Grant Award Terms & Conditions

Leukaemia & Myeloma Research UK Grant Award terms & conditions

1. Definitions

1.1 In these terms and conditions the following terms shall have the meanings set out next to them

2. General

2.1 These Grant Terms & Conditions together with LMRUK’s Research & Grant Policy and the Award Letter set out the terms and conditions upon which LMRUK makes the Grant to the Organisation and the Grantholder. To the extent of any inconsistency between the Grant Terms & Conditions, LMRUK’s Research & Grant Policy and the Award Letter, the Award Letter takes precedence.

2.2 For the purposes of management and control, the legal and formal responsibility to honour the terms of the grant lie with the Organisation. However, the responsibility for compliance with the day-to-day delivery of the project for which the grant is awarded, and reporting rests with the named Grantholder.

2.3 The Organisation and Grantholder must ensure that all Research Personnel comply with these Grant Terms & Conditions.

2.4 LMRUK does not act as an employer with respect to the Grant, and therefore in all cases where support is provided by the Grant for the employment of staff, or the Organisation otherwise employs staff for the purposes of the research funded by the Grant, the Organisation undertakes to issue a contract of employment (between it and the individual) that is in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

2.5 It is the responsibility of the Organisation and the Grantholder to ensure that the Grant is spent solely for the purposes set out in, and in accordance with, the application submitted for the Grant and in accordance with any additional conditions detailed in the Award Letter and these terms and conditions and to ensure that the Grant is spent in accordance with the Organisation’s purposes as set out in its governing documents. If any of the Grant is used other than in accordance with this clause, the Organisation shall immediately inform LMRUK in writing and repay all the misspent monies.

2.6 LMRUK reserves the right to change these Grant Terms & Conditions at any time. If an amendment is made LMRUK reserves the right to apply the revised terms and conditions to the Grant on provision of 14 days’ notice.

3. Administration

3.1 The Grantholder must formally accept the Grant in the manner set out in the Award Letter, whereupon both the Grantholder and Organisation will be deemed to have accepted the Grant Terms & Conditions. No payments will be made by LMRUK unless and until the Grant has been accepted.

3.2 By accepting the Grant, the Grantholder signifies that they agree with the Grant Terms & Conditions and any specific stipulations detailed in the Award Letter or subsequently agreed in writing. By accepting the Grant the Grantholder confirms that the information contained in the application and related correspondence with LMRUK was submitted to LMRUK in good faith and contains no incorrect or deliberately misleading information. If LMRUK is given cause reasonably to believe that the Organisation and/or the Grantholder has not complied with this requirement, this may be a ground for termination of the Grant at clause 11.

3.3 A Grant will be activated upon the submission of the first grant payment request by the Grantholder or Organisation. Grants with a value of more than £15,000 should be activated within twelve months of the date of the Award Letter. Grants with a value of £15,000 or less should be activated within six months of the date of the Award Letter, If the Grant has not been activated within these timeframes, LMRUK reserves the right to withdraw the offer of the Grant, unless an extension has been approved.

3.4 LMRUK should be advised by the Organisation or Grantholder at any point during the lifetime of the Grant if there are any substantive delays in the grant time frame and the reasons for this.

3.5 Failure to comply with clauses 3.3 and 3.4 may be a ground for termination of the Grant at clause 11.

4. Financial Administration

4.1 The maximum level of the Grant is that stated in the Award Letter.

4.2 The Organisation must ensure that all expenditure relating to a grant award can be evidenced.

4.3 Viring of funds between budget headings (as detailed in the Award Letter) is permitted without the need to refer to LMRUK provided that the amount vired does not exceed 10% of the total grant. Virements above this level must be approved in advance by LMRUK.

4.4 Equipment funded by the Grant is awarded to the Organisation and remains the property of the Organisation and must not be removed. The responsibility for ongoing costs e.g. maintenance, insurance and running costs lies with the Organisation.

4.5 The control of expenditure under the Grant must be governed by the normal standards and procedures of the Organisation and must be covered by the formal audit arrangements that exist there.

