Notice

Guidance for Applicants – C-LEO Call 3

Updated 20 July 2026

1. Introduction

Grant Call Title: Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit (C-LEO) Call 3: National Only

Grant Reference: UKSAG24_0008

Who can apply: UK registered businesses, including SMEs

Total Funding Envelope: £42,000,000

Stage One Deadline: 12:00pm (midday GMT) on Monday 7th September 2026

The UK Space Agency Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit (C-LEO) programme will provide up to £160 million of grant funding and contract awards until March 2030 to UK companies and researchers to develop innovative satellite communications technology. 

This third C-LEO call will provide up to £42 million in funding support until March 2030.

The objective of the C-LEO programme is to future-proof the UK’s competitive edge in the high-value satellite communication sector by enabling its diversification into the high-growth and strategically important high-volume constellation market, including:   

• to accelerate the commercialisation and rapid industrialisation of key technologies and industry capabilities necessary for UK firms to meet demand for high-volume constellation production
• to enable UK firms to secure a significant and sustained share of the high-value contracts due in the next 4 to 5 years that will drive the future sector supply chain
• to develop the UK’s on-shore industrial capabilities in R&D-intensive activities of the constellation value chain
• to catalyse private sector investment in UK high-volume constellation sector by signalling the UK’s commitment to the long-term growth of the satellite communication sector

The satellite communications sector is undergoing rapid transformation, driven by the emergence of high-volume constellations and the need for scalable, resilient infrastructure. To remain competitive, UK industry must accelerate the development and industrialisation of key technologies such as regenerative processing, networking and routing, active antennas, optical links, and advanced user terminals.

To ensure the UK can seize these strategic opportunities, UK Space Agency (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology) are seeking proposals from UK registered businesses, including SMEs, that will drive innovation in satellite communications and strengthen the UK’s position in the global constellation supply chain.

This is a defined UK National grants Call, with up to £42,000,000 of UK Space Agency funding being made available. The UK Space Agency is seeking to award funding of around £4 million to £25 million per project to a handful of projects through this third call. These sums would need to be match funded by the applicant organisation. For example, an applicant organisation that is eligible for a 40% match funding rate that was seeking C-LEO funding support of £800,000 for a proposal would need to contribute £1.2 million in match funding (equating to a total project cost of £2 million). All projects must include a compelling element of matched funding to be eligible under the programme. Further details on matched funding and other eligibility requirements are contained in Sections 4 and 5 of this guidance document.

The Call opens on Monday 20th July 2026 and will close at 12:00pm GMT on Monday 7th September 2026. The UK Space Agency aims to notify all applicants of the results of their Stage One proposals by Friday 2nd October 2026.

Schedule for Applications

1. Funding Call Opens: Monday 20th July 2026
2. Deadline for questions submitted to UK Space Agency for Stage One: Monday 24th August 2026
3. Latest UKSA will respond to questions submitted for Stage One (answers provided via “Guidance Note A: FAQs”): Monday 31st August 2026
4. Deadline for submission of the UK Space Agency Stage One Form: 12:00pm (midday GMT) Monday 7th September 2026
5. Notification of Stage One Outcomes and Invitations to Next Stage (Stage Two): By Friday 2nd October 2026
6. Deadline for questions submitted to UK Space Agency for Stage Two: Wednesday 28th October 2026
7. Latest UKSA will respond to questions submitted for Stage Two (answers provided via “Guidance Note A: FAQs”): Wednesday 4th November 2026
8. Deadline for Submission of the UK Space Agency Stage Two Form & Associated Annexes: 12:00pm (midday GMT) Wednesday 11th November 2026
9. Notification of Outcomes: By Wednesday 16th December 2026
10. Negotiations & Grant Agreements Completed: By Thursday 1st April 2027
11. Projects Conclude: By End of March 2030

Any questions about this funding opportunity should be submitted to UKSA.Satcoms@dsit.gov.uk. Questions submitted to any other DSIT email address will not be considered.

Purpose of the Call:

The UKSA C-LEO Call 3: National Only is designed to accelerate the development and industrialisation of advanced satellite telecommunications technologies for Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This call supports the UK Space Agency’s strategic objectives by:

• Driving innovation in satellite communications.
• Strengthening the UK’s position in the global LEO constellation supply chain.
• Catalysing investment and creating long-term economic benefits for the UK space sector.

The call responds to rapid changes in the satellite communications market, including the rise of high-volume constellations and the need for scalable, resilient infrastructure.

What is Funded:

Funding is available for projects that focus on one or more of the following key technology areas:

• On-Board (Regenerative) Processing
• Active Antennas
• Optical Links
• Networking and Routing
• User Terminals

This funding will be targeted towards proposals with technology readiness levels (TRL) of between 4 and 6, with the aim being to raise the proposal to TRL 7 and above. The funding of higher TRL proposals will be considered.

By the end of the funded project, there must be a tangible improvement in the TRL of the technology or a demonstration of advancement in approach (engineering method, technical  competence etc) of the funded project. The C-LEO programme follows ESA’s definitions of Technology Readiness Levels. More information can be found here.

