Research Facilities

Find out how UCL Research Facilities are classified, how this determines approaches to costing and charging on research projects, and access guidance for departments and facility managers.

UCL Research Facilities are classified as either a TRAC FEC Charge-out Facility or (non-TRAC) Multi-user/PrincipaI Investigator (PI)-led. The classification determines the approach to costing and charging on research projects

Facility types

FEC Charge-out equipment & facilities (TRAC-listed)

Approach to costing and charging:

Charge-out rates can be included on research applications submitted to all funders, including UKRI
Associated estate costs are extracted from UCL’s main rate
All UCL TRAC facilities are Directly Incurred (DI) costed facilities.

Multi-user and PI-Led Equipment & Facilities (Non-TRAC)

Approach to costing and charging:

Only DI costs can be included on research proposals submitted to funders who pay FEC (e.g., UKRI)
Costs may be included in applications to other funders such as Charities, Industry, and overseas bodies, where permissible and in line with funder guidance
Associated estates costs are included within UCL’s main rate.

FEC Charge-out Facilities (TRAC Listed)

The facilities are reviewed annually as part of the annual TRAC return by UCL’s FEC Steering Group to assess levels of recovery and as part of this exercise, a compliant rate for each facility is calculated.

FEC rate: inclusive of facility staff costs, maintenance, consumables, equipment depreciation, and estates costs
Charity rate: excludes estates costs and equipment depreciation
Industry rate: applicable when applying/recharging to industry funders.

The appropriate facility charge-out rate should be used when costing usage on research applications, i.e., the FEC rate should be used when applying to UKRI and other funders meeting the FEC, whereas the Charity rate should be used when applying to Charities. If awarded, the subsequent charges should be calculated based on usage and the appropriate facility’s published rate.

Multi-user and PI-Led Equipment & Facilities (non-TRAC)

To be included in research applications to external funders UCL requires all Multi-user and PI-led facilities to complete an Annual financial return which will generate an appropriate charge rate for the following categories:

Direct Costs: Can be included in proposals to FEC Funders/Charities.
Direct Costs Plus: In addition to direct costs, includes an element for depreciation.
Commercial Rate: Includes full costs and should be included on applications to Industry and overseas bodies.

The inclusion of research facility costs on research applications should always be in accordance with the funder's terms and conditions.

View TRAC Facilities and Multi-user/PI lead Facility Charge rates

Guidance for Academic Departments

Applying for funding

Academic Departments should establish the Funder’s policy regarding the inclusion of costs for research facilities within the application.

It is advisable to discuss proposed facility usage with the Facility Manager (to ascertain capacity and any additional costs which may be incurred) ahead of finalising the application.

If access to an FEC Charge-Out Facility is required, the appropriate published rate (FEC or Charity, Industry) should be selected in Worktribe from the dropdown list within the Facility field.

If access to a Multi-user and PI-led facility is required, the appropriate published rate (Direct Costs, Direct Costs Plus, or Commercial) should be used. These should be manually entered into the Research Facilities budget line on Worktribe with a clear descriptor including Facility Name/Location for review and audit purposes.

Supporting information including a quote from the Facility Manager should be uploaded to Worktribe project record.

Managing funding

It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (or their nominated delegate) to ensure only eligible costs are charged to the research project.

The usage rate should be as per the appropriate rate depending on the funder type.

Charges for use of the facility must relate to actual usage during the project period and should be charged to the appropriate project promptly after the usage has been incurred.

The following costs should not be charged to research projects unless the funder has provided written approval of this in advance:

Costs for usage incurred after the project has ended.
Cancellation charges (imposed by the Facility in the event on non-attendance)
Payments on account (in advance of need)

If you are to be charged for this type of cost, please discuss an alternative source of funding with your Department Manager.

Guidance for Charge-out Research Facilities

Applying for funding

It is the responsibility of the Facility Manager to ensure that all appropriate rates are quoted/advertised to all intended users who are applying for external research funding.

