Notice

Guidance for applicants: SPIN 2023

Published 30 January 2023

This notice was withdrawn on 13 June 2023

This call closed on 31 March 2023.

1. ‘SPACE PLACEMENTS IN INDUSTRY’ (SPIN) AWARD SCHEME 2023

2. BACKGROUND

The ‘Space Placements in Industry’ (SPIN) funding scheme supports the aims of the UK Space Agency by encouraging and supporting the provision of internships within the space sector for university students. In doing so, it helps address the skills needs of the UK space sector, improving awareness of the UK’s space programme and the skills in most need across the sector.

The scheme supports organisations across the UK space community in their efforts to assure the skills that the sector needs for the continuing growth and sustainability of the workforce.

3. AIMS OF THE SCHEME

The Agency anticipates making at least £150,000 available under the scheme for financial year 2023/24. This is an extremely competitive process in which we seek to offer small grants up to a maximum of £3,750 for each award.

The scheme is run to support the education and skills aims and objectives of the UK Space Agency, as set out in its Inspiration Programme.

The Agency aims to highlight the achievements of the UK in space and the relevance of space to UK citizens. We also believe that space has an important role to play in inspiring and supporting the development of skills that are important to the whole economy. The scheme will therefore support projects that:

• develop skills in the intern that are identified as hard to source in the Space Sector Skills Survey, and

• incorporate business relevant and soft skills objectives.

4. TIMETABLE

We anticipate the following schedule:

• opening of award scheme – 30 January 2023

• proposals received will be evaluated by the panel every two weeks until funds are fully committed

• final closing date – 5pm 31 March 2023

• outcome notification – within 14 days of panel evaluation

• projects to start – no earlier than 1 May 2023

• projects to be completed – no later than 20 November 2023 (although organisations can employ their intern for longer at their own discretion and expense)

5. ORGANISATION ELIGIBILITY

There are a series of requirements for eligibility to receive grant funding.

• Grant Recipients must demonstrate the ability to effectively manage a project.

• Grant Recipients must have a UK bank account and all grant payments will be made in UK sterling (as per grant funding agreement).

• All project members must have in place and provide evidence of appropriate anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies.

• All project members must provide evidence of a process for declaring and managing conflicts of interest.

• All project members must be able to provide evidence that they are GDPR compliant.

• Projects cannot work in areas that are in active conflict and any travel to overseas must comply with FCDO recommendations.

• Projects must pass due diligence checks on company viability (financial standing assessment, governance, conflicts of interest, technical expertise).

• Formal teaming, or equivalent agreements between project partners must be in place within 60 days of grant signature.

• Projects must comply with the rules stated in this guidance document.

Eligible organisations include academic or research institutions (including schools, universities, research councils and UK Space Agency partners), charities, trusts and companies (including not-for-profit).

Eligible internship candidates include undergraduate or postgraduate university students, the latter must have the approval of their supervisor. It is expected that interns will be studying at UK universities and all must have the right to work in the UK.

Subject to further guidelines below, grants may cover all types of expenses, including:

• contributions to salaries and on-costs of the intern,

• costs of materials, and

• travel and subsistence.

Subject to further guidelines below, grants may not cover:

• fees for people already in paid employment where the proposed work could be reasonably undertaken as part of their normal duties,

• unclear costings and those which do not appear to be based on valid estimates,

• expensive or capital items (for example, equipment or buildings) or

• projects that would go ahead even without UK Space Agency funds.

6. SUBSIDY CONTROL

This competition does include the provision of funding that is not classed by the UK Space Agency as a subsidy. You should still seek independent legal advice on what this means for you, before applying.

Further information about the UK Subsidy Control requirements can be found within the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation agreement and the subsequent BEIS guidance.

‘No subsidy’ status is only granted to organisations which declare that they will not use the funding:

• in any way which gives them selective economic or commercial advantage, and

• in any way which would determine the funding as a subsidy as defined by the EU-UK Trade Cooperation Agreement.

It is the responsibility of the lead organisation to make sure all collaborators in the project remain compliant with these requirements.

It is important to note that it is the activity that an organisation is engaged in as part of the project and not its intentions, that define whether any support provided could be considered a subsidy.

Applicants can apply for funding for up to 100% of eligible project costs.

7. APPLICATION PROCESS

7.1 Submitting your application

The application form is included as a separate document. Up to a maximum of two additional sides of A4 may be included with your application form (for example, text, diagrams or photographs) to support your application. An additional four sides of A4 can be included for evaluation forms, publicity materials and/or resources produced for projects from which this project is a spin-off or extension (if applicable). Any other material submitted will not be included in the grant assessment. We must also receive a signature on the application form from an administrative authority in your organisation (Head of Department or someone else in a senior position in your organisation).

7.2 Deadline

All applications should be submitted by no later than 5pm on 31 March 2023 which assumes that funding has not been exhausted before then.