2. Call Objectives, Scope and Key Information

The C-LEO programme is strongly aligned with 3 of the 4 core pillars of the National Space Strategy: unlocking growth in the UK space sector; growing the UK as a science and technology superpower; and developing resilient space capabilities and services.

Projects within the scope of this call must focus on one or more of the following technology areas:

• On-Board (Regenerative) Processing
• Active Antennas
• Optical Links
• Networking and Routing
• User Terminals

Proposals should present a clear route to market, supported by robust business cases and credible plans for industrialisation. Applicants are expected to demonstrate strong value for money, alignment with UKSA strategic objectives, and the potential to deliver measurable economic benefits. All projects must comply with UK government policy on spectrum use and regulatory requirements.

DSIT will be collecting performance metrics to demonstrate success of the projects against critical factors. Details of the expected metrics will be communicated to successful applicants and finalised into the Grant Funding Agreement annexes.

Important Information for Applicants:

• Awarded projects will start from Calendar Q1/Q2 2027 and must have fully completed by 31st March 2030.
• This call will close at 12:00pm midday (GMT) on Monday 7th September 2026 – no extensions are permitted and late applications will not be accepted.
• Terms and conditions set out in the Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) will govern the grant awards with no scope to make material changes, including to liability levels. 
• Applications will be assessed against the assessment criteria outlined in Guidance Note D – Stage One Criteria and Guidance Note E – Stage Two Criteria.
• There will be an online webinar outlining the application process and to provide an opportunity for questions on Wednesday 29th July 2026. To register your interest, please access here or email UKSA.Satcoms@dsit.gov.uk Any questions asked during the Webinar will be published in “Guidance Note A – FAQs”.
• There will be an in-person Consortium Building Event in Harwell on Thursday 6th August 2026. To register your interest and to find out more information, please visit the website here or email UKSA.Satcoms@dsit.gov.uk. Any Q&A asked during the Event will be published in “Guidance Note A – FAQs”. Access to the event will be arranged on a first come first serve basis due to capacity constraints.
• Applicants are required to complete the online Stage One Form.
• Questions or clarifications can be directed to UKSA.Satcoms@dsit.gov.uk. UKSA will not respond to questions asking for applications to be reviewed ahead of the submission deadline.
• The UK Space Agency reserves the right to reject proposals if they are outside the call remit, do not contain all the required information, or do not provide sufficient information for assessment.
• Protection of any Intellectual Property (IP) rights on the project will remain the responsibility of the project participants. The UK Space Agency does not seek any ownership of project IP. Future ownership of any potential IPR should be dealt with as part of any Collaboration Agreement.
• All proposals must be led by organisations based in the United Kingdom.
• commercial companies must have a UK registration at Companies House
• Successful applicants must have a UK bank account and all grant payments will be made in UK Sterling (as per the grant funding agreement).
• Applicants can be involved in multiple applications but may only lead one proposal.
• Organisations may submit more than one application, but quality is prioritised. Submissions considered vexatious or incomplete will not be considered.
• Products and services from non-UK suppliers that are considered essential to deliver successful projects, may be included in proposals. However, all proposals must demonstrate their value to the UK and non-UK spend requests are unlikely to score highly against other, UK-based activities. Any non-UK spend requests should be clearly stated in your initial application. Late requests will not be considered if they have not been declared and approved at Stage One.

3. Call and Delivery Timeline

The following schedule sets out the indicative timing of processes for this call. Please note that each deadline may be subject to change in the event of operational constraints.

• Call Opens: Monday 20th July 2026.
• Webinar on the application process (For Information): Wednesday 29th July 2026.
• Consortium Building Event : Thursday 6th August 2026.
• Deadline for questions submitted to UK Space Agency for Stage One: Monday 24th August 2026.
• Latest UKSA will respond to questions submitted for Stage One (answers provided via “Guidance Note A: FAQS”): Monday 31st August 2026.
• Stage One Deadline: Monday 7th September 2026, 12:00pm midday (GMT)
• Notification of Stage One Outcomes: By Friday 2nd October 2026.
• Deadline for questions submitted to UK Space Agency for Stage Two: Wednesday 28th October 2026.
• Latest UKSA will respond to questions submitted for Stage Two (answers provided via “Guidance Note A: FAQs”): Wednesday 4th November 2026.
• Stage Two Deadline: Wednesday 11th November 2026, 12:00 midday (GMT).
• Notification of Stage Two Outcomes: By Wednesday 16th December 2026.
• Negotiations & Grant Agreements Completed: By Thursday 1st April 2027.
• Projects Conclude: By End of March 2030.

