Forms of grant

The majority of grants will be financed in the form of lump sums or unit costs (simplified forms of grants). The use of these types of grants under Erasmus+ Programme has been approved by the Decision authorising the use of lump sums and unit costs under the Erasmus+ Programme 2021-2027 [pdf]. In accordance with this decision, the methodology used to establish the simplified forms of grants and their levels ensures the respect of the principle of sound financial management and reasonable compliance with the principles of co-financing and no double funding.

The grant may take the following forms:

Budget-based mixed actual cost grant

This covers grants broken down by budget categories and beneficiaries. This form of grant is based on actual costs incurred and other simplified forms of funding. This normally includes:

1. reimbursement on the basis of unit costs, which cover certain specific categories of eligible costs which are clearly identified in advance by reference to an amount per unit: e.g. the individual support under Key Action 1 mobility projects
2. reimbursement of a percentage of the reimbursable costs actually incurred: e.g. the exceptional costs under Key Action 1 mobility actions

Lump sums

This means that the grant will reimburse a fixed amount, based on a lump sum or financing not linked to costs. The lump sum amounts are calculated in accordance with the methodology set out in the Commission's decision authorising the use of lump sums and unit costs under Erasmus+ Programme 2021-2027 [pdf] and using the detailed budget table/calculator provided (if any).
It could be:

1. budget-based lump sum: The amount will be fixed by the granting authority on the basis of the estimated project budget, the result of the evaluation and a funding rate fixed in the Call (Part B of this Guide). The estimated budget must comply with the basic eligibility conditions for EU actual cost grants (for actions managed by the EACEA, see AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement, art 6).
2. prefixed lump sum: The amount is prefixed by the granting authority in the Call (Part B of this Guide).
3. a combination of the above

The financing mechanism applied under the Erasmus+ Programme in most cases provides grants based on the reimbursement on the basis of unit costs or lump sums. These types of grant help applicants to easily calculate the requested grant amount and facilitate a realistic financial planning of the project.

To know which type of grant is applied to each funding item under each Erasmus+ Action covered by this Guide, please refer to the description of each action in Part B, section “What are the funding rules?”. 

Principles applying to EU grants and other provisions

Non-retroactivity

No EU grant may be awarded retroactively for projects already completed.

An EU grant may be awarded for a project which has already begun only where the applicant can demonstrate, in the project proposal, the need to start the project before the grant agreement has been signed. In such cases, the costs eligible for financing must not have been incurred prior to the date of submission of the grant application.

If the applicant starts implementing the project before the grant agreement is signed, this is done at the risk of the applicant.

Multiple submissions / proposals

Eligible entities may apply for funding and participate in different project proposals under the same call as well as under different calls. Specific rules for identical or very similar proposals submitted in the same call - to ensure efficiency, fairness, and clarity in the funding process and to prevent double funding - are listed below.

For actions managed by the Executive Agency:

• If there are several proposals for very similar projects, only one proposal will be accepted and evaluated; the applicants will be asked to withdraw the others (or they will be rejected).
• Proposals may be changed and re-submitted until the deadline for submission.

For actions managed by the National Agencies:

• In case of multiple submissions of the same application by the same applicant to the same or different National Agencies, all applications will be rejected.
• Should almost identical or similar applications be submitted by the same or different applicants to the same or different National Agencies, they will all be subject to a specific assessment and may all be rejected.
• Proposals may be changed and re-submitted until the deadline for submission.

Furthermore, to ensure access to funding for a wide range of organisations, making the programme inclusive and accessible, specific capping rules which set a maximum number of different proposals a single entity can apply for or participate in under the same call or round for certain actions are introduced in this Guide. Such measures aim to ensure a wider and more equitable distribution of funds, allowing more newcomers and a broader spectrum of participants to benefit from the programme. Those capping rules, if applicable, are specified in the eligibility criteria in part B of this Guide.

Original content and authorship

Intellectual property rights and the originality of submitted work are to be respected under the Erasmus+ programme. All applications for projects and accreditations must contain original content authored by the applicant or partner organisations or consortium members jointly applying for a grant. Where a third-party content is referred to, proper attribution and acknowledgment of intellectual property rights must be given. Failing to meet these criteria through acts of plagiarism makes a proposal ineligible for consideration. Confirmed violation of intellectual property rights represents an exclusion situation under the EU Financial Regulation ¹ . It is therefore for applicants to ensure that their proposals are thoroughly original, properly cite all sources, and comply with the applicable intellectual property rules and ethical guidelines to avoid the risk of rejection.

If considering the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools for the preparation of the application, applicants should be conscious of the potential of plagiarism and should exercise careful consideration to ensure the application’s appropriateness and accuracy, its compliance with intellectual property regulations, as well as its original content.

