Specific information about what the charity can (and can’t) fund

Purchasing equipment

If the equipment you are seeking support to purchase has a value of over £100,000, please contact the Funding and Partnerships team on [email protected] or 0191 213 7235. They will explain the funding available and process used by the charity working in partnership with the trust to determine which high value capital items are prioritised by the trust for support from the charity.

If the equipment you are seeking support to purchase has a value of under £100,000, please speak to your clinical board about the proposed purchase to ensure you have their full support in advance of a proposal being submitted to the charity:

• Those discussions will need to include capital costs, revenue costs, and whether there are any implications that require involvement of trust colleagues dealing with estates, procurement, and IT.
• The charity may support the initial purchase of equipment but all associated costs including running costs, maintenance, and warranties going forwards will be the responsibility of the trust.
• Any charity support for equipment costing over £5,000 will be conditional on Capital Management Group (CMG) approval for the potential purchase. This ensures compatibility with existing equipment and adherence to established standards of care. The Charity cannot provide funding for any equipment which will be purchased outside of this process.
• When approaching the CMG, please be explicit if the initial purchase of this equipment will be being funded through charities. For further advice on the CMG process, please contact the Business Development Team via [email protected]

If you wish to submit a proposal to charity, you therefore have a choice. Once all the capital and revenue costs have been identified you can either:

• Take a proposal through the CMG process first. If approval is provided you can then approach the charity to try and secure funding for the potential purchase.

Or:

• Submit a proposal to the charity. If charity supports the proposal then this will be conditional on the proposal being taken through the CMG process and approved. No funds can be released until evidence of this is provided to charity.

Please note that approval from either the charity or the CMG does not mean the other will necessarily approve the potential purchase. Each body has their own criteria they are required to follow.

• Proposals submitted to the charity should ensure VAT costs are included EXCEPT for items that are medical, scientific, computer, video, sterilising, laboratory, or refrigeration equipment for use in medical research, training, diagnosis or treatment. Please EXCLUDE VAT for these items.
• Purchase of equipment must be facilitated by the trust’s supplies and procurement teams in order to ensure value for money, that health and safety regulations are adhered to, and that guarantees and warranties are in place. Where it is not possible to purchase via the trust’s procurement system, please discuss this with the charity.
• All equipment purchased will become the property of the trust.

Building works/refurbishment

If the building work you are seeking support for has a value of over £100,000, please contact the funding and partnerships team on [email protected] or 0191 213 7235. They will explain the funding available and process used by the charity working in partnership with the trust to determine which high value estates projects are prioritised by the trust for support from the charity.

If the building work or refurbishment you are seeking support for has a value of under £100,000, please speak to your clinical board about the proposed purchase to ensure you have their full support in advance of a proposal being submitted to the charity.

All buildings work and refurbishment must be carried out through the estates department:

• If considering submitting a proposal you should take advice from the trust’s estates department ahead of application.
• The estates team will advise on the general feasibility of an idea, whether there potential hidden costs such as enabling works (any additional power, gas, water supply etc. implications).
• All related revenue costs will need to be agreed and clearly stated in your proposal.

Where a proposal seeks to have a significant impact on an element of the patient environment (e.g. artwork etc) then you should:

• If you are applying for funding any art-based enhancements to the hospital environment (of any value), please read our ‘Arts in the Hospital Environment’ webpage

Funding staff posts

Charitable funding can be used to enhancing the trust’s workforce capacity in specific targeted ways that align with the charity’s funding themes.

If the staffing costs in your proposal has a value of over £100,000, please contact the funding and partnerships team on [email protected] or 0191 213 7235. They will explain the funding available and process used by the charity working in partnership with the trust to determine which projects involving staffing are prioritised by the trust for support from the charity.