4.6 LMRUK reserves the right to audit the finances of the Organisation in relation to the Grant at any time, either by itself or by a representative, and the Organisation shall cooperate fully with the audit, allowing access to all financial records (including but not limited to, records of grant money received, disbursed, original invoices, VAT records) and permit the copying of relevant documents.

5. Public Benefit

The Organisation must ensure that LMRUK is not put at risk of breaching UK charity laws or regulations because of any relationship between a third party and Organisation, the Grantholder or other personnel working on the Grant. The Organisation must ensure that the Grant, the activities undertaken as part of the Grant, and results arising from the Grant are applied for public benefit, and that any private benefit is only incidental and is not excessive.

6. Conduct of the research

6.1 The Organisation shall ensure that research conducted pursuant to the Grant is conducted in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations and codes of practice, and that all necessary licences and approvals have been obtained and are adhered to. This includes in particular, but is not limited to, those concerning the use of animals and the obtaining of patient consents and ethical committee approvals. 

6.2 The Organisation must ensure that:

1. all research Personnel receive training appropriate to their duties;
2. adequate resources, premises and facilities are provided to support the Grant Activities and their achievement within the timeframe set out in the Award Letter;
3. all equipment used for the Grant Activities is fully maintained, insured and is safe; and
4. it identifies and safely manages any risks which could affect the health of the Grantholder, Research Personnel and any other person who could be affected by the Grant Activities.

7. Research integrity

7.1 The Organisation and Grantholder must conduct the Grant Activities in accordance with the highest standards of research integrity including, where applicable, in accordance with Universities UK’s ‘Concordat to Support Research Integrity’. The Organisation must also:

1. make reasonable efforts to mitigate the risk of scientific misconduct occurring consistently with the Organisation’s own Guidelines for Research Integrity;
2. have in place formal written procedures for the handling of allegations of research misconduct and make those procedures available on to LMRUK on request;
3. notify LMRUK at the earliest opportunity of any allegations of research misconduct connected in any way with the Grant or Grant Activities, as well as the progress and outcome of any ensuing investigation into the misconduct.

7.2 LMRUK also reserves the right for it, or its agents, to investigate any aspect of fraud or misconduct itself and the Organisation and Grantholder shall provide assistance and information to LMRUK for that purpose.

8. Intellectual property

8.1 LMRUK requires that the Organisation will use all reasonable endeavours to protect and exploit the Intellectual Property arising from work done pursuant to a Grant and has in place strategies and procedures for the identification, protection and management of Intellectual Property, full details of which have been provided to LMRUK and with which the Organisation must comply.

8.2 The rights to Intellectual Property generated during the course of the grant belong to the Organisation who will ensure, at its own cost, full protection of such Intellectual Property where appropriate.

8.3 The Organisation shall notify LMRUK in writing (which may be in one of the reports referred to below), providing details of the steps which the Organisation will take to protect the Intellectual Property and shall keep LMRUK regularly updated on the progress of such protection.

8.4 No rights to any Intellectual Property arising from the work conducted pursuant to the Grant may be assigned or licensed (formally or informally, expressly or impliedly, in whole or in part) without LMRUK’s written consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld. The Organisation agrees that LMRUK shall be entitled to withhold consent until the Organisation has entered into an appropriate revenue sharing agreement with LMRUK which shall reflect LMRUK’s contribution to the development of the Intellectual Property.

8.5 If, in the reasonable opinion of LMRUK, supported by an opinion from LMRUK’s independent lawyers or advisers, the Organisation is not taking all reasonable steps to appropriately protect Intellectual Property, the Organisation must either take such reasonable protective steps as are recommended by LMRUK’s independent lawyers or advisers or must execute an assignment of the Intellectual property in question to LMRUK (or its nominee) for nominal consideration in good time for LMRUK to take the recommended steps. The Organisation shall reasonably cooperate with LMRUK (or its nominee) in relation to the protection of such assigned Intellectual Property by LMRUK (or its nominee).

9. Reporting and evaluation

9.1 Progress Reports – Interim progress reports will be requested six monthly during the life of the Grant, together with a final report within six weeks of the conclusion of the work conducted pursuant to the Grant. Failure to provide these so may result in a delay in or withholding of payment.