Applicants are strongly advised against relying on external entities or individuals for drafting of the application. This is because the process of conceiving an application and the reflection by the applicant and other participating organisations, if any, about the different elements contained in a proposal is essential to ensure a qualitative implementation of the activities and contributes to the capacity building of these organisations. Furthermore, all proposals are automatically screened by the National Agencies and the Executive Agency to detect double funding and plagiarism risks. Relying on external entities for help with drafting the application increases the risk of lack of originality, especially if the external entities assist other potential applicants as well. If the application content is similar to an already funded or to be funded project, a critical similarities report will be generated highlighting the percentage of similarity with other proposals. In the absence of justification by the applicant, such detected similarities might lead to rejection of the proposal.

The grants also do not cover costs related to hiring external organizations or individuals to draft the application or any subsequent reports because these are considered as core tasks which cannot be subcontracted. Therefore, no other organisations or external individuals can be paid or otherwise compensated for drafting the application or any subsequent reports, as such costs will not be reimbursed or considered as eligible under the grant’s terms.

The National Agency or the Executive Agency may reject the application from the selection process or may terminate an awarded project/accreditation at any time if it determines that intellectual property rights have been violated or statements provided in the Declaration on Honour are false.

Non-cumulative award

Each project may give rise to the award of only one grant from the Programme budget to any one beneficiary.

An action that has received a contribution under the Programme may also receive a contribution from another Union programme, provided that the contributions do not cover the same costs. The rules of the relevant Union programme shall apply to the corresponding contribution to the action. The cumulative financing shall not exceed the total eligible costs of the action ² .

In no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the Union budget.

To avoid the risk of double funding, the applicant must declare that its organisation has not received any other EU grant for the particular action and also commit to  give notice of any future EU grants related to the particular action and of any EU operating grant(s) given to its organisation. This will be checked through the Declaration on Honour.

No-profit principle

A grant financed from the Union budget must not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit within the framework of the project carried out by the beneficiary ³ . Profit is defined as surplus calculated at the payment of the balance, of receipts over the eligible costs of the action, where receipts are limited to the Union grant and the revenue generated by that action or work programme ⁴ .

The no-profit principle does not apply to ⁵

• actions the objective of which is the reinforcement of the financial capacity of a beneficiary, or actions which generate income to ensure their continuity after the period of Union financing provided for in the grant agreement
• study, research, training or education support paid to natural persons or other direct support paid to natural persons most in need, such as unemployed persons and refugees
• actions implemented by non-profit organisations
• grants provided in the form of a unit or lump sum contribution
• low value grants, defined as grants of EUR 60 000 or less

Where a profit is made, the Commission shall be entitled to recover the percentage of the profit corresponding to the Union contribution to the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary in carrying out the action or work.

For the purpose of calculating the profit generated by the grant, co-financing in the form of contributions in kind will not be taken into account.

Co-financing

Grants shall involve co-financing. As a result, the resources necessary to carry out the action shall not be provided entirely by the grant. Co-financing may be provided in the form of the beneficiary’s own resources, income generated by the action or financial or in-kind contributions from third parties.

When the EU grant is provided in the form of a unit cost, a lump sum or a flat-rate financing – this is the case for most of the Actions covered by this Guide – the principles of no-profit and co-financing are ensured by the Commission for the Action as a whole in advance when it defines the rates or percentages of such units, lump sums and flat-rates. The respect of the no-profit and co-financing principles is generally assumed in this case and therefore, applicants do not have to justify the costs incurred by the project.

However, the payment of the grant based on the reimbursement on the basis of unit costs, lump sums, or flat-rate financing is without prejudice to the right of access to the beneficiaries’ statutory records. Where a check or audit reveals that the generating event has not occurred (e.g. project activities not realised as approved at application stage, participants not taking part in the activities, etc.) and an undue payment has been made to the beneficiary on a grant based on the reimbursement on the basis of contribution to unit costs, lump sums, or flat-rate financing, the National or Executive Agency shall be entitled to recover up to the amount of the grant. Similarly, if the activities undertaken or the outputs produced are not implemented or are implemented poorly (including failure to comply with a contractual obligation), the grant may be reduced, taking into account the extent to which the action has been completed. In addition, for statistical and monitoring purposes the European Commission may carry out surveys on samples of beneficiaries aimed at quantifying the actual costs incurred in projects funded based on the reimbursement on the basis of contribution to unit costs, lump sums, or flat-rate financing.

Cost eligibility rules

In order to be eligible, costs and contributions ⁶ must meet the eligibility conditions set in the grant agreement and as indicated below ⁷ .

