What to consider when choosing the Contracting Organisation for your NIHR career development award

This page will support you in the process of choosing your Contracting Organisation as part of your application to an NIHR career development personal award.

What is a Contracting Organisation?

The Contracting Organisation will be the contractor if your application is funded. It will have overall responsibility for supporting successful completion of the programme of work detailed in your application.

The contractor must fulfil the role of research sponsor. A sponsor is the organisation directly responsible for securing the arrangements to initiate, manage, and finance your project. They must follow the guidelines set out in the NHS’s UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research.

 What is a Partner Organisation?

A Partner Organisation will support you to undertake your award but does not hold the contract for the award.

As a personal career development applicant, you must name both a Contracting Organisation and a Partner Organisation if:

  • You wish to remain employed by an eligible organisation, for example an NHS Trust, that is different to your proposed Contracting Organisation, for example an HEI. In this case, you must ensure you will hold an honorary contract for the duration of the award with the proposed Contracting Organisation.
  • You are requesting clinical or practice time funded through the award, but it will not be undertaken within the contracting organisation. In this case, the organisation where you will practise must be named as a partner organisation
  • You are a doctoral-level applicant and your proposed Contracting Organisation is not the HEI at which the PhD will be registered. In this case, the HEI at which your PhD will be registered must be named as the partner organisation 

Which organisations can be a Contracting Organisation or a Partner Organisation?

Contracting Organisations and Partner Organisation for a personal career development must be an English:

  • recognised HEI 
  • NHS body
  • provider of publicly funded health and/or social care services
  • provider of third sector publicly funded health and/or social care services (for example, a commissioned social enterprise, local authority or hospice)

What to consider when choosing your Contracting Organisation

Your proposed Contracting Organisation does not have to be your current employer. The choice of Contracting Organisation depends on your individual circumstances. You should consider:

Your application will be reviewed by a funding committee. This will include assessment of your proposed Contracting Organisation and:

  • the support offered to you to undertake the award
  • the organisation’s track record in the research area 
  • the support for your research career after your award has completed
  • commitment to creating and maintaining an inclusive and supportive research culture
  • commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and research integrity

Work out if you will need to change employers. Visit the “Do I need a Partner Organisation?” section.

Find out if you will be offered a substantive employment contract.

Find out if the organisation is aware and supportive of the Principle and Obligations of clinical academic training. 

Substantive Employment during your award

You can choose to be employed by either the proposed Contracting Organisation or a named Partner Organisation. You must have either a substantive contract or honorary contract with the Contracting Organisation for the duration of your award. 

If you change employers when you take up your award, certain accrued occupational benefits which are linked to continued HEI or NHS or/other provider service of employment must be protected by the Contracting Organisation. 

These rights include, but not limited to: 

  • all family care related leave, irrespective of gender or sexual orientation
  • annual leave

Contracts for personal awards

If the Contracting Organisation offers employment for the duration of the award only, you are advised to secure written assurance that your current post will be held open at the same level as you left it. NHS/other provider policies may however indicate this could involve returning to a different role, potentially within a different department. Your Trust R&D Director can support you with these negotiations. 

Discussions on the most appropriate arrangements for you and your award should commence well in advance of submitting your application for a personal award.

Ensure your line manager is involved in employment contract discussions.

If you are developing a clinical academic or practitioner academic career, further guidance on host and partner organisations is available here.

Learn from existing Academy Members

Reach out to current award holders to learn about their Contracting Organisation and Partner Organisation arrangements

Costing issues

Your Contracting Organisation finance department will be responsible for costing your application. 

Your salary

  • If you are moving employers to undertake the award, salary scales may not be equivalent.  You will need to negotiate the correct pay scale, taking into account your current clinical/ or practice post. 
  • If you are remaining with your current employer, your salary scale should not change in order to undertake the award.

No award holder should experience a cut in salary to undertake a personal career development award. You should discuss this with your HR and Research Finance teams early in the application development process.

Still have questions?

Contact us with queries
Call 0113 532 8444