Welsh Government WULF 16-18 | Guidance

V2 April 16

Wales Union Learning Fund (WULF)

Guidance Notes

What expenditure is eligible?

General Expenditure on approved projects is eligible for grant reimbursement if it has actually been incurred and defrayed (paid) before its inclusion in the payment request to Welsh Government.

Expenditure will normally be in the form of cash supported by receipted invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value e.g. salaries must be supported by payroll records, BACS lists and bank statements. Where possible, your WULF funding should be paid into a separate account solely dedicated to the purpose of WULF, this will aid the management of your project and subsequent financial audits.

There is only one exception to this: Payments made in advance of the service / goods / works being provided, in accordance with contractual obligations, subject to the service / goods / works being delivered / completed by the agreed end date of the project. Please discuss this type of expenditure with your contract manager before incurring costs.

Value Added Tax VAT which is recoverable, by whatever means, is ineligible, even if it is not actually recovered by the organisation or individual recipient. Irrecoverable VAT can be claimed as an eligible cost provided the claim is substantiated by suitable evidence from the organisation’s auditors or accountants.

You may be asked to provide a letter from your finance team to confirm whether or not your organisation can recover VAT centrally.

Guidance for individual Cost Headings

Learning Delivery Costs – actual course delivery

The activity you are claiming for must align with the project’s approved objectives. Please be aware, for monitoring purposes, you will be asked to evidence the individuals who have undertaken the activities by submitting a signed learner form. You will also be asked to provide

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These guidance notes will help you identify eligible WULF expenditure; support you in the completion of the necessary WULF paperwork and the delivery of your WULF project. Please discuss them with your contract manager if you have any questions.

V2 April 16any tracking or achievement of outcome and/or progression into further learning as part of that individual’s record during routine monitoring.

How to show these on the claim form:Budget Heading – Delivery CostsExpenditure Item – Course/Activity titleSupplier – name of organisation providing the courseCost - £XXXXXX(actual cost incurred by project as audit trail)Additional comments - number of attendees if more than one. Reference to any participant/employee contributions where applicable.

You will need to ensure that each learner that attends a course completes a learner form (see below) and that these forms are submitted with your quarterly claim, if you plan to include these learners as part of your outcome of a measurable target or outcome.

In addition, please ensure that your narrative report aligns with the course activity shown in the expenditure and the achievement of your objectives and targets are updated accordingly. For example, 5 courses claimed for and there are 5 people on each course, therefore there should be 25 learner forms and 25 outcomes. If 2 of these people have already attended a training course through the project and these outcomes were previously claimed for, then these 2 people should have already completed learner forms, which should have been submitted with an earlier claim. These 2 people will not need to complete another learner form; you need to indicate this type of activity clearly. The cumulative number of learner forms you submit should always tally to the number of unique learners that your project has delivered a learning activity to.

The funding may be used for informal learning, including provision that results in qualifications and provision that is not qualification-based, providing the focus of the training is essential skills. The focus for all learning activity must be skills and employability, contributing to the continued productivity or progression within the workplace by participating individuals. Projects will be required to demonstrate the link to employability and/or progression within the workplace for all activities delivered during routine monitoring.

Learning Development Costs

Expenditure for supporting the cost of learning provision such as the development of newcourses and developing new approaches to learning can be claimed, if the costs associated arein line with projects objectives and targets.

Learning Events

Costs associated with learning events and awareness raising events may be included in yourclaim, providing the events are linked to the projects original objectives. Attention must be givento source the most cost effective way to hold your events.

Where outcomes or measurable targets give reference to specific numbers of individuals toattend learning events, you will need to ensure you are able to evidence this outcome. For example attendance register, feedback forms etc.

If you are claiming for conferences, seminars or networking events, please provide the number of attendees, internal and external on your claim form. It is also useful to include details of

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V2 April 16these in your narrative reports and where possible, newsletters, flyers etc which evidence the outcomes of the events.

Promotion

Eligible expenditure can include costs related to appropriate and proportionate aspects of promotion specific to a project on, for example, design and production of promotional materials, facilitation of appropriate conferences and seminars, and targeted advertising campaigns.