4. Subsidy Control: Research Organisations, Public & Third Sector

The UK Space Agency supports organisations to invest in research, development and innovation. The support we provide is consistent with the UK’s international obligations and commitments to Subsidy Control. Please see this page for further information about UKSA’s obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. To ensure this competition provides funding in line with obligations and commitments, the intervention rates detailed in section 4.2 shall apply, unless:

• The applicant seeks to claim exemption from having to make a contribution under the Minimal Financial Assistance Allowance (previously known as de-minimis under State Aid and Small Amounts of Financial Assistance under Trade and Co-operation Agreement) rules
• The applicant is a research or public sector organisation or charity pursuing non-economic activity

When referring to research organisations, UKSA uses the definition from the Framework for State Aid for Research and Development and Innovation which states:

“research and knowledge dissemination organisation’ or ‘research organisation’ means an entity (such as universities or research institutes, technology transfer agencies, innovation intermediaries, research-oriented physical or virtual collaborative entities), irrespective of its legal status (organised under public or private law) or way of financing, whose primary goal is to independently conduct fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development or to widely disseminate the results of such activities by way of teaching, publication or knowledge transfer. Where such entity also pursues economic activities, the financing, the costs, and the revenues of those economic activities must be accounted for separately. Undertakings that can exert a decisive influence upon such an entity, for example in the quality of shareholders or members, may not enjoy a preferential access to the results generated by it.”

Within UKSA, this means:

• Universities – higher education institutions
• Non-profit research and technology organisations (RTOs) including catapults
• Public sector organisations (PSOs)
• Public sector research establishments (PSREs)
• Research Council Institutes
• Research Organisations (ROs)
• Charities

Research organisations should be non-profit distributing to qualify. They should explain how they will disseminate the output of their project research as outlined in the application. Research organisations who are engaged in economic activity (i.e. putting goods or services onto market) will be treated as business enterprises and subject to Subsidy Control intervention rates.

Research Organisations

Universities undertaking non-economic research activity will be funded at 80% of full economic cost. All other research organisations will be funded at 100% of eligible costs.

Public Sector Organisations and Charities

Public Sector Organisations and Charities can work with enterprises to achieve innovation through knowledge, skills and resources. These organisations must not take part in any economic activity or gain economic benefit from a project. They can apply for 100% funding of eligible costs, providing all of the following conditions are satisfied:

• They are undertaking research (this may be experimental, theoretical or critical investigation work to gain knowledge, skills or understanding which is vital to the project).
• They meet requirements for dissemination of their project results and state in the application how this will be achieved.
• They include eligible costs for research purposes in the total research organisation involvement.
• They ensure they are not applying for funding towards costs which are already being paid from the public purse such as labour or overheads.

Third Sector

Third Sector organisations are primarily voluntary and community organisations, such as associations, self-help groups, mutuals and cooperatives. Third sector organisations can be non-funding partners in a project.

5. Subsidy Control: Match Funding Rates

Intervention Rates: Enterprises

Subsidies given under these categories are regarded as experimental development and subject to maximum subsidy ratios set out as follows:

	Size of Enterprise	Without enterprise collaboration uplift	With enterprise uplift (requires at least 1 small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) or at least one research and knowledge dissemination organisation
	Small	45% of the eligible project costs	60% of the eligible project costs
	Medium	35% of the eligible project costs	50% of the eligible project costs
	Large	25% of the eligible project costs	40% of the eligible project costs

Enterprises may receive a 15% uplift to the subsidy ratios where the project involves collaboration between enterprises, where at least one of the enterprises is an SME, or between an enterprise and one or more research and knowledge dissemination organisation, which must have the right to publish its own research results. This uplift can be  Academic partners on projects led by enterprises will still be funded in all cases at 80% of full economic cost.

For the purposes of subsidy control, the following definitions are applicable: 

• A small enterprise has an annual turnover below £10.2 million, a balance sheet total below £5.1 million and the average number of employees must not be more than 50.
• A medium enterprise has an annual turnover below £36 million, a balance sheet total below £18 million and the average number of employees must be no more than 250.
• A large enterprise has an annual turnover above £36 million, a balance sheet total above £18 million and the average number of employees is above 250.

To qualify, two of the three conditions in the above definition must be met. 

In exceptional circumstances, the UK Space Agency reserves the right to adjust the value or duration of the grant funding available. No more than 10% of the total grant value can be spent on travel and subsistence.

If your proposed project involves a consortium of project partners (ie, more than 1 organisation contributing to delivery), then match funding in this call is required from each participant within the consortium at the relevant level. For example, a project involving a medium enterprise and 2 small enterprises can apply the uplist for collaboration, meaning the medium enterprise is required to contribute 50% match funding and the small enterprises are required to contribute 40% match funding each.

Subcontractors are not required to provide match funding, but all subcontractor costs should be included on a cost recovery basis. A maximum of 50% of the total grant award can be spent on subcontracting costs.

Research organisations

Please note in this call that only 30% of the total grant funding can be awarded to research organisations.

Research organisations engaged in economic activity (ie, putting goods or services on the market) as part of their project will be treated as commercial enterprises as per the section above.

