Part IV - Charge-out rates

Section E: Estate charges

Chapter E.2 Calculating charges

1. Estates charges for Research can be applied on a £ per FTE basis. This chapter describes the minimum requirements when using this method.
2. Estates cost totals for Research are divided by Research FTEs to produce the estates charges for Research.
3. FTEs – of academic staff, researchers, and PGRs - were defined in full time equivalents. This will not be the same FTE total that is used in the calculation of the indirect cost rate:
   • PGR weightings in the estates charges are different from those used in the indirect cost rates;
   • some FTEs that are included in the calculation of the indirect cost rate may not be in the calculation of the estates charge, in particular where staff are working wholly off-campus;
   • in the estates calculations, FTEs are assigned to either laboratory departments, or to non-laboratory departments, as two different estates charges are calculated.
4. Technical and clerical staff FTEs should not be included in the denominator.
5. Two estates charges should be calculated – one for laboratory departments, and one for non-laboratory departments. It is good practice to review the need for a third charge – a clinical estates charge – where institutions have clinical departments of medicine or dentistry.
6. If an institution does not do any laboratory-based Research, then the non-laboratory estates charge only would be calculated (and vice versa).
7. Institutions may calculate and apply different estates charges for each department or management unit or type of staff, if they wish.
8. Weightings are to be applied to PGR student FTEs when included in the denominator of the estates charges calculations. These are 0.8 for laboratory subjects, and 0.5 for non-laboratory subjects (compared to 1.0 for an academic/research staff FTE).
9. The £/FTE should be converted from/ to £ per day and £ per hour rates, on the basis of 1650 standard working hours in a year (220 standard working days; 7.5 hours in a day).
10. The calculation of the non-laboratory (or generic) estates charge is:

    the estates costs for Research in non-laboratory (e.g. social sciences, mathematics and humanities) departments, including the costs of space used by PGR students in those departments

    divided by

    the number (FTEs) of academic and research staff working on Research in those departments, plus PGR student FTEs in those departments weighted by 0.5

    to give a £/FTE non-laboratory estates charge

11. The calculation of the laboratory estates charge is:

    the estates costs for Research in laboratory departments (excluded from the estates costs used in the non-laboratory estates charge calculation, above)

    divided by

    the number (FTEs) of academic and research staff working on Research in these laboratory departments, plus PGR student FTEs working in these laboratory departments weighted by 0.8

    to give a £/FTE laboratory estates charge

12. ‘Laboratory departments’ can be defined institutionally, but would normally include any department with significant equipment or facilities requiring additional space and servicing, above that of a typical social sciences, mathematics or humanities department.
13. An FTE should either be in the laboratory estates calculation or in the non-laboratory estates calculation, but not both.   The FTEs used in the laboratory calculation, when added to the FTEs used in the non-laboratory calculation, should use the same FTEs data that were used in the indirect cost rate calculation. These should be reconciled.
14. Some staff in laboratory departments may be working on a wholly desk-based (non-laboratory) project. Their FTEs should have been moved from the laboratory department FTE total to the non-laboratory department FTE total, when calculating the estates rates - see FTEs. It is not necessary, however, to move 'their share' of laboratory department costs to the non-laboratory department cost total, when calculating the rates. The above also applies when non-laboratory staff work on laboratory project.