7.3 Submitting your Application Form

Please complete and submit the application form, along with your SPIN project advert and any other attachments, by email to: education@ukspaceagency.gov.uk

7.4 Notification and payment of awards

Payment will be by BACS transfer only. Successful applicants must be able to submit their bank account details within 10 working days of notification of the award by completing a Word format AP1 Supplier Maintenance Form (which will be sent at the time of notification). If this is not completed in 10 days, the award may be withdrawn. These details are treated in the strictest of confidence.

Payment is made in arrears, on completion of your project.

Staged payments may be made, especially if your project requires payments against certain milestones. There is space on the application form for you to detail these milestones for us to consider. The milestones need to be agreed with us before you start spending against the award and will be detailed in the grant agreement.

Payment is never made in advance of work being done.

Grants will extend over financial year 2023/2024 from the date the Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) is executed (signed).

Projects to start no earlier than 1 May 2023, at mutual convenience of intern and employer.

Projects must be completed by 20 November 2023.

The commencement date of the project, that is, from when costs to be reimbursed under the grant can be incurred, should be the date the grant is executed (signed). Please be aware that it is not best practice to backdate the project commencement date from the date of execution, so successful applicants should not delay in returning signed grant agreements, risking shortening the project window an inconveniencing the intern. Until a grant is signed, no commitment to funding has been made and, therefore, no project work should be undertaken.

The final claim for the grant will need to be received by the UK Space Agency no later than Friday 15 March 2024 to enable the payment to be processed before the end of the financial year. For this purpose, final report and grant claim form templates will be issued to successful applicants.

8. ASSESSMENT OF APPLICATIONS

Applications will be referred to an evaluation panel that will score them against the criteria below and rank the applications according to their scores. The scores of received applications will be reviewed every two weeks, and those scoring over the threshold will be accepted. If funds remain on the final closing date, applications, which were no more than 10% below the threshold will be reconsidered, starting with the highest ranked score and working down until funding is fully utilised or applications are unacceptable, whichever comes first.

The Panel will comprise the Project Manager, a member of staff from the Satellite Applications Catapult, and an expert from a relevant UK Space Agency programme team.

9. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Each application will be assessed with respect to five criteria:

1. Quality

2. Feasibility

3. Skills Relevance

4. Record of past interns remaining in sector

5. Value for Money

Each criterion will be scored on a scale between 0 to 10 taking into consideration the following.

9.1 Quality

Have the applicants put together a clear, easily comprehensible application?

Do the applicants have any relevant experience?

Is there a mitigation plan in case the internship cannot go ahead in person?

9.2 Feasibility

How likely is the project to meet its objectives?

Are there realistic timescales?

9.3 Skills Relevance

Are the skills to be developed identified in the Sector Skills Survey?

Does the applicant identify why skills not identified in the survey are important to their company and the sector?

Are Business and Soft Skills identified?

9.4 Record of past interns remaining in the sector

How well has the applicant inspired previous interns to remain within, or seek opportunities in the space sector?

9.5 Value for Money

Is the sum requested appropriate?

The applicant must be planning to pay the intern at least the National Living Wage, and the expectation is that the majority of grant funding will be used for paying the intern.

10. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

Applications will be automatically disqualified if, for example, they do not relate at all to the work of the UK Space Agency and do not relate to the space sector.

11. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

A final report (template supplied), Intern Poster, summary of spend with receipts, etc. and invoice will need to be submitted before payment can be made in arrears on the completion of your project.

Where a staged payment has been requested and agreed, an interim report, summary of spend with receipts, etc. and invoice will need to be submitted before payment can be made in arrears.

12. CONFIDENTIALITY

The information you supply on the application form will be treated in confidence and used by the UK Space Agency in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) rules.

All applications are in confidence, although we propose to publish project titles and summaries of funded projects on the UK Space Agency website and in press releases. If you are not happy about this, please contact us.

The UK Space Agency may also contact you about its space education and outreach programme in the future. The UK Space Agency will not disclose your information to any third parties.

13. GUIDELINES FOR PROJECTS

13.1 Cost Recovery

The funds from Grant funding are on a cost recovery basis only. Grants are solely intended to cover the cost of delivering the agreed activity or goal. Any surplus funds not spent will be lost to the project unless there are alternative arrangements agreed.

Grant Recipients cannot receive any funding from other grants/contracts to undertake the same activities.

Grant funding cannot be rolled over between financial years without explicit consent from the UK Space Agency.

14. FINANCE POLICY

All partners must use a separate, project-specific, bank account or project accounting code for project funds to enable a clear audit trail.

14.1 Invoices

The UK Space Agency will only pay on actuals; therefore, we expect invoices may differ from forecasts. Should actual costs incurred be greater than the value of the milestone value, these costs will be borne by the Grant Recipient, unless the additional expenditure has been agreed with the UK Space Agency ahead of the costs being incurred and a Grant Change Notice (GCN) executed.

15. VAT RULES

Grant funding is outside the scope of VAT so you cannot charge output VAT on top of your submitted costs. If you incur non-recoverable input VAT costs, you cannot pass this on to UK Space Agency.

16. INELIGIBLE EXPENDITURE

The following costs are ineligible.

• Payment that supports lobbying or activity intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, government or political parties, or attempting to influence the awarding or renewal of contracts and grants, or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action.

