more than those used to calculate the salary budget
• staff are employed on a higher salary than originally budgeted for
• there is an increase in employers' National Insurance and/or USS pension contributions
• there is an increase in studentship fees and stipend rates.

You can use any of the other funds on your grant to cover the actual costs of employing staff.