When referring to research organisations, the UK Space Agency uses the definition from the framework for state aid for research and development and innovation which states:

‘research and knowledge dissemination organisation’ or ‘research organisation’ means an entity (such as universities or research institutes, technology transfer agencies, innovation intermediaries, research-oriented physical or virtual collaborative entities), irrespective of its legal status (organised under public or private law) or way of financing, whose primary goal is to independently conduct fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development or to widely disseminate the results of such activities by way of teaching, publication or knowledge transfer. Where such entity also pursues economic activities, the financing, the costs, and the revenues of those economic activities must be accounted for separately. Undertakings that can exert a decisive influence upon such an entity, for example in the quality of shareholders or members, may not enjoy a preferential access to the results generated by it’.

Within the UK Space Agency, this means:

• universities.
• non-profit research and technology organisations (RTOs), including catapults.
• public sector organisations (PSOs).
• public sector research establishments (PSREs).
• research council institutes.
• research organisations (ROs).
• charities.

This list is not comprehensive and is subject to change and exceptions.

Research organisations undertaking non-economic activity will be funded as follows:

• universities: up to 80% of full economic costs.
• all other research organisations: up to 100% of eligible costs.

Research organisations should be non-profit distributing to qualify. They should explain how they will disseminate the output of their project research as outlined in the application.

The UK Space Agency supports organisations to invest in research, development and innovation. The support we provide is consistent with the UK’s international obligations and commitments to subsidy control. The UK is now under a national subsidy control regime, but in certain circumstances European Union State aid rules may apply.

It is the responsibility of all applicants to ensure that they are complying with the relevant subsidy control requirements and you may need to seek your own independent legal advice. 

Before providing C-LEO funding support as national grants, the UK Space Agency must ensure that the subsidy scheme meets the terms of the principles as determined in the Subsidy Control Act 2022. 

Specific conditions for applicants in Northern Ireland

Applicants based in Northern Ireland will be subject to European Commission State Aid rules rather than the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Grant information for successful Northern Irish applicants will be published in the European Commission State Aid transparency database.

It is important to note that state aid policy is currently the responsibility of the European Union. The European Court of Justice holds sole competence over the presence of state aid or otherwise.

The subsidy control regime is based on where the economic activity is undertaken, rather than where the organisation itself is registered.  For example, activity undertaken in England by a Northern Irish company would be subject to the Subsidy Control Act, rather than state aid.

Where state aid applies, UK Space Agency expects C-LEO projects to fall within the General Block Exemption Regulations (GBER) Article 25, though your proposal should identify the correct state aid treatment for your project.

The UK Space Agency is unable to award grant funding to organisations meeting the condition known as undertakings in difficulty. State aid rules consider an undertaking to be in difficulty in a number of circumstances, as defined by GBER regulations. You should pay particular attention to the situation where more than half of an undertaking’s subscribed share capital has disappeared as a result of accumulated losses. This is the case when deduction of accumulated losses from reserves (and all other elements generally considered to be part of the funds owned by the company) leads to a negative cumulative amount that exceeds half the value of subscribed share capital.

For the purposes of this provision, ‘limited liability company’ refers in particular to the types of company mentioned in Annex I of Directive 2013/34/EU (1) and ‘share capital’ includes, where relevant, any share premium. This rule applies to all limited liability undertakings except an SME less than 3 years old. For more detail read about undertakings in difficulty.

However, the information given is not a substitute for taking legal or professional advice, which is the responsibility of the applicant. We cannot accept any liability for actions arising from the use of our guidance. the UK Space Agency cannot be held responsible for the contents of any pages referenced by an external link.

If the European Commission considers a business or any undertaking to have been in receipt of state aid due to ineligibility for exemption under GBER, that undertaking is likely to be required to repay any aid received to the value of the gross grant equivalent.

6. Subsidy Control: Minimum Financial Assistance

The Subsidy Control Act 2022 includes provision relating to Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA). MFA allows authorities to provide grants that are considered small enough to support individual businesses without giving them an unfair advantage. Enterprises can receive up to £315,000 of MFA funding over a rolling 3 fiscal year period without having to provide match funding. You must declare any previous MFA awards you have received in your application form.

When calculating eligibility for the application of the MFA provision, applicants must also include cumulation of any EU State aid de minimis grants under the EC’s de minimis regulation and Small Amounts of Financial Assistance (SAFA) under the EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) for the same 3 fiscal year period. The maximum total under the EC de minimis regulation is €200,000, the maximum total under SAFA is £340,000 or 325,000 Special Drawing Rights. This is for all project types and for most purposes, including operating aid.

The application form asks you to tell us about any awards, including those made under de minimis and SDR, (from any source of public funding) over a rolling 3 fiscal year period. 

If you have received an award under de minimis or SDR for the same period, this will be added to your total allowance under MFA. This means that the total award must not exceed £315,000 for any one organisation. You must declare this allowance to any other funding body who requests it.

