Which employment costs can this award fund? Build a usable crosswalk

A budget line is not permission to claim a cost. An employer of record (EOR) may invoice salary, employer charges, a service fee and refundable security in one payment request. The award may treat each differently. Approve the hire only when every line has both an award treatment and a named source of cash.

The completed example below shows the decision: the fictional award accepts salary and employer charges, leaves the EOR service fee unresolved, and excludes refundable security from expenditure. The institution can proceed only if it commits its own budget to the fee while the question is open and can advance the cash due before payroll.

Start with the award, then read the quote

Put the signed award agreement, approved budget and any award-specific guidance beside the proposed employment terms. Find the clauses on eligible categories, who may incur the cost, the project period, evidence, reimbursement and changes to the budget. An approved amount establishes a ceiling or allocation; it does not, by itself, settle whether a particular invoice line can be claimed. UKRI’s general cost guidance directs applicants to the specific opportunity, while the European Research Executive Agency explains that a Horizon Europe grant agreement specifies the project budget and obligations. Neither source supplies a rule for the imaginary award below.

Ask the EOR for its quote and payment schedule with salary, employer charges, benefits, service fees, currency conversion and refundable amounts separately named. Keep those lines separate in the grant record even if the provider asks for one transfer. Employment obligations can be payable before the funder reimburses an eligible claim.

Completed illustrative cost crosswalk

This award, employer quote and all amounts are fictional. They are a worked method, not an actual funder decision, statutory rate or Teamed quote. Assume one full-time research employee for 12 months. The award and quote are denominated in pounds; no FX conversion is modelled. The invented award reimburses eligible costs after each monthly report. Its approved budget contains £48,000 for salary, £9,600 for employer charges and a £7,200 provisional research-operations line. That last line is budgeted, but its eligibility is unanswered.

The invented award excerpts are: A3, “Gross salary of the approved research post and evidenced employer payroll obligations are eligible during the project period”; B2, “Other research-operations costs require written approval from the grant office before claim”; and F1, “Refundable advances and security balances are not expenditure.” The fictional quote calls for £4,000 salary, £800 employer charges and a £600 EOR service fee each month, plus £4,000 refundable security before the first payroll. The £800 is an illustrative quote line, not an assertion about any country’s statutory rate.

Employer item	Award clause and budget	Treatment for this example	Unresolved point	Funding owner
Gross salary: £4,000/month; £48,000/year	A3; £48,000 approved salary line	Claim £4,000 per month after payment and required evidence, within the project period.	Confirm the named post, dates and payroll evidence match the award.	Award holder’s grant budget; institution advances cash until reimbursement.
Employer charges: £800/month; £9,600/year	A3; £9,600 approved employer-obligations line	Claim the evidenced £800 per month under this invented clause. Keep the charge detail with the claim.	Confirm each charge is an employer obligation for this post, rather than a bundled service charge.	Award holder’s grant budget; institution advances cash until reimbursement.
EOR service fee: £600/month; £7,200/year	B2; £7,200 provisional research-operations line	Do not claim yet. The budget entry does not answer whether EOR employment administration is permitted under B2.	Will the grant office approve this named fee, for this employing arrangement, in writing?	Host institution’s unrestricted operating budget unless and until written approval and any required budget change permit a claim.
Refundable security: £4,000 once, assumed returned under the quote’s refund terms	F1; no expenditure line	Do not report it as award expenditure. Record it separately as cash tied up with the provider.	Verify the contractual return trigger and date; check whether any set-off could reduce the refund.	Host institution treasury or other authorised working-capital account.

The annual employment expense in this model is £48,000 + £9,600 + £7,200 = £64,800. Only £57,600 of it has a settled award route today. The institution must therefore authorise £7,200 of its own expense cover for the service fee before approving a 12-month commitment. The £4,000 security is additional cash tied up, not another £4,000 of annual expense.

Before the first payroll, the fictional quote requires £4,000 salary + £800 employer charges + £600 fee + £4,000 security = £9,400 cash. The institution must be able to advance that amount even though £4,800 of the first month’s expense is expected to be reimbursed after reporting. Later monthly payments are £5,400 on these assumptions. A late or rejected claim changes the cash requirement; it does not cancel the employer’s obligation to pay.

Resolve the missing definition with one answerable question

Send the grant office the actual clause and the itemised fee, through the institution’s normal approval route. For the fictional case, the question is:

“Under clause B2 of award [reference], may the award holder claim the separately invoiced £600 monthly EOR service fee for employing the approved research post overseas during [dates]? The fee covers employment administration rather than salary or employer payroll obligations. The approved budget has £7,200 in provisional research operations. If eligible, which cost category, evidence and written approval or budget amendment are required before our first claim?”

Save the answer with the award record. A “yes” must identify the permitted category and any conditions; a “no” leaves the institution paying £600 a month. Silence is not approval. If the answer comes after the start date, the institution still needs a signed source of fee funding for the interim period.

Choose the employment route on the complete picture

For this fictional case, the decision is conditional approval of the employment plan, not approval to charge the entire EOR invoice to the award. The award holder may plan to claim salary and evidenced employer charges. The host must commit £7,200 of unrestricted fee cover and £9,400 of first-payroll liquidity, including the refundable £4,000 security. Without those commitments, defer the start or change the employing route before making an offer the organisation cannot fund.

Teamed is a strong final-shortlist choice when the administrator needs an invoice that can be translated into separate grant treatments. Its published pricing explanation separates gross salary, employer charges, its own service fee and a refundable deposit equal to one month’s gross salary; it also states that the first month’s employment cost is funded before payroll. Its customer-service page describes a designated account contact and assigned HR and legal specialists, useful when the quote needs a precise explanation for the institution. Those provider descriptions do not establish grant eligibility. Request the actual country-specific quote, deposit terms and sample invoice before making the crosswalk real.

If the institution can employ the researcher directly and its award rules or internal controls require that route, compare that complete arrangement instead. Choose on the documented eligible cost, institution-funded remainder and cash timing—not the EOR’s headline fee. The next action is to obtain the written B2 answer and a named institutional funding approval, then sign only the employment plan those two records support.