Accepting your offer

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) may award grant funding through the Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system, UKRI Funding Service or the Innovation Funding Service.

Je-S

If you have been successful in a funding opportunity, we will send an email to your research development manager or officer.

They will then get the offer document through the Je-S system.

The offer document tells you the:

  • amount the project has been awarded
  • earliest start and end dates of the project

What you need to do next

Check that the details of the award match your application. If they do not match or your project has changed, contact the research council that is funding your award.

To get your funding and start your project, your research development manager or officer will need to accept the award through Je-S. They must do this within 10 working days of receiving the offer document.

They will then receive a start confirmation document with the start date of your project. They must submit this through Je-S within 42 days of the date your project started.

Your funding award could end if they do not accept the award or submit the start confirmation.

Find out more about how to accept an award and submit the start confirmation in the Je-S handbook.

UKRI Funding Service

For Funding Service awards, we will email the administrator account holders at the lead organisation when we have made a new award offer.

If you are an administrator in the funding service you will be able to view:

  • a list of the awards for your organisation
  • details of the award holder
  • status of the award
  • any tasks due

Please note: the award and application title will be the same but the award reference will be different. It will be easy to cross-reference the application and the corresponding award. On the award offer overview page you can view all details about the award offer, including the start date, end dates, and a link back to the original application and opportunity applied for.

Simpler and Better Funding webinar: introduction to accepting and managing awards (YouTube)

What you need to do next

Accept the award offer

You can respond to the award offer by either accepting the award offer on behalf of your organisation and the award holder or returning it to UKRI for amendment.

To improve transparency, on the award offer overview page you can view any sections that have been updated since the application was submitted.

Changes will be clearly highlighted and a reason for the change will be recorded in the ‘change history’ section.

Before accepting the award you will need to check the grant agreement, and accept the standard terms and conditions, as well as any additional terms and conditions.

You can accept or reject the grant agreement by ticking the relevant option.

If you need to amend the start date, please do not reject the grant agreement. Once you have accepted the grant agreement you can specify the project’s start date when you submit the start confirmation.

Respond to award offer: UKRI Funding Service training webinar (YouTube)

Start the award

To start your award, go to the award overview page and select Start Award. This will take you to the start confirmation form.

You will be able to see further guidance across the top of the page with information about starting awards. You can enter the start date which can be either a date from the past or the day you’re completing the form. It cannot be a date in the future.

Once you’ve completed the form with the required information, you can start your award.

Unless the research council has issued a specific start date in the terms and conditions, the lead organisation will have:

  • 10 days to accept the award
  • 90 days to accept and start the award
  • 42 days from starting the award to confirm the start date

We may withdraw your funding offer if project setup is not completed within this or an alternative timeframe as advised by UKRI.

Start award: UKRI Funding Service training webinar (YouTube)

Innovation Funding Service

There is a different way to accept your award if your project is funded by Innovate UK.

Last updated: 24 October 2024

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