7. Eligibility Requirements

All UKSA grant recipients are required to meet standard eligibility criteria set out on our grants page here. Additional requirements specific to this grant scheme are set out below: 

• The lead applicant must be a UK-registered entity and must be registered with Companies House. All project partners must also be UK-based organisations, unless otherwise agreed with the UK Space Agency.
• This funding will be targeted towards proposals with technology readiness levels (TRL) of between 4 and 6, with the aim being to raise the proposal to TRL 7 and above. Applications submitted with a starting TRL of below 4 will be considered ineligible and will therefore not be assessed.
• Projects should have an end date of no later than 31st March 2030. Any applications submitted that have end dates beyond these months will be considered ineligible and will therefore not be assessed.
• Lead organisations must demonstrate financial viability and the capacity to deliver the proposed project. The UK Space Agency reserves the right to assess financial standing as part of eligibility and due diligence checks.
• Applications must be complete and submitted in the required format. Incomplete applications or those that do not follow the specific templates or submission requirements will be considered ineligible and will therefore not be assessed.
• Projects must fall within the defined scope of the call and must clearly address one or more of the specified C-LEO technology areas. Applications that are outside of scope of do not address any of these technologies will be considered ineligible and will therefore not be assessed.
• Projects must include a credible level of match funding in line with UK Subsidy Control requirements. Applicants must review the matched funding guidance and ensure their funding request meets the relevant funding rates. Applications that do not meet these requirements or provide sufficient evidence will be considered ineligible and will therefore not be assessed.
• Applications may only submit one application as the lead organisation. Organisations may participate as a partner in multiple applications.

• The project team will be required to be part of the following (but not limited to) as part of project management:

  • The grant recipient will attend a kick off meeting to initiate each project.
  • The grant recipient will provide written progress reports to the coordinator along with regular review meetings (expected to be on a monthly basis).
  • The grant recipient will attend a quarterly review meeting where their progress will be reviewed against the Grant Funding Agreement (GFA).
  • The grant recipient will provide milestone deliverables within the proposal using the example template provided.
  • The grant recipient will provide evidence of meeting the milestones and providing deliverables agreed in their GFA.
  • The grant recipient will provide regular updates on benefits and lessons learned throughout the project.
  • The grant recipient will also schedule a final review meeting with the coordinator at the appropriate time.
  • The grant recipient will provide a final project report including but not limited to an executive summary, delivery, actual outcomes, lessons learned, benefits, communication and outreach, next steps. This final report should be IPR free and not contain any confidential information, as it may be uploaded onto the UK Space Agency website.
  • Successful applicants will be required to provide baseline data at the point of award and to participate in ongoing outcomes monitoring during delivery and following project completion.
  • Applicants to be aware that if successful with their application, the Grant Call Guidance will be an annex or will be referenced within the Grant Funding Agreement. Grantees must adhere to the guidance throughout the life of the grant i.e. when making grant claims etc.

Information about what can and cannot be claimed using grant funding is available on our grants page here. UKSA will carefully review your submitted budget to ensure all costs included represent eligible costs. You must calculate your overheads using Annex C: Overheads Template, which must be submitted alongside your Stage Two Form.

The grant funding agreement template is included as a separate document. Applicants must sign up to the terms as set out in the grant funding agreement. No material changes to the terms will be considered. Minor changes may be considered if an applicant can demonstrate that agreeing to the provision within the Grant Funding Agreement would result in the applicant breaching its statutory or regulatory obligations. Grant applicants wishing to propose changes should submit their request ahead of the application deadline, ideally with a marked up copy of the Grant Funding Agreement detailing requested changes.

All organisations in receipt of grant funding must abide by the UK government Code of Conduct for Grant Recipients.

All projects in receipt of grant funding may be subject to an external annual audit to ensure that costs claimed from the grant funding have been expensed on agreed project related expenditure and comply to UK Space Agency grant funding policies (e.g. match funding). Projects are selected for audit using a risk-based approach. The auditor will be appointed by UK Space Agency. All subcontractors and partners must provide access to project relevant expenditure. Therefore, Grant Recipients must maintain, and be able to provide upon request, any supporting evidenced as deemed necessary, such as:

• Timesheets (prime and, where applicable, partners).
• Staff costs (contractors).
• All receipts (including T&S).
• All partner and subcontractor invoices.
• Breakdown of overhead costs.
• Breakdown of capital usage (e.g. licence, data costs etc).

The UK Space Agency reserves the right to conduct ad-hoc audits throughout the life of the project.

8. Guidance for Preparing an Application – Stage One

Only the lead organisation must submit an application for Stage One. It is the lead organisations’ responsibility to ensure that all required information is complete and accurately submitted before the deadline.

Your application for Stage One must be submitted by 12:00pm midday (GMT) on Monday 7th September 2026. Applications submitted after this time will not be considered.

This will include:

• Your Stage One form – either submitting the online form via MS Forms linked here or submitting the Word document form via email to UKSA.Satcoms@dsit.gov.uk.

If you submit your Stage One form via email, it must be sent to UKSA.Satcoms@dsit.gov.uk with the subject ‘C-LEO Call 3: National Only’. You will be given a UKSA reference number a few hours after receipt of Stage One documentation.  

Applications should be in single-spaced typescript (minimum font size 12-point Arial, minimum 1.5 cm margins all round, including diagrams and tables). Where a template is specified, this must be unaltered. Should any part of the application overrun the specified word limit, including the submission of appendices outside those requested, we will only consider material up to the designated word limit that is in the correct format.

