Financing and Reporting Dave Catherall Head of External Funding Partner 1 Oldham Churchgate House, Oxford Road, manchester 22.02.2017.

Agenda: Eligibility period Basic principles reporting expenditure Budget lines Reporting periods Other eligibility rules First level Control Decommittment Rule (N+3) Budget reallocation Questions

1) Eligibility period: Costs are eligible from 1 January 2017 to June 2021 ALL costs must to be paid within this period in order to be eligible Start preparing and auditing the final report in time to meet the date of submitting to the lead partner (30-6-2021 including FLC)

Reporting and changes Reporting Procedures in programme manual Phase 1 (till 31 dec 2018), every six months Phase 2 (2019-2020) once a year Including Fist Level control for expenditure Archiving of documents: period will be communicated by MA after the closure of the project Changes Budget reallocation beyond 20% flexibility Possible changes over flexibility, once during the project lifetime

2) Basic principles reporting expenditure: Expenditure can only be reported if the following principles are fulfilled: The calculation is based on actual costs (except administration costs = flat rate and preparation cost = lump sum) The costs are definitively borne by the partner body and would not have arisen without the project The expenditure had actually been paid out. Expenditure is considered to be paid when the amount is debt from the partner institution’s bank account The expenditure is directly linked to the project. Costs related to activities that are not described in the application form are not eligible

3) Budget lines: Staff costs Administration costs Travel and Accommodation External expertise and services Equipment  not in project budget

Staff costs: Personnel must be directly employed by the partner organisation Personnel external to the official organisation must be reported under the budget line External Expertise Gross employment costs: salary payments, employment taxes, social security (including health coverage and pension contributions) No overhead costs Calculation must be based on the actual salary rate of the individual employee Supporting documents: working contract, payslip, payment of proof, time sheets, etc.

Staff Costs - calculations 4 options: 1) Working full time on the project: - 100% of monthly salary costs 2) Working partly on the project: - X% of monthly salary costs 3) Working partly on the project at a flexible percentage: - Contractual hours - 1.720 hours 4) Employed on a hourly basis (fixed hourly rate)

Staff Costs Option 1) working full time on the project: Supporting documents: Employment contract; Working contract proving 100% working for the project; Payslips; Proof of payment; No time sheets needed

Staff Costs Option 2) working partly on the project: Supporting documents: Employment contract Working contract proving X% working for the project Payslips Proof of payment No time sheets needed

Staff Costs Option 3a) working partly on the project at a flexible percentage (contractual hours): Supporting documents: Employment contract Document proving monthly / weekly working time Payslips Proof of payment Document showing calculation hourly rate Timesheets of 100% monthly working time

Staff Costs Option 3b) working partly on the project at a flexible percentage (1.720 hours): Supporting documents: Employment contract Payslips Proof of payment Document showing calculation hourly rate Time sheets of 100% monthly working time

Staff Costs Option 4) Employed on a hourly basis: Employment contract (including hourly rate) Payslips Proof of payment Time sheets of 100% monthly working time

Admin Costs Administration costs (15% of total staff costs): - Flat rate of 15% of total staff costs - Includes office rent, electricity, office supplies, archives etc. - No supporting documents

Travel & Accomodation This cost category is only reserved for T&A costs of personnel employed by the partner organisations officially listed in the Application Form Travel Meals Accommodation Visa requirements Daily allowances – if payable

T & A continued T&A costs of external expert have to be reported under the budget line “External expertise and services”; The trips are justified by the project’s activities foreseen in the AF; Daily allowance is possible as long as it is actually paid by the partner body to the employee and this is in line with national and institutional conditions; It is not allowed to claim daily allowance and paid subsistence costs as well; Supporting documents: agenda of meeting, paid invoices, bank statements, travel tickets, boarding passes, daily allowance claims, CO2 compensation (included in ticket price) etc.

External Expertise Limited list of services and expertise (see programme manual) Expenses paid by the partners to external service providers on the basis of: * contracts/agreement * invoices/request for reimbursement Whenever a partner purchases services, goods, equipment, etc. externally procurements rules must be adhered, including European public procurement rules and the relevant national and internal rules of the partner responsible for subcontracting Supporting documents: * selection process; * contract; * invoice and proof of payment; * output of the work or service deliverables Travel and accommodation costs for stakeholders Project partners can not contract one another;

Reporting periods Phase 1 (1/1/2017 – 21/12/2019): period 1/1 – 30/6: 15 August (JS = 1 October) period 1/7 – 31/12: 15 February (JS = 1 April) Phase 2 (1/1/2020 – 31/12/2021): annual Year 2020:15 February 2021 (JS = 1 April 2021) Year 2021 final report):30 September 2021 (JS = 31 December 2021)