Whilst the purchase of small promotional items is eligible, these must promote the WULF project and not just the Union concerned. Please discuss any purchases of ‘consumable’ items with your project manager before placing an order.

Furthermore, any ad hoc ‘unusual’ items will require approval from your contract manager before incurring costs. If you are unsure, please seek advice first.

Please ensure that any promotional items are produced in accordance with the Welsh Government Branding Guidance.

How to show these on the claim form:Budget Heading – PromotionalExpenditure Item – stationery etcSupplier – name of organisation supplying the goodsCost - £XXXXXAdditional comments – number of items, lifespan of stock supply

Project Manager/Project Worker Costs

Project Manager and associated worker costs are eligible for personnel directly engaged in a project, whether full or part time. Specific supporting documents required to evidence these costs include job descriptions, staff contracts/SLA’s if not directly employed, timesheets or daily rate calculations for part-time staff, BACS/Payroll reports and bank statements.

Project Manager and associated worker costs are calculated on the basis of actual payroll costs which include gross salary, employer’s National Insurance contributions and may include employers’ pension costs where there is an established pension scheme which applies to all staff or alternatively, where an individual is contracted to the project for the purpose of project management or administration costs associated with the transactions of acquiring the services of that individual are also eligible and will be required to demonstrate an equivalent level of paid evidence.

Forecasts for these costs can include reasonable costs arising from the contract of employment including expected increases in grade or pay scales for the staff involved.

Sick or maternity / paternity / adoption pay can be claimed if it is in line with the organisation’s staff policy or contained within the individual’s contract of employment. Any payment of statutory sick pay or maternity/paternity pay must be offset against a payment claim submitted to Welsh Government.

Project Manager training costs can only be claimed if an individual has specific needs for training that relate to the acquisition of specialist knowledge to enable them to effectively deliver

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V2 April 16the project. You should discuss this with your Wales TUC development officer in the first instance.

Bonuses or incentive payments are ineligible costs.

Care must be taken to ensure any costs included in your project for employees of other organisations are not being funded from another source, public or private.

How to show Project Manager/Project Worker Costs on the claim form:Budget Heading – Project Manager Costs/Project Support CostsExpenditure Item – Project Manager/Worker Costs, Project Manager etcSupplier – n/aCost - £XXXXXAdditional comments – name of individual, number of months included, on costs included etc

ExpensesFor purposes of clarity, expenses need to be broken down on the claim form. This will make the allocation of expenses between costs which can be ‘evidenced’ at monitoring such as travel tickets, accommodation, subsistence and the ‘calculation’ costs of mileage which are supported by the number of miles only.

Mobile phones and contracts that are purchased through your WULF allocation must be used only for the purposes of the project. Welsh Government will be unable to pay for calls and data usage that are not linked to the project.

How to show Expenses on the claim form:Budget Heading – Travel & Subsistence (Expenses) etcExpenditure Item – Mileage / Actual Travel / Accommodation / Subsistence etcSupplier – n/aCost - £XXXXXAdditional comments –specific to type of expenditure

The example of the completed claim form shows how to best display this split.

Purchase of Equipment – PROJECT TEAM USEWhilst there is an expectation that individuals running the project are already equipped to carry out their responsibilities within the project, should the need arise to purchase equipment, approval must be sought from your contract manager before incurring costs. A short outline of the purchase required will allow your contract manager to process your request in a short as time possible. The details should include:Name of the individual who requires the equipment, Item of equipment required,Cost of item, Why the item is required and how it will benefit the WULF project during its lifetime and after its end date.Please note if the cost of equipment changes after gaining approval, please notify your contract manager of the variance before purchasing.

Purchase of Equipment – LEARNING CENTRE USE

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V2 April 16The purchase of equipment may be essential to the project creating learning centres; these costs are eligible providing that there is a clear link with the delivery of the project and in most cases would have been identified during project proposal stage.

In the case of mobile equipment there must be an assurance that the equipment is for the sole use of the project and the benefit is maintained by the project.