9.2 Financial Reports – Financial update reports will be requested during the life of the Grant. Failure to provide these may result in a delay in or withholding of payment.

9.3 Impact Reports – To help assess the impact/effectiveness of LMRUK’s funding, update reports may be requested from time to time after the Grant has been spent and the project completed and the Organisation shall provide such reports as may be reasonably requested.

10. Acknowledgements and publicity

10.1 LMRUK may use data or other material from research it funds for fundraising or publicity purposes. The Grantholder and Research Personnel funded by the Grant will promote LMRUK and its charitable objects by complying with all reasonable requests from LMRUK to attend or speak at events and provide images and copy for LMRUK publications. The Organisation will also cooperate in relation to publicity and fundraising activity for LMRUK.

10.2 The Grantholder and Organisation must comply with any guidelines for branding, communications and engagement that LMRUK may issue from time to time. The Grantholder and Organisation must contact LMRUK before making any public announcements regarding the Grant Activities.

10.3 The Organisation shall:

1. inform LMRUK at least two weeks in advance of proposed publication of Results, and where necessary shall delay such publication as reasonably required by LMRUK in connection with the obtaining of Intellectual Property protection and preparation of appropriate press releases;
2. so far as is reasonably practical, ensure that Results are published reasonably promptly in appropriate papers and the fact that that LMRUK’s grant has supported the work must be acknowledged in all research publications;
3. provide a copy of submitted publications, and publications gone to press, to LMRUK’s Trust Board.

11. Termination

11.1 LMRUK reserves the right to terminate the Grant at any time. Where practicable LMRUK will give the Organisation and Grantholder 21 days’ notice and reasons for termination in writing, but LMRUK is not obliged to do so and may terminate the Grant with immediate effect. Grant monies already paid to the Organisation must promptly be returned to LMRUK, save for any expenditure properly and necessarily incurred in work done pursuant to the Grant up to the date of termination (which for the avoidance of doubt, shall not include any costs relating to redundancy payments to staff working on the funded project).

11.2 The following clauses of these Grant Terms & Conditions shall continue to apply after termination of the Grant: 2.4, 2.5, 4, 6.2(c), 6.2(d), 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13.4.

12. Liability and indemnity

12.1 LMRUK relies on the Organisation to ensure that the Grant Activities are carried out in accordance with best practice to avoid damage, loss or injury to persons or property. The Organisation will also ensure that Results are properly validated prior to publication. LMRUK accepts no responsibility for costs incurred other than those set out in the Award Letter, nor any liability for any accident, injury or loss sustained by any person in connection with the Grant Activities or publication of Results.

12.2 By accepting the Grant the Organisation agrees to indemnify LMRUK against any costs, claims or liabilities (including legal costs) suffered or incurred by LMRUK as a result of any action, claim or complaint brought against LMRUK in connection with or arising from any of the Grant Activities or the publication of results.

13. General

13.1 Neither the Grantholder nor the Organisation is permitted to assign any of its respective rights or obligations in connection with the Grant without the prior written consent of LMRUK.

13.2 These Grant Terms & Conditions, together with any applicable provisions of LMRUK’s Research & Grant Policy, the Award Letter and other documents referred to in the Award Letter (Contract), represent the entire agreement and understanding between the parties in relation to the Grant arrangements and work carried out under the Grant and will supersede all arrangements or agreements (if any) relating thereto that may have been previously entered into or made between the parties, except in respect of any fraudulent misrepresentation made by either party.

13.3 Nothing in the Contract shall be construed to constitute either party the partner, joint venture partner, agent or employee of the other party and, except as expressly provided in the Contract, neither party by virtue of the Contract has authority to transact any business in the name of the other party or on its behalf or incur any liability for or on behalf of the other party.

13.4 Unless the right of enforcement is expressly granted, it is not intended that a third party should have the right to enforce a provision of the Contract pursuant to the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

13.5 The Contract shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and the parties irrevocably agree that the English Courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any disputes which may arise out of or in connection with the Contract.