Other Rules Not eligible: VAT: only eligible if not recoverable; Fines, financial penalty’s, interest on debt; Contributions in kind; Expenditure already 100% cofinanced by EU funding; Gifts: only when related to promotion / communication activities (< € 50)  prior approval of JS in any case Net revenues: must be deducted from costs; Public procurement: EU rules (unlikely in this project); National rules apply; Internal rules partner organisation

First Level Control Each progress report should be verified and confirmed by an independent controller compliant with the FLC control system of the Member State. Designation of FLC: Controller who is authorised by Member State  see programme website; Controller is independent and qualified for control of expenditure; Internal controller: separated unit from project activities and finances; External controller: no contractual relations with the project or partner that could lead to a confict of matters;

First Level Control Four models: * centralised: public administrative body or private firm * decentralised: central short list or internal or external selected by partner and approved on national level; Decentralised: each partner has to provide an “approbation certificate” delivered by the approbation body designated by the Partner State  delivered with the first progress report; Standard documents for FLC: * independent first level control certificate (availabale at website JS); * control template with control checklist (available at website JS); FLC has to check 100% of reported costs or by random sample method; On the spot check at least once during project lifetime

Decommittment n+3 The ERDF amounts have to be spent within 3 years of the year when is committed within the Interreg Europe programme (n+3); Any of the allocations which at the end of 3 years are not covered by project expenditure will be lost decommitted); If the loss results form certain partners lagging behind their spending targets, the LP will be obliged to reduce the budget of these partners.

Budget Changes Changes in budget lines and partner budgets are allowed as long as the maximum amount of ERDF awarded remains the same (= flexibility rules); All minor changes can be reported as deviations in the progress reports, including justification; Major changes are obliged to request for approval by JS: * change of partnership; * change of core activities; * change of budget > 20% for budget line or partner; * change of project duration Only once during project lifetime a budget change > 20% Important: the spending plan can not be modified because of decommitment rules

Exchange Rates Partners located outside the EURO-zone will have to convert their expenditure in euro’s. The exchange rate of the Commission applicable in the month the documents are submitted for verification to the first level controller. The month exchange rate of the Commission are published on: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/inforeuro/index_en.cfm

Technical reporting

Reporting activities Why? To follow the project’s progress not only in terms of activities / outputs but also in terms of results To demonstrate the project’s / programme’s success and usefulness How is it carried out? Mainly through the progress reports Through project’s website, publications and good practices Maybe through the JS participation in project event(s)

Reporting activities Basic principles Same template for phase 1 and phase 2: only certain sections are adapted according to the phase Two parts in the achievements reporting: Part 1: Insight into project’s implementation Part 2: Insight into project’s results (from the first period!) Part 1: Implementation Overview of day-to-day project implementation Consolidated information 2 sections: overview and work plan

Implementation

Implementation 1.1. Overview Exchange of experience process (Phase 1) / Monitoring of action plan (Phase 2) Involvement of partners Policy learning process / difficulties Stakeholders involvement in this process / all regions? Participation in PLP 1.2 Storytelling What are you particularly proud of in this reporting period?

Activities Ouputs’ points of attention N° of policy learning events organised Back-to-back events Include stakeholder group meetings N° of people with increased capacity Include active members of the stakeholder groups To be reported in the last semester of phase 1 only N° of action plans developed

Activities Activities reporting per semester Progress made in comparison with initial plans

Good practices

Results Insight into project’s results Organised per policy instrument Distinction between ‘policy change’: direct result of exchange of experience ‘territorial impact’: longer term results

Part 2: Results Results: points of attention Indicators: automatically calculated based on the information provided under each policy instrument To be completed only if the policy change has already occurred (intention does not count) Financial impact: funds directly influenced by the change

Part 2: Case study The geographical coverage of the policy instrument refers to the NUTS level covered by the policy instrument itself ROP Andalusia – NUTS 2 Municipal Mobility Plan – NUTS 3 A policy change can be reported only when the policyinstrument has been successfully influenced implementation of new projects change in the management of the policy instrument change in the strategic focus

Part 2: Case study The policy change has to be very well described: What is the change (e.g. new call launched, new measure introduced in the OP, new monitoring system) Source of the lessons learnt (Interregional workshops, Study visits, Staff Exchange, etc.) Indicator ‘estimated amount of funding influenced’ Tangible, already defined and directly related to the change The territorial impact and the self-defined indicators can evolve during the project lifetime

Final recommendations To ensure that the report is self-explanatory To ensure that the report is understandable even when the theme tackled is quite specialised, non specialists should be able to understand role of the LP to ‘digest’ and summarise information coming from the whole partnership To ensure consistency between output indicators, activities and project website To ensure a clear link between activities and finance reporting E.g. description of the external expertise to be in line with activities

Final recommendations To be as precise as possible e.g. activities to be described in details (dates, location, content, participants) To provide ‘qualitative’ information. Monitoring of outputs important but not sufficient.

Thank you! Questions welcome