Issue in Question
In response to recommendations made in the Horizon 2020 interim evaluation, the 2018-2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Work Programme implemented more flexible part-time working arrangements for Individual Fellowship awards (IF).
Previous arrangements expected the fellow to be employed full-time to work exclusively for the action, and part-time requests were only possible during the implementation period for personal or family reasons. The new implementations allow for part-time working on an Individual fellowship due to professional reasons, such as creating a company, engaging in advanced studies, or participating in separately funded awards. This has been applied retroactively to Individual Fellowships funded during Horizon 2020.
The relevant parts of the Annotated Model Grant Agreement are Article 6.2A (b) ii) on cost eligibility (Page 480 in AMGA v5.1) and Article 52.1 on amendments (Page 500 in AMGA v5.1).
Clarification
Professional reasons for requesting part-time working that have been approved have included creating a spin-off company, pursuing other funding opportunities (including other H2020 funding such as an ERC grant), participating in advanced studies or higher teaching loads, or to begin working for their next employer in the final months of their fellowship.
UKRO also understand that the following part-time arrangements for professional reasons would not be allowed;
- Working less than 50% of full-time on the Individual Fellowship
- During the outgoing phase of a Global Fellowship
- Participating in another MSCA Award – Other MSCA awards would require the fellow to work 100% of their time on the action, therefore it would not be possible to work part-time on an IF award in order to participate in other MSC actions.
- Where the mobility of the fellow would be compromised through the part-time arrangement – For the time that the fellow is working on the action they need to be physically located at the host institution (with the exception of secondments, research visits etc.) and evidence of this will be necessary in case of an audit. Part-time arrangements are not a suitable mechanism to work around this criteria requests cannot be made to spend 50% of their time back in their home country and then “work remotely” for 50% of their time for the host institution, or similar requests where the fellow would no longer meet the mobility requirement of the scheme.
- If a suspension is a more appropriate intervention – Part-time working on an Individual Fellowship relies on time records recorded on a weekly basis. Therefore the expectation would be that the part-time working arrangements would constitute half of the fellow’s working week. Requests where the fellow wishes to spend 1 month working 100% on the action, then 1 month at 0% (or similar arrangements for other periods of time) should be dealt with as a grant suspension for the period of inactivity, rather than as a part-time arrangement. Suspensions for professional reasons are limited to a maximum of 30% of the grant duration.
REA has clarified that in case of requesting part-time arrangements for personal or family reasons, the fellows must dedicate at least 50% of their working time to the MSCA action. This is stated on Page 95 in MSCA Work Programme 2018-2020.
Under Horizon Europe, fellows can also request part-time work for personal or family reasons, but they must spend at least 50% of their full working time on the MSCA action. UKRO understands that fellows cannot request part-time working arrangements for child-caring. In this case, fellows should request a suspension and request a long-term leave allowance.
Part-time working arrangements need to be agreed upon with the fellow, the supervisor and the host institution. It is recommended those considering requesting part-time arrangements discuss these with their project officer as early as possible to determine if a suitable work pattern can be arranged, as formal approval is required by the project officer. Requests can be made at any stage of the grant implementation.