The Facility Manager should encourage potential users to contact them at the earliest opportunity so they may provide further advice about the availability of their facility and its usage costs to ensure a correct costing rate is applied during the application process.

Where possible the facility manager should provide written confirmation of the quote and capacity available for the work to the Principal Investigator to include on their Worktribe project.

Managing funding

The Principal Investigator who intends to use the facility should inform the Facility Manager to confirm the appropriate funder type rate and arrange to book usage.

Usage should be charged in accordance with the current year's published rates. For example, 6 units x £100 rate = £600 charged to the research project. For audit requirements, any discounts need to be published alongside the official rates and backed up with full evidence of how the discounted rate was calculated in accordance with TRAC methodology. The discount should be open to all internal users.

Usage charges should be recharged to the appropriate PTAE promptly to enable appropriate budget management and reclaiming of the cost from the external research funder.

We would advise the following information is obtained from the Principal Investigator at the time of booking and forms part of the usage data stored for audit queries.

Project/Task/Award (PTA)
Funder
Funder Type – Charity/FEC/Industry
Start and end dates of the research project.

The facility must log all chargeable usage of their Facility and keep the information for a minimum of 7 years to allow the Facility Manager to address any audit queries on projects if further details are required. Therefore it is recommended that this information is stored either in a database, on spreadsheets, or another appropriate method.

Cancellation charges should not be charged to the research project. Charges must always be based on actual usage incurred. The Principal Investigator should provide the facility with an alternative funding source if this charge is applicable.

Further information

For future information on including facility charges on external research applications and awarded projects please contact Award Services.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions aimed at research facilities

(TF) - answer relates to TRAC facilities
(MUF) - answer relates to Multi-User facilities
No key indicates the answer applies to both types of facility.

Why should a research facility provide an annual costing report?

Research funders require greater transparency and cost models for all types of facilities that apply access charges for research grant activity.

UCL needs to be able to demonstrate to funders how it has arrived at the charge-out rates and that they are applied consistently across the university. This will be reviewed by funders during grant audits. Failure to evidence rates charged to grants can lead to costs being removed from grants (a cost to the university) or funders requesting improvements.

Completing the template allows department and faculty management to understand in more detail how the facility operates and highlights financial performance and future investment needs (such as equipment or staff) so that they can be incorporated into budgets/forecasts planning rounds where required.

Research facilities are expected to operate on a cost-recovery mechanism. This template will identify where that is being achieved and support discussions to improve recovery where needed.

Should my facility be a TRAC or MUF facility?

This is determined by the source of funding received. Some funders, including UKRI, require the use of the TRAC methodology to be able to charge facility costs to its grants. Costs related to TRAC facilities are then removed from the calculation of the institutional overhead rates (Estates and Indirect Costs) and applied to the project research FTE.

Excluding the overhead costs of these facilities from the institutional rates means they can be fully costed on projects using the TRAC charge-out rate (including associated overheads) without any risk of double counting.

Indirect Costs associated with a multi-user facility (MUF) are recovered through UCL’s institutional overheads (Estates and Indirect Costs) and must be excluded from the facility charge-out rate to avoid double charging funders.

In summary, if your facility’s main source of funding is FEC funders, e.g. UKRI, it is better to be TRAC listed. If your main source of funding is charity grants (which do not pay Indirect Costs), then it would be beneficial to be a multi-user facility.

More information on TRAC can be found on the UCL Finance website (UCL login required).

Other factors to consider are the amount of time that the facility is used for research outputs compared to other activities, such as teaching, and whether the facility is effectively recovering its costs.

If a high percentage of the facility’s time is used for teaching, this is time that we cannot recharge to grants and are therefore not recovering the Indirect Costs if it were to be TRAC listed. In such instances, it may be beneficial to be classified as a MUF.

Similarly, if a facility is not effectively recovering its costs, as indicated by the facility generating losses each financial year, it may be more beneficial for the university to be registered as a MUF.