For guidance on the assessment criteria for Stage One, please refer to “Guidance Note D – Stage One Criteria”.

Outcomes and feedback will be provided for Stage One via email to the lead applicant no later than Friday 2nd October 2026.

9. Guidance for Preparing an Application – Stage Two

Only applicants who pass Stage One will be invited to submit a Stage Two application. Applicants will be informed when they receive their Stage One outcome and feedback if they have been invited to submit a Stage Two application.

Only the lead organisation must submit an application. It is the lead organisations responsibility to ensure that all required information is complete and accurately submitted before the deadline.  

Your application for Stage Two must be submitted by 12:00pm midday (GMT) on Wednesday 11th November 2026. Applications submitted after this time will not be considered.

This will include:

• Your Stage Two form
• Your Budget Breakdown spreadsheet – Annex A: Budget Sheet.
• Your National Security Questionnaire – Annex B: National Security (please see guidance on UKSA’s grants page here).
• Your Overheads spreadsheet – Annex C: Overheads Template.
• Your Grant Applicant Checklist – Annex D: Grant Applicant Checklist.

All Stage Two documentation must be sent by email to the SatComs Team at UKSA.Satcoms@dsit.gov.uk with the subject ‘UKSA CLEO Call 3: National Only [UKSA Reference Number]’.

Applications should be in single-spaced typescript (minimum font size 12-point Arial, minimum 1.5 cm margins all round, including diagrams and tables). Where a template is specified, this must be unaltered. Should any part of the application overrun the specified word limit, including the submission of appendices outside those requested, we will only consider material up to the designated word limit that is in the correct format.

For guidance on the assessment criteria for Stage Two, please refer to “Guidance Note E – Stage Two Criteria”.

Outcomes and feedback will be provided for Stage Two via email to the lead applicant no later than Wednesday 11th November 2026.

Budget Spreadsheet

Please use the budget spreadsheet titled ‘Annex A: Budget Sheet’ to provide an indication of the costs you expect to incur on the project. These tables will be made available to any external assessors and will be scrutinised by UKSA to ensure all costs proposed represent eligible expenditure under grant funding terms and conditions.

Please include the following information:

• Subsidy Control category tab: please include each partner organisation proposed and their relevant size, which will automatically populate their subsidy control category. Subcontractors are not included in this section and should be listed as ‘additional costs’ for the lead organisation in the work package breakdown tab.
• Work Package breakdown tab: please include a detailed breakdown of each proposed work package and the spend associated with each item. Grant funding is provided on a cost recovery basis and so no profit margins should be included on any item. For any labour costs, please ensure these are broken down by each individual involved in the project.
• Proposed Milestone Table tab: grant funding is paid in arrears upon agreement of completed milestone deliverables. Please include details of your proposed milestone deliverables, the work packages these correspond to and how much grant funding is requested.
• Summary by Work Package: this tab will automatically populate.
• Summary by Organisation: this tab will automatically populate.
• Instruments and Equipment tab: please provide details of any instruments or equipment being used for the project, whether these are being purchased specifically for it or have an operational use beyond the end of the project.

Overheads Template

This is only required for applicants utilising custom overhead rates – for academic applicants submitting full economic costing (FEC), please include confirmation of your most recently accepted TRAC methodology or similar to allow UKSA to validate your overhead costs. Please do this by including ‘Annex C: Overheads Template’ in your submission.

Organisations opting for the 20% of labour cost overhead rates do not need to complete this template.

For organisations who choose the calculated overheads option, the spreadsheet has two sections to complete:

• indirect (administration) overheads.
• direct overheads (for those listed in the labour costs table).

Once each section is completed, the ‘total overheads spreadsheet’ will calculate your total amount.

Indirect (administration) overhead

Selecting the indirect (administration) overheads link will take you to a template you’ll need to complete to calculate these costs.

We class indirect overheads as those costs associated with back-office functions (such as finance, human resources, administration staff) whose primary function is to support the running of a business enterprise. Typically, these costs are not directly related to a particular product or service production.

Indirect overhead costs are eligible for inclusion if they are incurred directly because of undertaking the project. They must be additional, which means over and above your ‘business as usual’ costs.

Where you have already identified specific ‘indirect’ individuals working directly on the project, these should have been captured in the labour costs together with the overhead attributed to them.

We have provided cost categories in the template. The following list provides our definition for each category.

Board and senior management

The proportion of salary costs based upon PAYE (gross salary, employer’s NI, company pension contribution, life insurance) of the board and senior management of the company. This should be where they are engaged in strategic or administrative tasks. Do not include those working directly on the project or who are customer-facing or operational.

Administrative staff

The salary costs based upon PAYE (gross salary, employer’s NI, company pension contribution, life insurance) of main administrative staff, such as receptionists and central administration. Do not include administrative staff employed to support sales, marketing, account management and profit-generating departments.

Human resources staff

The salary costs based upon PAYE (gross salary, employer’s NI, company pension contribution, life insurance) of human resource staff.

