UKRI timesheet requirements, including EPSRC

The short answer

On a UKRI grant, anyone charged as directly incurred staff who works across more than one activity must fill in a timesheet, and it must be completed and approved within two months of the period's end. Their staff costs must reflect the hours actually worked on each UKRI project, not the budgeted ones.

This is the same for every research council, including EPSRC: the rule is in UKRI's common terms and conditions for FEC grants, condition RGC 4.6.

What RGC 4.6 says

"Timesheets must be completed by all members of directly incurred and exceptions staff who work across more than one activity. Timesheets must be completed and approved within two months after period end. Staff costs for these individuals must reflect the actual, rather than budgeted, hours worked on each UKRI project. We may request details of these at any point and where evidence cannot be presented we reserve the right to apply sanctions as outlined in RGC 2.1."

UKRI added the condition in November 2022. "More than one activity" means any other work, whoever funds it: UKRI's FAQs say the condition applies "regardless of funding source".

Who needs a timesheet

Open Access Block Grants, Impact Acceleration Accounts and training grants are outside RGC 4.6.

Directly incurred or directly allocated

The difference decides whether time records are needed. UKRI defines directly incurred costs as costs "charged as the cash value actually spent and are supported by an audit record", and directly allocated costs as shared resources "charged on the basis of estimates rather than actual costs". Under directly allocated, "no record of actual costs at a project level is required during the project life".

Project leads and co-leads go under directly allocated when their costs are estimates. They can be charged as directly incurred if their time is auditable, meaning they are contracted 100% to the project or timesheets are used.

What a UKRI timesheet must show

UKRI's guidance to RGC 4.6 lists the audit records it expects:

• Every activity the person worked on in the period, not just the UKRI projects
• All hours worked, totalled at least monthly, including non-productive time such as annual leave
• Actual hours, not budgeted ones
• Completed and authorised, at a minimum by the relevant line manager, no later than two months after the period ends
• Kept for the life of all UKRI-funded projects

UKRI accepts paper timesheets with wet signatures, electronic workbooks, or dedicated software "which maintain an audit trail of completion and authorisation dates". Its FAQs say email sign-offs could meet the requirement, and that funding assurance may ask you to show the date of completion and sign-off. Monthly is the usual period; weekly is acceptable.

What funding assurance looks at

UKRI's Funding Assurance Programme tests a sample of grants at each research organisation, starting from lists of transactions and staff. It reports finding examples "where the audit trail for directly incurred staff costs has not been maintained", and reminds organisations that directly incurred costs must be charged "on an actual cost basis rather than as a budgeted cost".

Its control environment assessment asks directly whether you keep timesheets for staff charged as directly incurred and exceptions, and asks for your policy and process documents on running, validating and authorising them. Have those written down before the visit.

How long to keep them

RGC 10.2 requires you to keep "all accounting information relating to the grant for the current financial year plus the subsequent six years after the submission date of the final expenditure statement". The guidance to RGC 4.6 says timesheets must be kept over the life of all UKRI-funded projects.

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; your research office will have a policy.

EPSRC and the other councils

EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC, ESRC, AHRC, NERC and STFC grants all use UKRI's common terms, so RGC 4.6 applies to each. EPSRC's own costing pages say the same thing in older words ("timesheets or project records", "investigators" for project leads). BBSRC adds that it expects time recording to be regular and continuous, with records verified at least monthly. Innovate UK grants have their own terms, with daily time records; see the Innovate UK guide.

A checklist for research offices

• List every directly incurred and exceptions person who works on more than one activity, whoever funds the other work
• Have them record all hours each month, across every activity, including annual leave and other non-productive time
• Charge actual hours from the timesheets, never the budgeted split
• Get each timesheet completed and authorised within two months of the period's end, and keep the dates
• Decide how project leads are charged, directly allocated or directly incurred, and record time if it's directly incurred
• Check nobody is claimed at more than 100% FTE across grants
• Write down your timesheet policy and process for funding assurance
• Keep timesheets for the RGC 10.2 period after the final expenditure statement

How UniTimesheet fits

UniTimesheet is dedicated software of the kind UKRI describes, built for staff on research grants:

• A monthly timesheet per person, with hours per project and week, worked out from their allocations and days off and corrected to the hours actually worked before they submit
• A deadline you set, daily reminders after it, and escalation to the principal investigator two weeks later, so timesheets are in well inside the two-month window
• Submission and approval dates on every approved PDF, next to each person's uploaded signature image, and an audit log of every change you can export
• Approved PDFs are locked when first made and kept for your retention period, counted from the timesheet's month: 7 years by default, and up to 30 if you need longer

Three things to check against UKRI's list. A timesheet covers the projects you set up in UniTimesheet, so add non-grant work such as teaching as projects if staff must account for all activities. Days off reduce the hours and are recorded in the app, but the signed PDF doesn't list them, to keep leave types private. And approval is by the project owner, usually the principal investigator: confirm with your research office that this satisfies the line-manager sign-off for each person.

• Start a free 30-day trial
• See how UniTimesheet timesheets work
• Innovate UK timesheet requirements

Sources

This guide summarises UKRI's published terms and guidance. It is not legal or audit advice: your grant offer and your research office have the final word.

• UKRI terms and conditions of FEC grants (RGC 4.6, RGC 7.5, RGC 10.2 and Annex A), updated 1 October 2026
• UKRI FEC grants: standard terms and conditions of grant guidance, updated 1 October 2026
• UKRI RGC 4.6 FAQs, 3 January 2023
• UKRI Funding Assurance Programme
• EPSRC: directly incurred costs
• EPSRC: directly allocated costs