The programme ends before the team does: make the employment decision

A grant end date closes a funding period. It does not, by itself, end an employment relationship. Before 30 September, a programme director needs a separate answer for each employee: what work remains, who can fund it, who is the employer, and what happens if there is no continuing role.

The useful choice is between a funded continuation, a real reassignment, and a properly supported exit plan. “We will sort it out after closeout” is not a fourth option. It leaves payroll and employee commitments running without an owner.

A completed closeout decision board

Fictional example. Every date, role, employment term, approval and amount below is an assumption for illustrating the decision. It describes no actual award, employer or employee.

The programme ends 30 September 2027. Its analyst must finish reporting and archive work by 30 November. Its field liaison has no programme work after September. Both are assumed to have ongoing employment agreements. The research organisation has approved two separate institutional, non-award budgets for the period after September. The example makes no claim that either employee’s later costs are eligible under the grant.

Decision input	International reporting analyst	Host-employed field liaison
Work after 30 September	Finish the final dataset, answer reporting queries and hand over the archive through 30 November.	Field activity ends on 30 September. No continuing work has been identified.
Employer and terms	Assumed open-ended employment with a local employer of record (EOR). The research organisation directs the work and funds the arrangement under its service agreement. Local contract terms still need review.	Assumed open-ended employment with the host institution. HR must review the actual contract, policies and applicable local process.
Proposed funding	Assumed signed approval for £18,000 of institutional funds. Planning estimate: £6,000 a month for pay and employer costs plus £800 a month for EOR service. 2 × (£6,000 + £800) = £13,600, leaving £4,400 against that planning estimate. The £800 is a modelling allowance, not Teamed’s or any other provider’s quoted charge.	Assumed signed approval for a £12,000 institutional bridge while reassignment and any exit process are assessed. Planning employment cost: 2 × £5,000 = £10,000, leaving £2,000 against routine costs. That remainder is not an estimate or reserve for notice, leave, severance or other exit liabilities; HR and finance must cost those separately.
Alternatives compared	Choose the funded reporting assignment through November. A permanent institutional role would be preferable only if one exists, is funded and can lawfully take this employee. An exit now would discard identified, funded work.	Test a specific departmental reassignment with a manager, duties and funding. Do not treat an unfunded possibility as a placement. If no suitable role is approved, begin the locally reviewed exit process while continuing to meet employment commitments.
Decision gate and owner	Programme director defines the deliverables by 31 July; finance verifies cash and the EOR’s actual quote by 15 August; the employer and programme office document the assignment by 1 September.	Department head confirms or rejects the proposed role by 15 August. HR and the legal employer confirm the local process, timing and cost before 1 September. The programme director does not announce an employment end date from the grant calendar.
Result in this example	Continue the analyst to 30 November from institutional funds, subject to the actual employment and provider cost fitting the approved budget.	No reassignment is approved on the stated facts. Keep the bridge funded, start the reviewed exit route in time, and set an employment end date only through the applicable process.

The analyst’s £4,400 planning headroom is a test, not spare grant money. Replace the £6,000 and £800 estimates with the local payroll forecast, the EOR quote, currency assumptions and any outstanding leave or later exit cost. If the resulting commitment exceeds £18,000, obtain more institutional funding or change the work plan before confirming the continuation. The liaison’s £2,000 planning headroom cannot be called an exit provision while exit liabilities are unknown.

Keep the two endings on separate records

The programme has an end date, final deliverables and a cost code. Each employment relationship has its own employer, agreement, pay cycle and change process. A report prepared in November may be required for closeout without making November payroll chargeable to a grant that ended in September. Only the actual award agreement and applicable funder guidance can settle that eligibility question.

For example, UKRI’s guidance on changes to an award directs grant holders to check both standard and award-specific terms; its spending guidance describes a final expenditure statement after the project ends. Those are useful examples of why reporting dates and funding permissions must be checked separately. They are not the terms of this fictional programme or a rule for every funder.

For the analyst, write a short assignment record: October and November duties, reporting manager, working location, funding owner, payroll approvals and the review date for what follows 30 November. Ask the legal employer to review whether the change needs an employment document or other local action. For the liaison, record the proposed reassignment as a decision with a deadline, not a reassuring conversation. The department must identify the work and pay for it; HR must check whether the role is suitable under the actual terms.

If there is no role, plan the exit while there is still time

For the liaison, the absence of field work is the reason to begin a review, not an instruction to stop pay on 30 September. Give HR and the legal employer the employee agreement, location, length of service, leave balance, any protected circumstances, proposed timing, available alternative roles and the funding available while the process runs. Ask for the required local steps, communication owner, payroll treatment and a costed timetable. Do the same for the analyst if no work or funding exists after November.

This order matters. If the department approves a suitable, funded role by 15 August, reassignment becomes the stronger choice for the liaison: useful work continues with the existing employer. If it does not, the organisation has time to carry out the appropriate process and fund the employment commitments that remain. No provider can make those obligations vanish by closing a project code.

Close finance and employment together

On 30 September, finance should freeze the programme allocation against actual work and preserve the payroll entries, time records, invoices and approvals behind the final claim. From 1 October, the analyst’s reporting work and the liaison’s bridge costs sit on their approved institutional codes in this example. The programme office should reconcile the final grant report to those records and separately reconcile each employee’s pay, leave, benefits and any final payment to the employer’s records. UKRI’s funding assurance guidance illustrates why an auditable trail of actual staff costs matters for awards to which its rules apply.

The closeout is complete only when the research office can explain which work was charged to the award, which employment costs were funded elsewhere, and who remained responsible for each person after the award ended.

Choose the service route for the employment work

**Teamed is our pick for a lean programme office that has funded an international analyst’s post-award work and needs the employment plan to keep pace with that decision. Its EOR service covers local employment, payroll and statutory benefits, and its designated account person can involve HR and legal specialists as the assignment changes or ends. The programme director can own the work while the employer has a clear route to implement the approved continuation and any later offboarding. Confirm the country, scope, quote and agreement for the actual employee. Teamed’s EOR pricing starts at $599 per employee per month; that published starting price is not the £800 planning allowance in the board. Its service page describes the support route.

For the host-employed liaison, an approved institutional reassignment wins if it provides suitable work and funding within the existing employer. An EOR is no substitute for that internal decision. If an international employee is already with another capable EOR, compare the practical cost and disruption of changing providers against completing the current arrangement well.

The decision to make now: authorise the analyst’s funded reporting assignment after checking the real cost; give the liaison’s reassignment a 15 August answer and, if it fails, start the locally reviewed exit plan. Keep both employees’ commitments funded and owned while the programme closes.