Employed estates staff

The salary costs based upon PAYE (gross salary, employer’s NI, company pension contribution, life insurance) of employed cleaning, maintenance, security and other estates staff.

Finance department staff

The salary costs based upon PAYE (gross salary, employer’s NI, company pension contribution, life insurance) of main finance department staff, such as payroll, accounts payable and receivable. Do not include staff employed to support sales, marketing or account management activities.

Administrative support temporary or agency staff costs

This should include fees paid for the provision of temporary staff in administration or support services as listed above. Do not include any staff that are operational, such as marketing, sales, engineering, quality assurance, research and development and supply chain.

General office IT services

This includes general IT services used across the whole organisation. Do not include IT costs where they relate purely to non-eligible staff or manufacturing, production or fee earning activities.

General postage

This includes postage and courier expenses for general administration needs. Do not include product delivery or any postage costs incurred through promotion, sales, marketing customer relationship or accounts management.

Office supplies, printing and stationery costs

General office stationery and supplies such as paper, business cards, corporate stationery, office equipment for support or admin staff listed above. Do not include specific costs associated with sales, marketing, product delivery, product literature or reports.

Security and safety costs

This includes costs associated with site and staff safety and security, including signage and health and safety costs.

Building maintenance (administration office facilities only)

This includes general repair and maintenance costs of administration facilities. Do not include repair and maintenance of manufacturing or production facilities and exceptional items such as new works or extensions, which are not eligible for inclusion in this section.

Building rental (administration office facilities only)

Where office space is leased, include the rental costs. Do not include rental costs relating to manufacturing or production facilities, or the cost of any deposits or penalties.

Contracted site services (administration office facilities only)

Costs of contracted services relating to administration facilities such as cleaning of offices. Do not include contracted service costs related to manufacturing or production facilities.

Site property taxes (administration offices facilities only)

Property taxes and charges relating to office space. Do not include manufacturing or production facility property taxes and charges.

Utilities (administration office facilities only)

Electricity, gas, water, waste disposal, telecoms costs relating to administration office facilities.

The following is a step-by-step guide to help you fill in the relevant details to make your costs claim for indirect overhead.

Column A

Starting with your latest set of audited accounts, please input your details against the relevant cost category in column A. If you are a new company or this information is unavailable, please use internal management accounts or forecast data.

Note that for the administration support staff costs section, the costs included here must be based upon PAYE (gross salary, NI, company pension contribution, life insurance). They should exclude discretionary package costs such as bonuses, awards, profit-related pay and dividends. In addition, please exclude any members working directly on the project who are customer-facing or those engaged in operational or production areas.

Column B

In this column you should detail the proportion of the costs outlined in column A that day rate criteria outlined in the cost categories. You can use a percentage.

Column C

In column C please state what percentage of these costs you would assess as being additional and directly attributable administration activity to the project you are undertaking. By additional we mean over and above business as usual.

Column D

Based upon the details you’ve given in the previous columns, column D will automatically calculate the costs you’ve stated as being attributable to this project.

Column E

In column E you will need to provide some description of the cost constituent parts.

Once you have filled in this data you will see a percentage calculation (column F). This calculates what you consider as being eligible indirect overhead costs for your project (D) as a proportion of the annual audited figures (A). To save you time we use this calculated percentage and apply it to the remainder cost categories you have completed.

Any administration costs that are ineligible in this section, but which directly relate to the project (for example based on invoices), should be claimed as direct costs within other sections of the finance form.

Completion of the indirect overheads template will calculate an annual total which will be proportioned for the length of time you are working on the project. You will see a per annum, per month and a per project cost. The per project costs will form your total indirect overheads as a monetary value.

Once you have filled out your indirect overhead information, choose the ‘return to the overheads section’ to take you back to the main overheads section. Here you will see a summary of your indirect overhead.

Direct overhead

Selecting the direct overheads link will take you to a template you’ll need to complete to calculate these costs.

We understand that in undertaking a project you may incur associated costs with those staff working directly on the project and listed in the labour costs table. We refer to these as direct overheads.

Typical costs in this area could include:

• direct staff provision of laptops (non-capital only).
• desks.
• office (such as occupancy, facilities and utilities).
• IT infrastructure and systems.

This section is provided in free format for you to list out such costs.

Direct overhead costs must be directly attributable to the project you are undertaking and should not represent a full recovery methodology inclusive of redundant, spare capacity time or cost.

You should detail the costs and include a description of each item together with the methodology or the basis of how the costs have been apportioned. This should include the calculations that support the claimable costs. This will help us to validate these costs if your project is successful.

If your costs have been subject to an independent audit verification, we may ask you to provide this report to support our financial eligibility reviews.

Please note that costs associated with laboratories or workshops should be included within the ‘other costs’ section of the application form.

Once you have completed the direct overhead, you should select ‘return to the overhead section’. You will return to the main overhead tab where you will see a summary of your overhead claim for both direct and indirect overheads.

