15 March 2017 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
RCUK has published its decision on whether research organisations submitting an fEC proposal to the Research Councils can recover the costs of the new Apprentice levy. The announcement confirms that “The Research Councils …have agreed that the cost of the Levy can be recovered by adding the levy charge through direct staff costs, for both Directly Allocated and Directly Incurred Staff. This should be added to any UK based salary at 0.5%. This would not apply to any staff based at overseas Organisations.
The levy charge can be included on all future applications submitted from this date, no amendments to applications or grants submitted or funded will be allowable, though the charge can be recovered through grant virement within the cash limits of the grant.” There are further information and links on the RCUK website.
For broader context, we’ve been regularly encouraging readers that the Apprenticeship Levy, while undoubtedly an inconvenience to some, is an opportunity as well as a cost. There are a range of interesting blog posts on both the UUK and HEFCE websites covering the topic, as well as many of our own news updates and resources.