• Using grant funding to petition for additional funding.

• Input VAT reclaimable by the Grant Recipient from HMRC.

• Payments for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature.

• Goods or services that the Grant Recipient has a statutory duty to provide.

• Payments reimbursed or to be reimbursed by other public or private sector grants.

• Contributions in kind (that is, a contribution in goods or services, as opposed to money).

• Depreciation, amortisation or impairment of fixed assets owned by the Grant Recipient.

• The acquisition or improvement of fixed assets by the Grant Recipient (unless the grant is explicitly for capital use – this will be stipulated in the Grant Offer Letter).

• Interest payments (including service charge payments for finance leases).

• Gifts to individuals.

• Entertaining (entertaining for this purpose means anything that would be a taxable benefit to the person being entertained, according to current UK tax regulations).

• Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties; or liabilities incurred before the issue of this funding agreement unless agreed in writing by UK Space Agency.

• Employee paid benefits and bonuses.

• Alcohol.

17. TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE

The following outlines the guidelines for travel and subsistence costs. Value for money must always be considered. If for any reason the set limits cannot be adhered to (for example, to accommodate a reasonable adjustment), you must seek prior written approval from the UK Space Agency. No claims for alcohol will be accepted.

The UK Space Agency reserves the right to not settle claims which have breached these guidelines. All expenditure must be supported by actual, itemised receipts.

17.1 Limits:

• Accommodation: £140 per night

• Breakfast: £5

• Lunch: £5

• Dinner: £15

17.2 Travel:

• All travel claimed must be using Economy rates.

• Tolls, Ferry Costs, Parking and congestion charge: Receipted costs for ferries, and toll bridges and roads unavoidably incurred during your business journey may be claimed. Reasonable parking charges may be claimed. Receipted congestion charges unavoidably incurred on your business journey may be claimed.

18. GRANT FUNDING AGREEMENT

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. The terms therein are issued to us via the Cabinet Office and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). No material changes to the terms will be considered. The UK Space Agency has very limited delegated Authority to change the template. Any changes are by exception, not a formality. 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 not make changes directly to templates, but engage with the call lead and advice will be provided.

19. GRANT RECIPIENT CODE OF CONDUCT

All organisations in receipt of grant funding must abide by the UK Government Code of Conduct for Grant Recipients: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/754555/2018-11-06_Code_of_Conduct_for_Grant_Recipients.pdf

20. DUE DILIGIENCE

The UK Space Agency will carry out due diligence on grant applications as required using internal and, where necessary, external subject matter experts. The scope and degree of due diligence will be determined by the value, nature and complexity of the grant scheme. All applications will be subject to basic checks such as Companies House checks.

Additional pre-award due diligence may include but is not limited to the following.

• Technical assessment of the proposed project: including technical viability and sustainability.

• Financial assessment: organisation financial standing/health, assessment of project costs, aid intensity values and match funding contributions.

• Economic impact/VFM assessment.

• Commercial: viability and/or commercial sustainability of the proposed solution, market position, demand and/or interest in technology, terms of the Grant Funding Agreement.

• Programmatic: alignment to aims and objectives of the programme, programme plan which demonstrates the project can be delivered within the funding period and the critical path, risks and issues, details on project partners and/or subcontractors.

Post-award due diligence may include but is not limited to the following.

• Technical assessment of milestone deliverables against acceptance criteria to allow milestone payments to be released.

• Financial: assessment of expenditure for each milestone payment and reporting on planned costs, follow up review of financial standing/health if it is a multi-year project.

• Commercial: change management including any variations to time, cost, scope, or GFA terms; review of milestone deliverables as required.

• Programmatic: project progress and impacts of any delays, risk assessment and mitigation activity; and

• End of project review: has the technical and economic value been realised? Lessons learned and continuous improvement.

21. DISCLAIMER

This guidance is not a substitute for taking independent legal advice on your eligibility status, before applying for funding. Every applicant is responsible for securing their own independent legal advice to ensure they are lawfully eligible.

Please note the UK Space Agency is unable to award organisations that are considered to be ailing and insolvent companies. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.

22. QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE

Can I propose starting the project before 1 May 2023?

We ask that projects commence no earlier than May to us give time to finalise financial matters at the start of the new financial year. It is anticipated that registered students are usually not available to start before the end of the summer term.

Can I finish my project after 20 November 2023?

Placements should occur during the summer vacation and the intern should be ready to present their poster at the SPIN Showcase Event which will take place at the 2023 UK Space Conference in Belfast from 21 November to 23 November. If the project starts later and finishes later, we will work with you to make alternative arrangements, but this can be no later than 15 March 2024. Organisations can continue to employ their intern for longer at their own discretion and expense.

Can anyone apply for an award?

Anyone can apply for an award, but Grant Recipients must have and maintain, with a reputable insurance company, a policy or policies in respect of all risks which they may incur out of their performance under a grant agreement. At a minimum, Grant Recipients need to have insurances in place which are required by law, e.g., public/employee liability insurance and cover for death/personal injury.

23. HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions that are not answered in these notes for guidance, please email us at education@ukspaceagency.gov.uk