UKRO, in its capacity as the UK National Contact Point (NCP) for MSCA, has received further clarification on suspensions and part-time work on MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships under Horizon Europe.
Requests for suspensions of the project or for part-time work on MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will no longer be treated as formal amendments to the grant agreement under Horizon Europe, as was the case under Horizon 2020.
Instead, beneficiaries must consult with the European Commission Project Officer (PO) and then encode periods of suspension, long-term leave or part-time work in the “Working Time Commitment” section within the Mobility Declaration.
In addition, beneficiaries must ensure that the following eligibility conditions are respected:
Generic Suspensions
A suspension is appropriate if the researcher is not working on the project (working time is 0%) for more than 30 consecutive days, for reasons other than annual leave, and this period of inactivity is not eligible for a long-term leave.
The cumulative duration of a suspension cannot exceed 30% of the “normal” project duration – excluding non-academic placements and periods of long-term leave for reasons of sickness, parental leave or special leave.
Beneficiaries must contact the PO immediately if a suspension might be required. Then the beneficiaries need to encode the requested changes of suspension in the Mobility Declaration and submit this declaration. As the responsibility for respecting the eligibility criteria during the suspension ultimately remains with the beneficiary, the submission of the Mobility Declaration will be taken as acceptance (pre-approval) unless the declaration is explicitly rejected for revision.
Part-time Working Arrangements
If the researcher and the hosting institution want to implement a part-time working arrangement during their Horizon Europe action, the researcher must follow the following criteria:
- They must agree to the part-time implementation together with the supervisor and the host institution.
- They must continue to work at the premises of the host institution during all periods of time charged to the project.
- They must spend a minimum of 50% of their working time (full-time equivalent) on the MSCA-PF project. Their working time pattern must be accurately encoded in the Mobility Declaration.
- They must work part-time on a daily, weekly or fortnightly basis. Absences of more than 30 consecutive days require a suspension.
- Fellows on Global Fellowships are not allowed to work part-time during the outgoing phase.
If the part-time working arrangement is requested for professional reasons, the host institution and the researcher must also comply with the following conditions:
- The hosting institution must keep documentation which demonstrates the actual time spent by the researcher on the MSCA-PF project.
- The researcher does not undertake the same research in more than one project.
- There is no double-charging of costs between the two projects.
- The researcher does not benefit from two MSCA grants at the same time.
- The researcher’s total time commitment does not exceed 100% Full-Time Equivalent.
- The part-time implementation does not jeopardise the research and training activities of the MSCA project.
An amendment to adjust the end date of the reporting period will still be required.
Beneficiaries should consult their PO for guidance on implementing their projects on a part-time basis. Then, the beneficiary organisation needs to encode the requested changes of part-time working arrangements in the Mobility Declaration and submit this declaration. As the responsibility for respecting the eligibility criteria during the part-time working arrangement remains with the beneficiary, the submission of the Mobility Declaration will be taken as acceptance (pre-approval) unless the declaration is explicitly rejected for revision.
Long-term Leave Allowance
Under Horizon Europe, the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme now includes the “Long-Term Leave Allowance” which contributes to the personnel costs incurred by beneficiaries in case of periods of leave that are longer than 30 consecutive days, including maternity, paternity, parental, sick or special leave. During the researcher’s long-term leave, no costs except this allowance can be charged to the project.
If such a case occurs, beneficiaries must discuss these periods with the PO to get their pre-authorisation. Beneficiaries must then encode the long-term leave in the researcher’s Mobility Declaration by selecting the specific reason for the long-term leave in the section “Working Time Commitment”.
In the Mobility Declaration, beneficiaries must indicate a percentage reflecting the amount that the beneficiary is required – under national legislation – to cover as a contribution towards the social security costs arising from the researcher’s leave. This amount is expressed as a percentage of the combined living allowance (corrected by the country correction coefficient) and mobility allowance for the period in question.
Should the host country’s national social security system cover the full costs of the researcher during their long-term leave, then the beneficiaries must encode a contribution of 0%.
Requesting Amendments to the Grant
In addition to the mobility declaration, the beneficiaries will need to request an amendment to the grant as the requested changes will have an impact on the project duration.
However, amendments should not be requested straight away, particularly since multiple periods of suspension, long-term leave and part-time implementation can be reflected in just one amendment.
Beneficiaries should therefore aim to minimise the number of amendments requested, with the only requirement being that the amendment to change the end date of the reporting period must be submitted at least two months before the (original) end date of the reporting period specified in the grant agreement.
Amendments after the end of the project are not permitted.
UKRO strongly encourages host institutions to contact the PO immediately, if the fellow needs to suspend the project, go on long-term leave or if the host institution and fellow have agreed to implement a part-time working pattern and to follow the guidance of their PO.