Approval must be sought from your contract manager for the purchase of equipment, and associated learning centre ‘kit’. This can be done by providing a summary of the items required, their cost and proposed use. You must include how they will continue to provide the benefits realised by the project following WULF completion.

In all cases, purchases must be considered to achieve value for money; they must be proportionate and reasonable to the benefits received by the project.

All equipment must be properly procured, supporting evidence will need to be retained by the project and made available during your annual monitoring visit.

In both PROJECT TEAM & LEARNING CENTRES examples where items of equipment have been purchased, an inventory must be retained for audit purposes.

Items of equipment purchased by the project are NOT to be used as promotional items or prize giveaways.

Purchase of Second-Hand Equipment (for both PROJECT TEAM & LEARNING CENTRES) The purchase cost of second-hand equipment is considered to be best practice and best value for money, consideration must be given to ensure that: • the price of the equipment does not exceed its market value and is less than the cost of similar

new equipment; and • the equipment is technically appropriate and complies with any relevant legislation (e.g. health

and safety)

How to show these on the claim form:Budget Heading – Equipment/Learning Centres etcExpenditure Item – Laptop, furniture etcSupplier – name of organisation supplying the goodsCost - £XXXXXAdditional comments – number of items, reference date quotes approved by CM, learning centre details etc

Consumables Expenditure on consumables is eligible subject to the expenditure being either 100% used on the project or claimed at an agreed apportionment rate. Please discuss an appropriate cost heading to capture these items with your project manager and received written agreement of any proposed apportionment methodology before incurring any costs.

Information and Communication Technology Expenditure on ICT (including hardware, software, website costs, licences, support, and consumables) is eligible where it has been demonstrated that its use is required for the effective

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V2 April 16delivery of the project. Again, these costs must be approved by your contract manager prior to incurring any costs.

Project Participant / Employer Contributions (cash)

If your WULF project asks for a financial contribution to be made by the individual participant / employer towards the cost of a course etc, the ‘cash’ you receive must be declared.

On the claim form you will need to record the total cost of the course for each learner as evidence of your audit trail in the ‘expenditure’ section of the form. There is a box below the total expenditure box where you must enter the total value of all participant / employer contributions received that period. This must be entered as a positive figure as the claim form will deduct the participant / employer contribution figure from the total expenditure figure.

Payment of your WULF project claim will be net of the participant / employer contributions you have received, shown in the Claim Value box on the form.

What this means in practice is that you will still have the total value for your approved project to spend, but you will be drawing down the WULF budget from Welsh Government at a slower rate than you would have if you did not have any cash contributions into the project. It is a very good way of demonstrating project sustainability and maintaining learner participation.

Caution must be taken not to include any outcomes or achievements in the WULF project report which have been paid for 100% out of expenditure that does not feature in your WULF project claim. As the project has not invested in these outcomes it cannot claim them as achievements. However, where the project does make a contribution (financial, advisory or other), please ensure that these outcomes are included in the narrative report.

Participant / employer contributions are not suited to all WULF projects; there will not be the expectation that your project will use the participant / employer contributions section of the form, this will be apparent from your approved bid. If you wish to explore the possibilities of including participant / employer contributions in your project, please discuss this with your contract manager.

The above applies for ‘cash’ contributions received by the project or Union and that feature in the project or Union’s audit trail. Where your participants or employers provide a financial contribution direct to the provider or the third party and that transaction does not form part of your audit trail, these costs must be captured in the narrative report per quarter.

Furthermore, for evaluation purposes, we wish to capture the significant value of ‘in-kind’ support that project’s receive from their stakeholders, wider Union and partner organisations. This will be done on an annual basis and captured in the Impact Assessment process.

The ‘cash’ transactions that sit outside the immediate project audit trail, and the annual ‘in-kind’ support value, will not be included in the financial audit undertaken by Welsh Government.

