COVID-19: Supplements for Tri-Agency Research Grants

As part of the federal government’s response to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on research activities, $251 million was provided to the Tri-Agencies - Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for salaries and stipends to help address the financial impact of interruptions to grant-funded activity due to COVID-19.

CIHR, SSHRC and NSERC wrote to Principal Investigators (PIs) of eligible grants directly to offer a salary and stipend Supplement between July and August 2020. An offer was made for each eligible grant. PI’s who accepted the Supplement had to confirm the following. 

1. They continued to pay salaries or stipends to students, trainees and/or research support personnel between April 1^st and June 30^th, 2020
2. Their research activity was interrupted between April 1^st and June 30^th, 2020 due to the pandemic.
    

The April 1^st to June 30^th period can be considered the ‘qualifying period’ (when research was interrupted) for the offer of Supplement funding.

When will my Supplement be available?

A separate research fund has been created for your Supplement award. The Supplement fund is visible in My Research On Line and will have the same project title as the grant for which the supplement was issued (the ‘primary grant’).
 

What is the value of the Supplement?

Supplement amounts were calculated by the Agencies on a per-grant basis by obtaining the average annual grant amount, then calculating a percentage of the 3-month value of the grant. The amounts offered were non-negotiable.
 

Eligible use of Supplement funds

Supplements can only be used for salaries (including benefits) and stipends for students, trainees, and research support personnel. All other expenses are ineligible.

Supplements cannot be used for the remuneration for work directly associated with a program of study, as opposed to research, for trainees who graduated in the spring of 2020

The eligible period to use the Supplement funds, which is different than the qualifying period, is detailed below.

• For NSERC and SSHRC: April 1^st, 2020 to March 31^st, 2021 (no extensions)
• For CIHR: April 1^st, 2020 to March 31^st, 2022 (extensions possible up to end-date of grant for which the Supplement was provided.)

Any unused Supplement funds at the end date are returned to the Agency. Also, for NSERC and SSHRC, the Supplement funds do not have an unfunded extension year. We recommend these funds be used sooner rather than later wherever possible.

In addition, those who are paid from the Supplement funds must ensure they did not receive benefits through the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB), Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), or other federal COVID-19 income supports including Tri-agency scholarships and fellowships while simultaneously being paid by these supplements. To meet this requirement for recordkeeping and audit purposes, payees should complete the Attestation Form which is to be retained by the Business Officer or financial officer at the Department or Faculty where the Tri-Agency Supplement Grant is held.

Institutions are required to retain a record of a payee’s declarations that they did not benefit from the programs noted above while simultaneously being paid by a Supplement grant. To facilitate collection of this information from those who will be paid through these additional funds, an Attestation Form is available for use and recordkeeping.

IMPORTANT: Payees must complete, sign, and return the Attestation Form to the PI and the Department or Faculty Business Officer where the PI’s grant is held.

Download the Attestation Form

The form should not be returned to Research Service Office (RSO), Innovations and Partnerships Office (IPO) or Research Accounting.

Staff in VPRI cannot provide advice or guidance on CESC, CERB, or other related CRA rules in relation to these programs. Those who have questions about those programs should refer to the program websites or contact those program representatives directly with their questions.

If you choose to share a portion of the Supplement with collaborators at another institution, or if you are a hospital-based PI wishing to transfer some or all of your supplement to yourself at the hospital, you will need to request that we prepare a sub-grant agreement (inter-institutional agreement). To request a sub-grant agreement, please contact MayLiza Baak at m.baak@utoronto.ca.

As noted above, the Supplement funds may only be used to pay salaries or stipends of trainees, and salaries of research support personnel.  Research Accounting is responsible for preparing the financial reporting to the Tri-Agencies (using the Tri-Agency ‘Form 300’) based on the deadlines each Agency has set.
 

CIHR Supplement funds:

Research Accounting will prepare a single Form 300 for the grant for which the supplements that were awarded, and incorporate the salaries and stipends paid from the Supplement grant onto that single Form 300.  Because CIHR provides a longer timeframe to use the Supplements, we recommend business officers post salary and/or stipends paid to payees (once the payee has completed the Attestation Form) to the Supplement grant fund as soon as they can to ensure the funds are fully used. See FAQ for more details.
 

NSERC & SSHRC Supplement funds:

Research Accounting will prepare a single Form 300 for the grant for which the supplements were awarded, and incorporate the salaries and stipends paid from the Supplement grant onto that single Form 300. Given the timeframe within which to use the Supplements, or else risk returning them to the Agency, we strongly recommend Business Officers post salary and/or stipends paid to payees (once the payee has completed the Attestation Form) as soon as possible to ensure the Supplement grant is used in full. See FAQ for more details.

• Attestation Form
• UofT Tri-Agency Stipend and Salary Supplements Oct. 19 Webinar Slides