College of Arts & Humanities

• Full-Economic Costing (FEC) was introduced to the HE sector as part of the Government's 2003 White Paper 'The Future of Higher Education'. FEC aims to improve the sustainability of University finances and to ensure that research projects in particular are accurately costed and a suitable price charged.
• FEC was developed on the basis of Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC). TRAC is the standard method now used for costing in higher education in the UK.
• FEC costs are calculated under 3 main headings:

  - Directly Incurred (DI);

  - Directly Allocated (DA); and

  - Estates and Indirect Costs.

All grants are costed on a Full-Economic Basis with the exception of travel grants regardless of whether all costs can be claimed from an individual funder.

• DI costs are specific to the project itself - they would not be incurred by anyone if the project was not happening – and cover a wide range of things including: replacement teaching costs, research associates, any new posts needed for the project, travel and subsistence and consumables.
• DI costs are divided into DI Staff and DI Other Costs.

• Are costs that the University would be paying for irrespective of the research itself but that are now to be allocated to the activities associated with this research.
• DA Costs are charged on estimates rather than actual time/costs incurred.
• Examples include: the time of the PI working on the project and other administrative, research or technical staff currently employed by the University who will be working on the project and any facility/equipment charge out costs e.g. Polyomics.
• Please note, non-FEC grants may not cover these costs. The FEC model means that time is always costed (except for travel grants) irrespective of whether payment of DA costs are being sought from the funder or not. E.g. Royal Society of Edinburgh
• Although these costs appear in research budgets, they are not a budget which can be spent directly by a PI/School. Why? At budget setting, the DA cost is allocated from General Funds to research for the duration of the grant. This is a reallocation not additional funds which can be spent in General Funds.
• It is the responsibility of Schools to manage that time allocated on grants are addressed in individual workload planning.
• Also referred to as Salary Recoups in a budgetary context. Sometimes incorrectly called buy-out. Buy-out is DI Staff replacement cost only.