Appearing in front of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control at the end of last week, Director-General of DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission – Marc Lemaître – confirmed that the institution is planning a wider rollout of lump sum funding in the remaining years of Horizon Europe.
As previously reported by UKRO, the Commission plans to gradually increase the number of topics in the future Work Programmes of Horizon Europe, ensuring that by 2027 around half of the total EU expenditure under the programme will be distributed as lump sums. This would represent a significant increase from the 5% of total expenditure that was distributed among the beneficiaries in this form under the 2021-2022 Work Programme, which included almost 30 topics utilising this funding approach. Mr Lemaître stated that the percentage of the total expenditure distributed in the form of lump sums under the current 2023-24 Work Programme is expected to reach 20% next year (up from 15% this year).
The total number of lump sum topics in the current Work Programme exceeds 220 and the complete list can be found on the Funding & Tenders Portal, together with dedicated guidance on how to apply and manage this type of projects.
Furthermore, the Commission will hold its next webinar on how to apply to lump sum calls in Horizon Europe on 19 October 2023.
As lump sums are expected to become the norm in the remainder of the programme, subscribers are strongly encouraged to become familiar with this form of funding under Horizon Europe and contact their dedicated UKRO European Advisor with any questions.
Standardised unit costs for personnel working on Horizon Europe projects
Mr Lemaître also confirmed that the Commission is in the early stages of planning another simplification measure, which could help reduce the significant number of financial errors on Horizon Europe projects – standardised unit personnel costs, which would be an alternative to the error-prone actual costs that require complicated calculations on Horizon projects to ensure that the costs are eligible. The Commission plans to finalise its work on the implementation framework for such standardised unit personnel costs by the end of the year.
UKRO will keep subscribers updated on any developments in this area.