What are the different charge-out rates and how do they differ?

The main drivers for each rate are:

Charity/Direct only: staff costs, consumables, service contracts, and other direct costs
Full Economic Cost (FEC): All of the above, plus depreciation and Estates costs. This is a TRAC-only rate used for FEC funders, including UKRI. Further details regarding FEC can be found on our Costing Principles (FEC) webpage.
Industry/Commercial: the above rate, plus 20%. This is a suggested rate that can be negotiated with the user but should at least be the FEC rate.

What charge-out rates can be used for TRAC and multi-user facilities and when?

Direct Costs only

TRAC Listed: Yes - for Charities and other 'non-FEC' funders.
Multi-user facility: Yes - for any funder except industry.

Full Economic Cost (FEC)

TRAC Listed: Yes - for UKRI and other FEC funders.
Multi-user facility: No - this rate cannot be used for multi-user facilities.

Industry/Commericial

TRAC Listed: Yes - for UKRI and other FEC funders.
Multi-user facility: No - this rate cannot be used for multi-user facilities.

If I am applying for a 5-year grant, how should charge-out rates be costed into the grant and applied throughout the project life?

The grant should be costed based on the current rate available relevant to the funder type (see previous question). Each year, the latest relevant rate should be used when recharging against the grant.

Worktribe includes an inflationary increase on the facility budget in the grant costing, which is expected to cover the likely yearly increases in the charge-out rates. Rates are not expected to change materially above inflation.

How is depreciation of equipment calculated and why is this included in the cost?

Depreciation in the costing exercise is calculated as the current replacement cost of the piece of equipment that is capable of meeting current and anticipated demand divided by the useful life of this piece of equipment in years.

Depreciation is included in the TRAC and Commercial charge-out rates to ensure that the University is operating in a financially sustainable way. Although it may be the case that the equipment ends up being grant-funded, there is no guarantee that we will be successful in our bid submissions and therefore UCL must have the funds available to replace the equipment if needed.

Under TRAC guidelines, FEC funders will accept costs for the depreciation even though the equipment may have been purchased by a grant.

Why is there such a large difference between the FEC rate and the Charity/Direct Cost rate?: (TF) The charity rates are always lower, sometimes significantly, as charity funders only pay for direct costs associated with a research project. The FEC rate includes the full cost including the direct costs and estates and depreciation – the full economic cost (FEC) to UCL.

Where can I find information about space and depreciation costs?: Depreciation costs included in the exercise are determined by the facility. Space costs are calculated on an annual basis by the Senior Finance Analyst (TRAC), currently Graham Willard.

Is support available to understand the budgeting process, and how to estimate changes in usage over time, especially when setting up a new facility?

Department Finance Managers or Faculty Management Accountants will be able to advise on the budgeting process and how the completed facility returns flow through into this.

Facilities should be tracking the utilisation of their facilities so that this can then be used in the template to help determine the rate. If a facility is new or if a new piece of equipment has been introduced to a facility, estimates are acceptable for the first year until actual data is available.

How is data generated for the pre-populated financial template?

Each facility should have a unique 6 digit myFinance project code against which all the income/expenditure transactions should be posted. A transaction database is held centrally and upon entering the unique project number for a facility, financial data is pulled through.

It is worth noting only income/expenditure incurred on this project is captured. Users have the ability in the spreadsheet (section 2, ‘Charge out rates’ tab) to add any expenditure into the charge out rate that was incurred on a different project or remove expenditure incurred on the unique project related to other activity.

How to add rates for activities e.g. training and support, which are not dependent on a piece of equipment?

The spreadsheet is designed to assign direct costs to each piece of equipment. These costs are then assigned to each service/output based on the proportion of the equipment’s time spent on this service/output.

Therefore, to add a rate for something not linked to a piece of equipment such as training and support, the user will need to enter this as a piece of equipment to allocate an appropriate amount of direct costs to it. A service for training and support will then need to be added where the user will need to assign 100% of the related ‘equipment’ time to it.

