These are the key tasks that you’ll need to complete after you’ve been awarded a grant.
In this section
Accepting your award
If you’re successful, we’ll issue you with:
- A grant award letter
- Grant conditions
- Funding policies
- A grant acceptance form
We won’t send this information through the post. We’ll email it to the lead applicant who will need to forward it to the relevant contacts.
To accept the award, the lead applicant, head of department and finance office must sign the grant acceptance form. By completing this form, the lead applicant and host institution are agreeing to accept our grant conditions and funding policies. Once an award has been accepted, the grant can be activated.
Accelerated UK work visa
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Global Talent Visa route
If you require a visa to work in the UK, you may qualify for the accelerated Global Talent Visa route. The Global Talent Visa is open for promising and talented individuals in specific sectors wishing to work in the UK. It replaced the Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) Visa from 20 February 2020. Some of Breast Cancer Now’s fellowships, awards, and posts funded through our grants are eligible for the Global Talent Visa. Breast Cancer Now is recognised as an endorsed funder under the Endorsed Funder Route.
To be eligible, researchers should have their name or job title specified in a successful grant application to us. They must be hosted by an approved UK research organisation such as a university, independent research organisation or Public Sector Research Establishment (which are listed on this government website). They will also need to:
- Be working on a grant which is for no shorter than 2 years and worth no less than £30,000 per annum.
- Have a hosting agreement or contract of employment with an approved university, independent research organisation or Public Sector Research Establishment with at least 2 years remaining at the time of their visa application.
- Either independently direct or direct under the supervision of a Principal Investigator a unique research or innovation project
OR; - Make a critical contribution to research through the provision of core technical or domain excellence, or in developing new technologies and methodologies.
More information on the Global Talent Visa can be found on both the UKRI website and Home Office website.
If staff who will be employed on the grant require a visa to work in the UK, they may qualify for the accelerated Global Talent Visa route (see above for more detail). The Global Talent Visa is open for promising and talented individuals in specific sectors wishing to work in the UK.
Breast Cancer Now allows visa fees, but not NHS surcharges, to be charged to the grant for all directly incurred staff employed on the grant for at least 50% of their contracted time. We will only cover these costs if your institution does not cover them as standard. This cannot be extended to family members.
All costs must be met within the original funds requested. These costs should only be included at the time of application where it is known that they will be required and not as a contingency for any posts that will need to be recruited for.
Activating your grant
Once contracting is completed, the lead applicant must complete and submit a ‘start date form’ to activate the grant. This needs to be completed online through Grant Tracker.
Please read the following guidance notes on How to complete your start date form.
You'll be asked for the exact start date of the grant. This date is important because it becomes the point from which expenditure is invoiced. As per the grant conditions, the grant should start within a 9-month timeframe from the point of award. We understand that circumstances may arise that prevent this from happening.
Please get in touch with us to discuss any delays to your project starting within the prescribed timeframe.
Submitting your invoices
Each quarter, your finance team will need to email us invoices in arrears, beginning from the start date you've declared. Each invoice must quote the grant reference number and must only include costs you’ve incurred during the corresponding claim period. Your finance team will need to complete and submit an expenditure breakdown form along with each invoice.
Your finance team will need to submit claims within 30 days of the end of the corresponding claim period. We can’t reimburse final claims until you or your team complete a satisfactory final progress report.
Submitting scientific progress reports
You’ll need to submit scientific progress reports through Grant Tracker. The lead applicant will receive an automated email from the system informing them that they need to submit a progress report, by a set deadline.
It is important your progress reports are completed on time to help us monitor your progress, including any IP or PR opportunities, to help inform strategic discussions, and to demonstrate the importance of funding vital breast cancer research to the generous supporters who donate to Breast Cancer Now to fund your work.
Requesting grant amendments
We expect most awards to be completed within the agreed duration. However, we understand that your plans may be delayed. You may need to request an extension or suspension to ensure that you meet your research deliverables.
Please contact our research team.
You must request extensions in writing before the end of the grant period.
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Grant abeyance requests
If your research activity has completely stopped, and you aren’t continuing to incur costs (including salary costs), then you may want to consider temporarily pausing your grant. Please contact us at grants_admin@breastcancernow.org and we’ll provide you with a copy of our abeyance request form.
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Cost extension requests
We’ll only consider cost extensions in very limited circumstances. We don’t allow cost extensions to use unspent funds on work that wasn’t specified in the research proposal as awarded, unless it has been agreed with us in advance. Please contact grants_admin@breastcancernow.org as early as possible before the grant end date to discuss your circumstances.
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Project amendment requests
Some projects might require amendments to the project post approval. This may be for relatively simple things like a change of team member, or they may be more substantial changes. Should you wish to make an amendment to an approved study, you will need to submit an amendment request and get our approval in advance.
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No-cost extension requests
If you require additional time to complete your project. In this case you need to submit a No-cost Extension Request Form providing justification for the requested extension and a revised end date for your project. All extensions must be requested in writing before the end of the grant period.
We want to maximise the impact of your research and raise your profile as a world-class breast cancer researcher. We’ll treat any information you give us in advance of publication in the strictest confidence. Please read our publication, communications and engagement policy for further information on how to manage publications arising from your Breast Cancer Now funded research.
Open access commitment
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Open Access
At Breast Cancer Now, we believe that if we all act now, by 2050, everyone who develops breast cancer will live and be supported to live well. We want our research to have the maximum impact possible. We believe that making research findings open and freely available to everyone will help to reach this ambitious goal.
Open access is an important means of achieving this as it enables everyone to access information that could benefit them, including people affected by breast cancer, researchers, supporters and policy makers. We are committed to working towards a sustainable future for immediate, open research. This will help to accelerate progress, promote innovation and ultimately should allow the charity’s objectives to be achieved more quickly. As per our open access policy, we ask that you make original research articles open access as soon as possible.
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Who does this apply to?
If your research is funded by us, you must let us know before you submit a paper, when an abstract is accepted at a conference, or of any other outputs of your research. If your salary is paid by us, we’re interested in everything you publish, even if it's largely funded by other sources.
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What do I need to do?
To inform us of upcoming publications, please email us at publications@breastcancernow.org to let us know that your paper has been submitted. Please let us know the grant reference so we can ensure the publication is linked to the correct project and tell us before the paper is published. The earlier we know about it, the more we can do to support it.
Frequently asked questions
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I can't log into Grant Tracker. Can you help?
If you think you already have an account but don't have details, use the 'forgotten password' function to get your password emailed to you.
If your email is not recognised, or you have never applied to us before, register yourself as a new user.
If your account gets locked, contact the research team at grants_admin@breastcancernow.org.
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I didn't get my password after registering. Can you help?
Please contact the grants admin team at grants_admin@breastcancer.org.uk.
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How can I update my personal details?
Once you have logged into Grant Tracker, click on the 'My Details' tab. Click 'edit details' and follow the instructions.