Vary your grant

If you have previously varied your grant due to COVID-19 and can demonstrate that COVID-19 continues to impact your grant, we will consider further variations on a case-by-case basis.

Grant variations

The Grant Variations Policy describes our policy position on varying grants.

Variation requests for all grants are to be submitted in Sapphire. Guidance on how to submit a variation request is available on Sapphire Help (written instructions) and in the Sapphire Knowledge Base (video tutorial).

Grantee variation requests

Under the Grant Variations Policy the expected order of variation requests for delays and deferments is Defer on Commencement, Defer in Progress, Investigator Grant – Suspend in full and Extend End Date. In general, a maximum of 12 months is permitted for each variation type. However, to provide immediate support to the sector during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, we approved extensions to the end date (bulk requests) and individual extend end date variations for Exceptional Circumstances (EC) regardless of what variation types had been previously approved or the grant stage.

Noting that all variations are assessed in accordance with the Grant Variations Policy, to support researchers and administrators the following additional guidance is provided to assist in submitting grantee variation requests for grants that have previously been granted extensions to the grant term:

• Grants that have previously been approved for a Defer in Progress and Extend End Date due to COVID-19 and are in the final year may apply for an Extend End Date variation as per the Grant Variations Policy.
• Grants that have previously been approved for an Extend End Date due to COVID-19 but are not yet in the final year should apply for a Defer in Progress variation.
• Grants that have previously been approved for 12-months Defer in Progress, approved for 12-months Extend End Date and been further extended due to COVID-19 may apply for a further Extend End Date variation that will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
• Grants that have previously been approved for 12-months Defer in Progress and an Extend End Date due to COVID-19 and are not yet in the final year may apply for a further Defer in Progress variation due to COVID-19 and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The world has adjusted to recognising that COVID-19 is now part of everyday life and we no longer consider it as an exceptional circumstance but rather something that should now be planned for as part of research activity project and risk management. Requests for additional time specifically due to COVID-19 must include:

• a detailed explanation of the continuing impact of COVID-19 on the research activity
• any mitigations that have been put in place to manage the effects of COVID-19 on the research activity
• what will be done in the extension period to ensure the grant can be completed by the revised end date.

In all cases, researchers should work with their Administering Institution’s Research Administration Officers (RAOs) as the first point of contact.