Licensing Implications

Your activity may require a licence, granted by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, under the Space Industry Act 2018, Outer Space Act 1986, or both. This must be obtained prior to commencing any licensable activity. For more information on the licensing process, including the types of activity these Acts apply to, minimum timelines, and information required for the licensing process, please visit www.caa.co.uk/space. The CAA encourages potential licence applicants to engage with them early to help identify what licences might be required and guide applicants through the process. We highly recommend reading the CAA’s Space Licensing in the UK document which can be found here.

10. Assessment of Applications  

Applications for this funding scheme will be assessed by the UK Space Agency with support from relevant independent external assessors drawn from a variety of backgrounds including academia, industry and government. All external assessors are required to sign appropriate confidentiality and conflict of interest agreements. The decision of UKSA is final in all cases. There is no course for appeal, but we provide feedback on all applications. Incomplete or late applications and altered templates will not be considered.

A summary of the assessment process is below: 

• Only proposals received by the closing time and date will be considered
• Applicants are to submit a Stage One Form in the first instance. If you are successful, you will be invited to submit a Stage Two Form and relevant Annexes.
• Initial sift of proposals will remove any proposals which do not meet the eligibility criteria for both Stage One and Stage Two assessment.
• Eligible proposals will be assessed by reviewers to be scored against assessment criteria for both Stage One and Stage Two.
• Guidance on the assessment criteria for Stage One is available in “Guidance Note D – Stage One Criteria”.
• Guidance on the assessment criteria for Stage Two is available in “Guidance Note E – Stage Two Criteria”.
• Applicants must score a minimum of 3 on each criteria in Stage One to progress to Stage Two.
• A moderation panel will follow to ensure consistency in marking.
• Panel members will individually review and score the applications. Scores will be moderated.. Panel members will include UKSA SatComs, Engineering and Analyst Civil Servants and independent reviewers.
• A scored and ranked list of fundable proposals will be generated. UKSA takes a portfolio approach to funding, which means we look to fund a range of projects that cover the full breadth of the strategic objectives. This means we may move some fundable proposals up or down the ranked list.
• If needed, clarifications will be sought from organisations.
• All applicants will be advised of the outcome.
• Due diligence will be conducted throughout the call process as set out in section 11. If due diligence results in irreconcilable differences, the grant will not be placed.

The following questions and weightings are applied to this scheme for Stage One:

Criteria	Question Number	Question Title	Weighting	Word Limit
Strategic Fit	1	How does your proposal advance the strategic goals of the C-LEO programme, support wider UK government priorities, and strengthen UK capabilities?	25%	500
Value for Money	2	Why is your proposal good value for money, and why does it require public funding?	25%	500
Catalysing Investment	3	What are the expected economic benefits of this proposal, how could this proposal unlock follow-on investment, and what is the route to market for this proposal?	25%	500
Innovation	4	What are the intended outputs of this proposal, and how are they novel?	25%	500

The following questions and weightings are applied to this scheme for Stage Two:

Criteria	Question Number	Question Title	Weighting	Word Limit
Strategic Fit	1	How does your proposal advance the strategic goals of the C-LEO programme, support wider UK government priorities, strengthen UK capabilities, and advance UK need?	20%	2,000
Value for Money	2	Why is your proposal good value for money, why does it require public funding, and what are the expected returns on investment?	20%	2,000 (plus supporting evidence)
Catalysing Investment	3	What are the expected economic benefits of this proposal, what is the commercial opportunity of this proposal, and how could this proposal unlock follow-on investment?	20%	2,000 (plus supporting evidence)
Innovation	4	What are the intended outputs of this proposal, how are they novel, and what problem or opportunity does the proposal address?	20%	2,000
Project Management	5	How will you ensure effective delivery of this project throughout its full duration?	10%	1,000 (plus supporting evidence)
Benefits	6	How will the expected benefits of this proposal be monitored and evaluated, and how will these benefits be realised?	10%	1,000

11. Due Diligence

If your proposal is recommended for funding, UKSA will conduct due diligence checks ahead of issuing your Grant Funding Agreement to confirm you are eligible to receive funding and have sufficient resources to ensure a project is successful. You can find out about the checks we conduct on our grants page here. We expect lead organisations to conduct due diligence on project partners and may ask to see confirmation this has been completed.

12. Confidentiality 

The procedure for handling and assessing the applications for project funding will be as follows: 

• Completed applications must be submitted to the UK Space Agency at the email address specified in the guidance documentation. All bids will be held in confidence. 
• Once the call closing date has passed, electronic copies of all eligible documents will be distributed to the independent assessment panel members. UK Space Agency confidentiality rules will apply. 
• For those bids not recommended by the panel for funding, documentation will be retained by the UK Space Agency for reference. The proposals will not be visible to any others, and the names of any unsuccessful bidders will not be published.
• Information submitted for those projects selected for funding will be retained by UK Space Agency but remain confidential. 
• Summary information about the projects selected for funding may be published on the UK Space Agency website. 

The UK Space Agency will monitor the funded project through project reports and the submission of project deliverables. The Agency requests that any confidential information is clearly marked Commercial in Confidence.