Financial Regulations updated as first stage of delegated authorisations project

The Financial Regulations outline our responsibilities for financial management within UCL, covering a range of areas from ethical principles and behaviours to income, procurement and budget management.  

Following a comprehensive review, the Regulations now accurately reflect UCL’s current regulatory environment, governance and practices.  

The document has been substantially restructured to make it easier to navigate and inconsistencies have been removed. We have also updated terminology, roles, governance and key institutional areas to reflect UCL’s current structure. Related policy and process links have also been updated. 

Simplified processes include:  

• Changing Research Grant and Contract Delegated Authorisation Limits to support the delivery of more effective contracting support as part of Research and Innovation Service improvements. 
• Updating the Commercial and Procurement Services supplier selection process, including raising the threshold for purchase order checklists from £50k to £75k to reduce administration for staff involved.  

Further improvements to MyFinance requisition approval and signatory maintenance processes will be shared this week. 

The revised Financial Regulations and associated FAQs about the regulations and the wider Delegated Authorisations project are published on the Finance webpages.  

About the Delegated Authorisations project 

Delegations are the powers given to specified roles and committees by UCL’s ultimate decision-making governing body – Council.

The project was established as part of the priorities identified through our Strategic Plan consultation. It aims to: 

1. Ensuring regulatory compliance in relation to decision making at UCL  
2. Increasing transparency and clarity around who is authorised to take specific types of decisions at UCL 
3. Supporting greater operational efficiency and reducing workload (decisions taken by the right people at the right time)  
4. Addressing potential areas of institutional risk where current authorisations are unclear or misaligned to institutional governance  
5. Strengthening the accountability and appropriate autonomy of specific role holders/decision makers at UCL.

The project will result in changes to our governance documentation including the development of a comprehensive Scheme of Delegation document.