Financial Monitoring

It is a condition of your grant award that you maintain clear accounting records identifying all participant / employer contributions and expenditure. Welsh Government contract managers/monitoring officers will undertake financial monitoring visits to your premises to

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V2 April 16inspect your activities and/or to examine and take copies of documents or records relating to your use of the funding. One monitoring visit per contract year will be undertaken.

It is important that you co-operate with the financial audits, as failure to provide satisfactory evidence and assurances will result in payments being withheld or recovered.

Financial monitoring will be conducted annually and on a selection of one claim per annum, further claims may be selected if concerns are raised.

Below is a helpful list of evidence that can be considered as part of the financial monitoring assurances

Examples of financial evidence required as part of the WULF Monitoring visit

(Please note that this document only gives examples and that financial evidence of expenditure does vary between organisations. In terms of monitoring, we require evidence from proof of purchase through to the proof of payment within your project)

Project Team Costs

Payslip / Internal payment system (BACS/Payroll reports) Associated staff costs – Employers contribution (NI / Pension / Childcare) Timesheets / calculations of part time staff hours / daily rate. Invoice transactions for individuals engaged on the project on a service agreement Evidence of equivalent value for freelance or contracted individuals

Travel and Expenses

Internal system of recording travel expenditure / Mileage calculations Payment (BACS / payment reports) Expenses – receipts (if available) or again internal system of recording (form) along with

payment evidence (BACS / payment reports)

Mobile Telephone

Bill (including the breakdown if multiple users are included) BACS payment

Project Team Training

Invoice for training, to include, date of training, participant name and name of training course (if available)

Certificate of completed training (if available) BACS payment

Marketing and Promotion

Promotion items e.g. pens/ pencils /rulers etc. Invoice for proof of purchase along with BACS / Company Credit Card statement to show proof of payment

Posters / Flyers / Literature. Invoice for proof of purchase along with BACS / Company Credit Card Statement to show proof of payment

Conference / Awareness Sessions

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V2 April 16 Proof of purchase for Venue costs / hospitality / travel expenses / stand at an event /

Speakers etc. Proof of payment – BACS / Company Credit Card / online transaction etc.

Office /Training room facilities

Breakdown of project costings and calculations Proof of payment / Calculations / Percentage or flat rate system

Delivery / Training

Venue costs – Invoice BACS payment / Receipt Trainer costs (including a breakdown of any associated costs – T&S) – Invoice BACS

payment Receipt Hospitality – Invoice BACS/ Receipt of payment Course material costs (printing)- Invoice BACS / Receipt of payment Course Development costs – Invoice BACS / Receipt of payment Course costs e.g. external provider – Invoice BACS/ Receipt of payment Accreditation / Certification costs – Invoice BACS / Receipt of payment / Online

transaction records.

Equipment costs e.g. Laptops / Printers / OHP / Tablets

Quotes (if available) Invoice for proof of purchase Proof of payment – BACS / Credit Card transaction / Receipt.

Participant/employer Contributions (where they form part of your audit trail)

Proof of ‘contributions’ being received by the project from the participants – BACS payment / Invoice receipt of payment

It would also be beneficial if all the relevant project team are made available to attend the monitoring meeting, this includes those responsible for the project and the project finances.

Please note that we will be examining all the expenditure headings for which claims have been submitted and will require evidence in respect of each.

Electronic Signatures

It is acceptable for grant claims to be submitted in electronic format only. Electronic claims (with any supporting documentation) can be received from the e-mail address of the Project Manager named in the relevant award letter. This includes scans or images of evidence and electronic signatures from those individuals shown on the authorised signatories form. The final submission must come from the agreed Project Manager.

Useful extras

It is always beneficial to include examples of the project work with your claims. For example, newsletters, conference papers, event advertising etc. In addition to providing us with an ‘image’ of your project, it is also a useful link to the activity listed in the narrative report.

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V2 April 16Should you feel it beneficial for your contract manager or another member of the Programme Delivery Team to attend one of your WULF project events, we will be more than happy to consider your request.

Helpful definitions

Included below are a few terms that have been referenced in the Guidance Notes that may help you understand how your project needs to record and relay information.

