Project budgets are required to follow the UK Government financial years which run from 1st April to 31st March.
Budget lines are the high-level summary categories such as “Travel and Subsistence” or “Staff Costs”.
Yes, we are happy to support on both technical and financial reporting queries before the deadlines. We would recommend considering the guidance contained in the reporting templates as well as looking at relevant information notes that can be found here
You should submit sufficient evidence to support claims made in your report, however we do not need to see all project documentation, as this cannot be reviewed in detail by the independent reviewer. We recommend you use a common-sense approach – consider sampling key documents or providing only sections of longer reports. They key thing is that we have independent evidence of claims you make and an indication of the technical quality of your work. Please ensure it is clear which annexes support which elements of your reporting (such as clear cross referencing).
The Terms and Conditions for your project ask you to notify Defra about any relevant UK media/news stories before they are published and to ensure that you acknowledge the funding scheme. However, there is no need to notify us of every news article so please use your judgement accordingly.