Is there flexibility to include batch rates, off-peak or overnight rates

(TF) No – TRAC has determined the three rates to be used – ‘FEC’, ‘Charity’ and ‘Industry’.

(MUF) No – we are restricted to only recovering direct costs from all funders excluding industry and therefore only two rates are available.

Is training available to help fill in the financial forms?: Department finance staff should be contacted in the first instance for assistance when completing the template. Faculty Management Accountants will also be able to aid in completing the template.

Who should complete and approve the form before returning to the Faculty Finance team?

The form should be completed by the most appropriate person for each facility – whether this be the facility manager or local finance teams.

The completed form will need to be reviewed and approved by departmental management – both the Departmental Manager and the Finance Manager. The form is then saved into the shared folder by the departmental management team who also notify the Faculty Finance team.

Some of the rates calculated are too high and will discourage users from using the equipment. Can we reduce the charge-out rate to users?

The charge-out rate to users can be lowered if it is too high (section 2, ‘Charge out rates’ tab). By lowering the rate, this effectively means that the facility is not recovering all the associated costs (both direct and indirect depending on the user). Therefore, the costs not recovered will have to be subsidised by the department within its annual budget. The subsidy will need to be agreed by the departmental management team as it may need to be made up through other activities or prevent the department from pursuing other strategic aims.

Any reduced rates must be available to all users and cannot be limited to individual departments or staff groups.

Can a facility have two different rates for internal users and external users?

(TF) The template generates 3 rates (Charity, FEC, and Industry) which are to be used for all internal recharging. For an external user, the source of their funding does not restrict the charge-out rate we use and it is suggested to use the Industry rate. As we are providing them a service, we can charge a competitive market rate however we should be looking to recover at least the FEC.

(MUF) We are limited to 2 rates for all internal users. The same advice applies to external users.

Can a facility provide a discount to specific users?: No – discounts cannot be provided to specific users as this will lead to issues where a funder may be paying a different rate on different grants for the same facility.

Can a facility lower a rate to compete with other similar facilities within the organisation?: This is possible however before considering this it would be important to find out why their rate is cheaper. If the department of a similar facility is not providing any subsidies, then it may be the case that their cost base is lower which could be the result of fewer staff working on the facility, consumables being cheaper, fewer pieces of equipment, and therefore less depreciation recovered or the facility requiring less space.

How can costs that are paid for in advance (maintenance, consumables) and recovered in arrears be accounted for in the standard template?

The first approach would be to discuss with your departmental Finance Manager to ensure the costs are accounted for appropriately in the financial reports. Costs paid for in advance are classified as a ‘prepayment’. A journal can be raised to remove the costs from the accounts until the goods/services are used. The same is possible for costs paid in arrears however we would add the costs into the accounts when goods/services are used.

It is the financial reports which flow through into the templates so this method would ensure a correct cost base is generated. Alternatively, if you are aware of costs that are paid in advance/arrears but have not been adjusted using the above method, you can adjust for these in section 2 of the charge-out rate tab in the template.

Are TRAC rates reviewed before being added to Worktribe?

Yes TRAC rates are reviewed and approved by the facility lead/manager in the first instance before final sign-off in the department by the management team. Once submitted, templates will be reviewed by the UCL TRAC Accountant, Faculty Finance staff, and the Directors of Operations.

Annual rates are checked to ensure the department is content with the level of costs being recovered and to understand year-on-year changes.

If a facility is providing a service, does it need a subcontract or a service agreement?: Yes, the Facility will need to arrange a service agreement with the external organisation in advance of the external organization using the facility. It is worth considering any VAT implications as well as indemnity for clinical research.

Why is the charge-out rate low/high (in comparison to previous years)?