In all cases, funding of internal posts will only be considered where the trust will not be obligated to continue funding the post with non-charitable monies. Further considerations to be taken into account include:

• The Charity cannot fund salaries of NHS staff providing core NHS services.
• The Charity will not be able to support recruitment costs or any additional costs not agreed as part of the proposal submitted.
• If there may be a need to backfill other posts in the trust as a result of charity supporting a proposal then a plan should be clearly outlined and supported by the clinical board to ensure that there is no risk to core service provision.
• In all cases the applicant should take advice on their proposal from the trust’s human resources department and costings provided by finance team must be included as part of the submission.
• The Charity cannot fund new fixed term posts that run for a term in excess of 21 months. This should be the maximum applied for in any proposal unless you have explored an exception to this with the charity.
• Proposals should describe the exit strategy for any fixed term posts, as charity would not usually support further funding at the end of the funding period.
• Severance and redundancy payments will not be covered by or paid from charitable funds under any circumstances.

To give applicants flexibility at recruitment stage the charity is likely to base approved funding on the maximum potential salary costs:

• proposals should quote the maximum salary costs in their submissions
• successful proposals must commence use of the funding within 12 months, otherwise a new proposal will need to be submitted. Extensions will not be considered in these circumstances.

Funding for posts where the postholder is employed by an external body (such as a support worker) can be considered for charitable support as there are no employment requirements for the Trust.

Proposals involving information technology

• Before submitting your proposal, you should take advice from the trust’s Information Technology team and provide evidence that the trust’s ‘Digital Request’ process has been followed if required.
• Funding will not be awarded for websites for a specific part of the trust unless they are explicitly approved by the director of communications.
• Where a proposed project includes the use of personal data, a privacy impact assessment is required ahead of an approach to the charity. The Information Governance Team can provide support and assistance to complete this assessment.

Hospitality

Hospitality is the friendly reception and engagement of guests or visitors whose work normally falls within the funding themes supported by the charity.

• Hospitality funding will only be provided where it is shown to provide tangible benefits to the strategic aims of the Trust and/or charity.
• This might include payments relating to visiting researchers or lecturers who provide valued input into the work of the trust.
• Hospitality must be connected to fundable activities which disrupt normal meal arrangements or may be provided in circumstances where it would be discourteous to fail to offer hospitality.
• Before agreeing to meet hospitality costs, the charity will require sufficient details to justify the expenditure including the names and titles of the person(s) receiving the hospitality.
• Proposal submitted to charity should use the meal allowances in this guidance to inform the cost of hospitality per person.
• If a visiting speaker or lecturer has given up their time for free, an above standard level of hospitality may be appropriate; please contact the charity to discuss such cases.

Gifts and presents for patients

The charity may support gifts for patients as follows:

• Modest gifts for all inpatients at times of celebration – usually as a guide, proposals should be based on a value of about £10 per patient (please contact the funding and partnerships team if you feel that your proposal should be an exception to this).
• Individual gifts for patients should not be purchased except for birthday gifts for children, which can be purchased for a named child outside of normal celebration times.
• Please note if a patient is experiencing individual hardship then charity may make decisions to support individuals on those grounds from funds set aside to support hardship.

Team building, wellbeing or recognition events

The Charity supports initiatives aimed at maintaining and improving staff wellbeing. Proposals submitted to charity should show how the funding will make a tangible contribution to staff wellbeing and support them to be more effective in their roles.

• Events must be open to all staff within the relevant teams or departments who are the focus of the proposal and staff must have been consulted on the agreed activity.
• Only one staff wellbeing event will be supported per year per staff group.
• Wellbeing events can take many different formats – proposals will be considered individually and costs must be proportionate, the charity’s guideline on this is a limit of £25 per head unless discussed and agreed with charity in advance.
• Only one staff celebration event will be supported per annum per staff group.
• As a guide the total costs of events (including catering and venue) should not exceed the meal limits set per person (please see the meals and expenses section). For example for an evening event, the maximum amount the charity can pay per person is the set evening meal allowance.
• Any events must not be lavish or risk damaging the reputation of the Charity or the trust. Therefore, any expenses deemed to be over and above what a good employer would provide will not be funded.
• Staff Christmas parties are not supported by the charity.
• Leaving parties or gifts are not supported by the charity.

The Charity understands that some departments may not be able to host one event that is inclusive of all staff members (eg due to large number of staff or shift work). In such cases, it is at the Charity’s discretion to allow more than one event so that all staff could be included.