Definition of ‘Support’ – your project may offer a variety of support to an individual. Support can be financial or advisory, or a combination of both. It is important to record where your project has provided support to an individual, for example, an individual receiving information and advice in relation to a redundancy situation – you may have provided them with information about training options and or signposted them to the ReAct Programme – this is a form of support.

Definition of a ‘Learner’ – a learner is anyone reported by the project as having undertaken a learning activity that has been paid for by the project. For every learner reported you will be required to collect a learner form. Individuals attending events or awareness raising sessions are not learners and do not require a learner form – these would however, be considered under individuals supported as you will have provided advice and or raised their awareness to potential learning opportunities.

Definition of ‘Participant/Beneficiary’ – both these terms are another way of referring to the individuals on your project. A Participant can be anyone who has participated in the project and could be captured in either the support or learner category above, while a beneficiary similarly is someone who has benefitted from the project and can also be captured in either of the support or learner categories above.

Definition of ‘Defrayed’ – this is another term for actually paid. For evidence of activity to be eligible any costs incurred as a result of that activity have to have been paid through the bank of your project before you can include them in any claim to Welsh Government.

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Calendar submissions and deadlines - 2016 – 2018

Quarterly Claims

Quarterly claims are to be submitted in line with the following:

Year 1 Claim periodClaim due by*or Friday before where falls on weekend.

Supporting Documentation

Project Start Prior to project start Within 28 days of project start date Initial Impact Assessment

Quarter 1 April – June 23rd July 2016 Claim & Quarterly Report

Quarter 2 July – Sep 23rd October 2016 Claim & Quarterly Report

Quarter 3 Oct – December 23rd January 2017 Claim & Quarterly Report

Quarter 4 January – March 23rd April 2017Claim, Interim Impact Assessment & Quarterly Report

Year 2 Claim periodClaim due by*or Friday before where falls on weekend.

Supporting Documentation

Project Start Prior to project start Within 28 days of project start date Claim & Quarterly Report

Quarter 1 April – June 23rd July 2017 Claim & Quarterly Report

Quarter 2 July – Sep 23rd October 2017 Claim & Quarterly Report

Quarter 3 Oct – December 23rd January 2018 Claim & Quarterly Report

Quarter 4 January – March 23rd April 2018Claim, Final Impact Assessment & Quarterly Report

Please note that if your claim and supporting documentation are not submitted by the above deadlines, then your claim may not be paid until the following quarter. These submission deadlines are enforced to support and encourage timely payment to you and manage resource allocation.

Underspend (if any)

Notification to WG on underspends for the financial year by 31 October 2016/17, or at the earliest opportunity.

Underspends cannot be carried forward from one financial year to the next.

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Forms for project completion

Authorised Signatories

Authorised Signatories forms need to be submitted at the start of a project. Please ensure that a new form is submitted should there be any updates or staff changes.

Finance Set up

A finance set up form should have been completed and submitted at the start of a project. Another form would need to be submitted if any amendments need to be made.

Initial Impact Assessment

The Initial Impact Assessment must be completed and returned to Welsh Government within 28 days of receiving your grant agreement. The completion of your Initial Impact Assessment is a pre-funding requirement of your award letter and no payment will be made if we have not received a satisfactory report.

Claim form

This will need to be completed each quarter for payments to be made to you. of 13

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Quarterly Reports

These must be submitted with each claim for payment

Learner Form

To be completed for every learner that is claimed as a cost or outcome.

Interim Impact Assessment

This must be submitted with the quarter 4 claim, year 1.

Final Impact Assessment

A Final Impact Assessment must be carried out at the end of your project; this should be written during the final quarter and submitted with the final claim.

Variation to Contract / Virement Request forms

If you need to make any changes to your budget headings or the amounts to be spent under each budget heading, please use the WULF Variation to Contract/Virement Request form.

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Branding

Please ensure you adhere to the Welsh Government Branding Guidance when promoting your WULF project.

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Welsh Government WULF 16-18 | Guidance

Documents

Transcript of Welsh Government WULF 16-18 | Guidance