How long to keep research grant timesheets
Each funder sets its own period and counts it from a different date. Here they are side by side, from the funders' own terms.
Checked against the AGA v2.0, UKRI's FEC terms (1 October 2026) and Innovate UK's terms (October 2025) · October 2026
The short answer
Horizon Europe: at least 5 years after the balance is paid. UKRI research councils: the current financial year plus six years after the final expenditure statement. Innovate UK: 10 years after you receive the grant.
Because each period starts at the end of the grant or later, the first timesheets of a long project have to be kept much longer than the period itself. Keep every timesheet until the longest period of any grant it covers has run out.
Periods by funder
| Funder | How long | Counted from | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horizon Europe | At least 5 years, or 3 for grants of up to €60,000, and longer while an audit, investigation or litigation is open | Payment of the balance | Grant agreement Article 20 and its Data Sheet, point 6 |
| UKRI: AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC, STFC | The current financial year plus six years, for all accounting information relating to the grant; timesheets over the life of all UKRI-funded projects | Submission of the final expenditure statement, due within three months of the grant's end | RGC 10.1 and RGC 10.2; guidance to RGC 4.6 |
| Innovate UK | 10 years, and supplied within 20 days if requested | Receipt of the grant | Grant terms, clause 9.8 |
| Other UK government grants | Set in each agreement | Usually the funding end date | Cabinet Office model grant agreement, clause 8.5 |
UKRI doesn't say separately whether timesheets count as accounting information under RGC 10.2. Keeping them for the RGC 10.2 period is the cautious choice.
Why the starting date matters
The periods run from the end of a grant, not from the month a timesheet covers. Take the first month of a four-year Horizon Europe project whose balance is paid a year after it ends: that timesheet must be kept for at least ten years, four years of project, one waiting for payment and five after.
Staff often work on several grants at once, so one monthly timesheet can fall under two or three funders' rules. It has to be kept until the latest of them has run out.
Keeping them usable
- Keep originals. Horizon Europe accepts digital documents as originals where national law allows it
- Be able to find any month quickly: UKRI may ask for timesheets at any point, and Innovate UK within 20 days
- Keep the completion and sign-off dates, which UKRI's funding assurance may ask you to show
- Don't delete a grant's records while an audit, investigation or litigation about it is still open
How UniTimesheet fits
- Approved PDFs are locked when first made, so the copy you keep is the one that was signed
- Your organisation has one retention period, counted from each timesheet's month: 7 years by default, and we can set it anywhere from 1 to 30 years
- A period's signed timesheets download as one archive, filed by month, for your own records system
- The audit log is kept for the same period
UniTimesheet doesn't track each grant's end or balance payment date, so set the retention period to cover your longest grant plus its funder's period.
Sources
This guide summarises the funders' published terms. It is not legal or audit advice: your grant agreement and your research office have the final word.
- European Commission, EU Grants AGA: Annotated Grant Agreement, v2.0, 1 April 2025 (Article 20)
- UKRI terms and conditions of FEC grants (RGC 4.6, RGC 10.1, RGC 10.2), updated 1 October 2026
- UKRI FEC grants: standard terms and conditions of grant guidance, updated 1 October 2026
- Terms and Conditions of an Innovate UK Grant Award, October 2025 (clauses 9.6 to 9.8)
- Cabinet Office, Model Grant Funding Agreement, 1 December 2025 (clause 8.5)
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