The main factors contributing to a change in the charge-out rates year on year are likely to be a change in the direct costs base (perhaps more staff are working on the facility). If the costs have remained at a similar level, then a likely cause is the total available utilisation figures have changed.

Where there is a material change, it is helpful to provide a supporting narrative in the ‘summary’ tab in the event costings are queried by funders.

Multi-user facilities: Do we have to use the ’direct-only’ or industry rate?: Charity/UKRI funders are only willing to reimburse universities for the direct costs they incur with the operations of a facility. Therefore, they should only be charged the ‘direct-only’ rate. Industry funders should be charged at least the FEC for running the facility. Facilities can negotiate higher charge-out rates than this.

The ‘Finance – Actuals + Forecast’ tab shows that I will make a large/small return but this isn’t what happens in practice; why might this occur?

The forecast figures for future years are based on the facility’s best estimates of what they expect to happen in the upcoming years. Whilst some of these predictions may be based on activity that is expected to happen due to contracts being in place, some of the forecasts are based on general assumptions such as a year-on-year growth to match previous years.

These assumptions may not materialise due to factors outside of the facility’s control which will cause a variance between the forecast figures and what happens in practice. Financial performance should be reviewed with your local Finance Managers and material variances should have accompanying commentary.

Do the staff I include need to be physically charged to facility project code, or can they be any core-funded staff members?

Yes. MyHR departmental transaction forms should be submitted by local HR teams to charge the appropriate proportion of staff members’ time against the unique facility project code. This results in the facility project showing all the associated costs on the financial reports and therefore allows facility managers and departments to better assess the performance of the facility. It also means that all the associated costs flow through into the spreadsheet from the outset with no further adjustments needed, which is better from the auditor’s point of view.

If staff costs are yet to be moved onto the facility’s project code but need to be included in the cost base, an adjustment can be made in section 2 of the costing template based on the proportion of their time spent on the facility.

Can new facilities generate and begin to charge out for services provided outside of the annual exercise? Can existing facilities change their rates?

(TF) – Yes, new facilities can be introduced in-year, meaning they can be costed and incorporated into grant proposals once approved by the Full Economic Cost Steering Group (fECSG). If the introduction of a new facility materially affects any of the other recovery rates these would need to be recalculated, and amended rates used in all grant proposals from that date as well as the regulators being informed of updated rates. Given the overall size of UCL and its suite of facilities, it is not anticipated that material changes would be caused by the introduction of new in-year facilities.

However, if a potential new facility is considered substantial and the annual facility rate update is not far away, it may be considered that waiting to fit in with the annual cycle would be a more prudent approach.

(MUF) – Facilities are not restricted by the annual costing exercise occurring in September/October. If there is an urgent need for a facility to begin charging outside of this exercise, it is possible to do so and discussions should be held with your local departmental management. It is also possible to change the rates if your cost base has changed materially from what was included in the template at the time of setting the charge-out rates.

Questions aimed at approvers

What do I need to look out for when approving the facility’s completed template?

That all relevant staff costs are being recovered and are coded directly against the unique project code for the facility.
The level of subsidy provided to the facility (what costs aren’t being recovered), and how is this shortfall being met.
Any future needs of the facility which should be captured in the budgeted exercise.

How can we ensure the appropriate rates are used on grant applications?

TRAC facility rates are loaded onto Worktribe whilst the rates for MUFs are stored in a database available on the Research Services website. The database also contains TRAC facility rates for completeness.

Facilities should provide quotes for the usage of the facility (which can be uploaded on Worktribe to support the application) and it is then the responsibility of the departmental management and Research and Innovation Services to check that the rates used are correct for the funder. Inappropriate rates should be highlighted to the facility and amended.

Our Award Services team will also undertake project-level rate checks.

Does the facility keep records of users and grant activity?: The facility should maintain records of usage and funding sources. This is important for several reasons such as the day-to-day management of the facility, determining whether a facility should be TRAC of MUF, and to support the utilisation figures included in the costing templates when the University and research projects are audited.