Research Group Allowance Policy & Process

For Research Group budgeting and spending enquiries, please contact research@law.ox.ac.uk

Research Group Allowances
All Research Groups (except for Criminology, Human Rights [Bonavero] and Socio-Legal Studies) receive an allowance of £2,500 (budget year 1st August – 31st July), which may be spent to suitably support Research Group activities as they see fit.  This applies to: Business Law; Computers and Law; Family and Medical Law; Health, Law and Emerging Technologies; Legal Philosophy; Private Law; Public Law; International Law; Taxation; IECL and OIPRC.  Spending plans do not need to be authorised by the Faculty but must conform to normal university and Faculty rules on expenditure and follow procurement process, which is what this page is intended to address. 

Budget management & reporting
The onus will be on Research Groups to manage their Allowance budget and plan events (Research and Finance Administration can assist with budget and process queries).  Each Research Group must moreover submit details of their spending in their report to Research Committee each Trinity term.  Overspends should be avoided; if they do occur, they will be deducted from the Research Group’s Allowance for the following budget year.

Invoicing Costs for Activities & Events
Costs for Research Group activities and events need to be invoiced in advance by raising a purchase order with the Faculty. The Faculty will then purchase the goods and incur expenditure on the Research Group’s behalf using their assigned budget.

For details, please see our Faculty Purchasing Goods and Services page.

Expenses claims
Claims for reimbursement of already incurred incidental expenses related to Research Group activities will need to be submitted via E-expenses by a staff or postgraduate student with an SSO.

Visitors without an SSO hosted by a Research Group should follow the guidance set out on our Visitor Expenses Claims page.

Claims should be coded to BA0000-S5441 and must indicate the research group the claim relates to, or the claim will be sent back in order for more information to be added.

Casual Payroll
Should a Research Group wish to utilise its budget in order to hire a research assistant, the recruitment process should follow the guidance found at Recruiting Research Assistants. RA contracts and timesheets submitted must quote both BA0000-S5441 and the name of the research group.