COFUND: Should CCC be applied to the MSCA COFUND allowances?

No, country correction coefficients are not applied to COFUND allowances.

If there are several countries involved in recruiting fellows in a COFUND project, applicants can provide competitive salary amounts taking into account the national situation. A table may be included with columns by country and the allowance for each fellow in each country.

DN: In a doctoral Networks proposal, the PhD awarding organisation is located in a country different from the one of organisation recruiting the PhD candidate. In this situation, should the country correction coefficient of the hosting organisation’s country be applied?

In case where a Doctoral Candidate is recruited by beneficiary A and goes on secondment to the associated partner B (which will award the PhD degree), it is the CCC of the beneficiary that will apply.

However, there are specific cases. For example, consider the case of a Doctoral Candidate that is hosted by a French lab which is based in Japan (i.e. the research organisation is registered in France, but the lab is based in Japan). Then footnote number 136 on p. 121 of the MSCA Work Programme 2023-2025 applies:

“In exceptional cases, where a beneficiary is established in a country different from the place where the recruited researcher is hosted, the country correction coefficient of the hosting entity is taken into account during the grant agreement preparation process, in order to ensure the correct budget calculation.”

COFUND: Are Country Correction Coefficients (CCCs) applied in MSCA COFUND projects with an outgoing global fellowship element?

CCCs are not applicable in the COFUND action.

However, when preparing their proposals, beneficiaries are allowed to put in place different levels of co-funding for salaries to adapt them to the living standards of the countries involved in the programme.

PF: What Country Correction Coefficient (CCC) is used for a non-academic placement?

The Funding and Tenders Opportunities portal automatically uses the CCC of the beneficiary also for the non-academic placement.

DN/ PF: Is the family allowance also included into the calculation of the long-term leave allowance?

To calculate the unit rate of the long-term leave allowance only living and mobility allowances should be taken into account.

In Doctoral Networks and Postdoctoral Fellowships, a long-term leave allowance can cover costs incurred by beneficiaries in case of researchers’ long-term leave, including maternity, paternity, parental, sick or special leave, longer than 30 consecutive days.

In this case, NO living, mobility or family allowances can be claimed for the researcher concerned (for the months that the long-term leave allowance is claimed).

The unit rate of the long-term leave allowance is set at a level identical to the sum of the applicable living and mobility allowances for doctoral candidates in Doctoral Networks and postdoctoral researchers in Postdoctoral Fellowships.

When claiming their costs, beneficiaries must indicate the duration of the contribution paid by the employer (in person-months) and the share of the whole remuneration costs (in % of the long-term leave allowance) that the employer had to actually cover during that period as required under the applicable national legislation.

 

Contribution calculation:

Long-term leave allowance applicable rate * duration in months of the period of leave to be covered * % of long-term leave allowance incurred by the beneficiary.

 

Percentage of long-term leave allowance incurred by the beneficiary calculation:

{The amount of the costs actually incurred by the beneficiary per month/Long-term leave allowance applicable rate} * 100

 

Beneficiaries must declare that they have incurred additional costs linked to a long-term leave, the duration of the leave and the part of the remuneration not covered by other sources such as social security. Supporting documents to justify the claim will have to be kept on file and be available upon request (e.g. in case of audit).

DN/ PF: Is the country correction coefficient applied to the unit contribution in Doctoral Networks and Postdoctoral Fellowships when calculating the long-term leave allowance?

Since the applicable living allowance is included in the calculation, the country correction coefficient is also applied.

PF: What happens if a European Postdoctoral Fellowships project is granted with a host organisation in country “A” but has to be transferred to another beneficiary located in country “B” before the actual start of the project? Would the correction coefficient of the country in which the new host organisation is located be applied?

In certain justified cases, such as when the supervisor and the entire group need to relocate to another institution, it is possible to request a change of host before the project start date. If the Grant Agreement has already been signed, the change of host must be done by submitting an amendment to the Grant Agreement.

To initiate the change of host process, the current host (beneficiary) must reach out to the Project Officer responsible for the project. After assessment, the Project Officer will provide detailed instructions on the necessary steps to follow, including updating Annex I and obtaining agreement letters from all parties involved, among other requirements.

It is essential to note that the allocated budget will be adjusted to reflect the correction coefficient applicable to the country of the new host organisation.

PF/ DN: Will the country coefficient correction (CCC) be updated during Horizon Europe?

It is very likely that the CCC will be reviewed in the framework of the mid-term unit contribution study (from 2025 onwards).