Please note that:

• Charity funding cannot be used for the purchase of alcohol.
• Travel costs for attendance at funerals can no longer be supported by the charity.

Gifts and thank you gestures for staff 

With regard to gifts for staff, the following considerations apply:

• Gifts may not be awarded to selected individuals but must be for all staff of a certain department or team who are eligible to benefit from either from the charity’s general fund or from the other named funds available to it.
• All gifts must not cost more than £10 per person per event, gift vouchers are allowable only if they cannot be exchanged for cash.

Please note that:

• Purchasing alcohol as a gift for staff is not permitted.
• Retirement, leaving or long service celebration gifts cannot be purchased with charitable funds.
• Charity may need to consider HMRC regulations when considering any proposals for the benefit of staff – certain activities are counted as reportable benefits for tax purposes.

Activities to support team excellence

Departmental meetings, training days and similar activities can be funded if they are open to everyone working in the relevant teams:

• Meals and refreshments relating to such activities must not exceed the limits for meal allowances as detailed in this guidance.
• Expenses relating to venue and AV equipment can be supported if there is a need for these expenses (e.g. due to lack of meeting space in the department).

Training, conferences and other learning opportunities to support individual excellence

All proposals for continuous professional development should be submitted to the education and workforce development department in the first instance:

• You will need to secure appropriate study leave for the opportunity.
• You must be able to show that in the first instance you have explored and secured any funding that may be available from the education workforce department.
• The charity can consider supplying any shortfall in funding, all proposals must detail how attendance at the training, conference or awards will ultimately benefit patients of Newcastle Hospitals and include a plan for the cascading of learning to trust colleagues.
• For the associated travel and subsistence costs please see the travel section.
• Charity does not fund PhD studentships or similar qualifications.

Travel costs to support staff excellence learning activities

The booking of travel and transport must be undertaken through the trust’s travel booking processes and must be in line with the trust’s travel policies.

Train:

• First class tickets will not be reimbursed.

Air:

• Air travel is permitted where no other form of travel is suitable.
• First class, business class or premium economy travel will not be supported even on long haul flights.
• Reasonable airport parking costs will be paid (excluding valet parking or premium services).

Taxi:

• Taxi or cab fares are payable only where other modes of public transport are not feasible.
• The proposal must provide evidence that no trains or buses are available for use.
• Typical reasons as to why public transport is not feasible would include when heavy or bulky items need to be transported, when personal safety is an issue (e.g. staff are required to travel during anti-social hours), or when patient safety justifies the saving in time and the expense.
• Use of a taxi could be justified when several staff are travelling together which would result in a net saving.

Accommodation costs to support staff excellence learning activities

Proposals can include costs for accommodation while attending learning opportunities for the duration of the event and where reasonable a night before the beginning of the conference or after it ends.

• Proposals should identify the most cost effective options rather than the event’s ‘recommended’ hotel.
• All accommodation must be booked in line with trust policies. These should be considered the absolute maximum limits and all reasonable attempts should be made to look for lower priced accommodation where possible.
• Bookings must be made through the trust’s usual processes.
• Additional extras such as newspapers, mini-bar purchases, dry-cleaning etc will not be reimbursed.

Meals and expenses

Meal expenses are allowed when an individual is carrying out activities funded by the charity and is away from home or their place of employment. The following limits apply for meals:

• Breakfast – £5 per day.
• Lunch – £8 per day.
• Evening meal – £25 per day.

The charity cannot provide any funding for:

• Alcoholic drinks.
• Service charges, optional tips, and gratuity are not regarded as charitable expenditure and will not be reimbursed.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions fall into two categories: publications and subscriptions to institutions:

• The charity may pay for subscriptions where they bring genuine added knowledge to the staff team rather than just an individual.
• The charity will not pay for professional membership to UK bodies, as these are regarded as the professional obligation of the individual.

Guidance for Innovation proposals (clinical research / innovation)

The charitable support for Innovation activities is currently under review. Please contact the funding and partnerships team on [email protected] or 0191 213 7235 for an update.