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As part of their terms and conditions, some of our major funders require evidence of time spent working on an award each month. Find out what you need to do, access guidance, and timesheet templates.
Major funders such as UKRI (including Innovate UK), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the European Commission require staff charged to research and innovation projects to record the actual time they have spent on project activities in a timesheet or equivalent every month. Other funders may also require this on a case-by-case basis.
Compliance with funder conditions on time recording is a key area covered in audit checks. If we are unable to provide properly completed and authorised timesheets to support the claim of staff costs, the entire amount claimed for that employee may be declared ineligible. Therefore the impact of non-compliance is significant.
What do I need to do?
Outlined below are timesheet requirements for some of UCL's major funders. To ensure you meet your funder's requirements, you should also refer to the terms and conditions attached to your award. Staff required to record their time should use the appropriate UCL timesheet template.
- European Commission (EC)
All staff charged to EC-funded projects, including students, are required to complete timesheets. This includes all researchers fully or partly funded by EC grants, for all funding types, and other support staff where applicable.
Timesheets need to:
- Be completed, signed, and dated by the person performing the work using the appropriate UCL timesheet template, and countersigned and dated by the relevant PI or line manager within 4 weeks after the end of each month
- Be returned by departments to Award Services every 3 months from the start of the project via email
- Reflect the actual number of hours worked (including overtime), split by project, work package, or activity
- Include a brief description of the tasks undertaken
- Record absences such as annual leave, sick leave, and UCL closure days at the contracted daily hours.
- UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
Timesheet records should be kept by all staff directly charged to a UKRI grant who at any point worked less than 100% of their time on the project activities. This includes:
- Research assistants
- Research fellows
- Technicians
- Administrative staff
- Staff on casual employment contracts
- Staff employed via Unitemps.
Timesheets are not required for:
- Directly Allocated staff
- Postgraduate Research students
- Staff working 100% of their time on a single project whether they are working full-time or part-time
- Open Access Block grants
- Impact Acceleration Accounts
- Training grants (where staff costs for managers/administrators are eligible).
Timesheets need to:
- Be completed, signed, and dated by the person performing the work using the appropriate UCL timesheet template, and countersigned and dated by the relevant PI or line manager
- Be returned by departments to Award Services every 3 months from the start of the project via email
- Reflect the person’s actual working hours
- List all the projects the person worked on that month
- Record absences such as annual leave, sick leave, and UCL closure days at the contracted daily hours.
- Refer to UKRI’s terms and conditions for further information on timesheet requirements for grantholders.
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Principal Investigators (PIs) are required to complete an assessment of time spent on the project for all NIH grants to meet UCL’s audit requirements. Audits are undertaken each financial year for US funding. The time assessment form should be completed annually every August for the period August-July in line with UCL’s financial year.
UCL has a standard template to enable staff to record time spent on research and innovation projects across multiple funders. Staff should record time spent on project activities for UKRI, EC, and other major funders (except NIH) using the template below (UCL login required).
Access the staff timesheet template
NIH
Staff working on NIH projects should record their time using the time assessment form below (UCL login required).
Access the NIH time assessment form
Checklist for departments
Departments should ensure timesheets are completed as required every month throughout the lifetime of a research or innovation project. This includes making sure that:
- Timesheets are completed using the appropriate timesheet template
- Staff, department, and project number details are completed and correct
- Timesheets show the actual hours worked on project activities
- Timesheets are signed, countersigned, and dated by staff and the line manager/PI each month
- Timesheets meet funder expectations.
Departments should also ensure completed timesheets are sent via email to the Post-Award Research Finance Administrator for your department every 3 months from the start of the project.
Use our checklist for departmental support staff (docx) to help ensure timesheets meet UCL and funder expectations.
Further support
In the first instance speak to your departmental research support staff who can guide you through the relevant process and requirements. If you need further project-specific support, contact our Award Services Post Award team.
Frequently Asked Questions
- If staff work on more than one research grant should a separate timesheet be completed for each project?
Only one timesheet is required every month, showing at least 100% of the employee's contracted time at UCL.
The UCL timesheet template for UKRI, EC, and other major funders (except NIH) allows hours worked across different projects/funders and all other activities to be recorded.
- How accurately should time be recorded? Do hours worked need to be recorded per day?
You should record your time as accurately as possible. It is recommended that time is recorded in 15-minute increments, for example, 5.25, 3.75, etc.
Hours should be recorded as per the employment contract and they can be compressed. Timesheets should be completed on an all-hours worked basis totalling the cumulative hours per month as a minimum.
- What if more than the contracted hours have been worked?
Staff should record actual hours on a timesheet. If a member of staff works more than their actual productive time, including non-working days (if applicable), it is not necessary to cap the hours worked. Researchers should plan their workload in line with the funder's terms and conditions.
- Are electronic signatures accepted?
Completed monthly timesheets must be signed by both the member of staff and their line manager. The signatures must be a wet signature that demonstrates completion/sign-off every month and cannot be subsequently changed. Electronic signatures are not accepted for the time being.