Eligible costs - general conditions ⁸

For actual/real costs:

• they must be actually incurred by the beneficiary
• they must be incurred during the period of implementation set up in the project grant agreement, with the exception of costs relating to final reports and audit certificates, which may be incurred afterwards
• they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in the grant agreement
• they must be incurred in connection with the action as described in the grant agreement and necessary for its implementation
• they must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular being recorded in the account records of the beneficiary and determined according to the applicable accounting standards of the country where the beneficiary is established and according to the usual cost accounting practices of the beneficiary
• they must comply with the requirements of applicable taxes, labour and social security
• they are reasonable, justified, and comply with the principle of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency

For unit costs and contributions:

• they must be declared under one of the budget categories set out in the grant agreement
  • the units must:
    • be actually used or produced by the beneficiary in the period of implementation
    • be necessary for the implementation of the action and
  • the number of units must be identifiable and verifiable and, when necessary, supported by records and documentation

Lump sums:

• they must be declared under one of the activities/work packages set out in the grant agreement
• the work must be properly implemented by the beneficiary in accordance with the grant agreement
• the deliverables/outputs must be achieved in the implementation period

For actions managed by the Executive Agency and using a lump sum model, the Lump Sum amount will be fixed by the granting authority (EACEA) on the basis of the estimated project budget. Details are provided in Part B of this Guide. Furthermore:

• since the detailed budget table serves as the basis for fixing the lump sums for the grants (and since lump sums must be reliable proxies for the actual costs of a project), the costs included must comply with the basic eligibility conditions for EU actual cost grants (see AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement, art 6[pdf]). This is particularly important for purchases and subcontracting, which must comply with best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and be free of any conflict of interests. If the budget table contains ineligible costs, the grant may be reduced (even later on during the project implementation or after its end);
• if costs for volunteers unit cost ⁹ can be included in the detailed budget table for a concrete lump sum action please check Part B of this Guide. Volunteers’ costs are not a classic cost category. There are no costs because volunteers work for free, but they may nonetheless be added to the budget in the form of a pre-fixed unit cost (per volunteer)519 and thus allow you to benefit from the volunteers’ work for the grant (by increasing the amount of reimbursement up to 100% of the normal costs, i.e. cost categories other than volunteers). More information is available in the AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement, art 6.2.A.5. [pdf];
• as to whether SME owner/natural person unit costs ¹⁰ are allowed in a lump sum grant and can be included in the detailed budget table for a concrete action please check Part B;
• for the travel and subsistence costs under a lump sum grant please use travel and subsistence unit cost ¹¹ ;
• as to whether costs for financial support to third parties are allowed and can be included in the detailed budget table for a concrete lump sum action please check Part B. The maximum amount per third party is EUR 60 000 unless differently specified in Part B;
• as to whether there is a specific regime for equipment costs, please check Part B;
• communication costs for presenting the project on the participants’ websites or social media accounts are eligible; costs for separate project websites are not eligible.

Eligible costs - Specific conditions

Eligible actual/real costs may be direct or indirect.

Direct costs

The eligible direct costs are specific costs directly linked to the performance of the action and which can therefore be booked to it directly. Please see Part B of this Guide for the budget categories reimbursed as actual costs.  

The beneficiary's internal accounting and auditing procedures must permit direct reconciliation of the costs and revenue declared in respect of the project with the corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Non-deductible and non-refundable value added tax (VAT) under the applicable national VAT legislation is eligible ¹² . The only exception relates to activities or transactions in which states, regional and local government authorities and other public bodies engage as public authorities ¹³ . The VAT Directive does not apply to non-EU countries. Organisations from third countries not associated to the Programme can be exempted from taxes (including VAT), duties and charges, if an agreement has been signed between the European Commission and the third country not associated to the Programme where the organisation is established.

Eligible indirect costs

Indirect costs are costs that are not directly linked to the action implementation and therefore cannot be attributed directly to it. For details on the funding rules for specific actions, please consult Part B of this Guide.

For youth workers mobility projects, a flat-rate amount not exceeding 7% of the eligible direct costs of the project is eligible under indirect costs, representing the beneficiary's general administrative costs which are not already covered by the eligible direct costs (e.g. electricity or Internet bills, cost for premises, etc.) but which can be regarded as chargeable to the project.

Indirect costs may not include costs entered under another budget category. Indirect costs are not eligible where the beneficiary already receives an operating grant from the Union budget (for example in the framework of the call for proposals on Civil Society Cooperation under the Erasmus+ Programme).

Ineligible costs

The following costs shall not be considered eligible:

• costs or contributions that do not comply with the conditions set in Part B of this Guide
• costs related to return on capital and dividends paid by a beneficiary
• debt and debt service charges
• provisions for losses or debts
• interest owed
• currency exchange losses
• bank costs charged by the beneficiary’s bank for transfers from the granting authority
• excessive or reckless expenditure
• deductible or refundable VAT (including VAT paid by public bodies acting as public authority) (see paragraph above on Value Added Tax)
• costs incurred or contributions for activities implemented during grant agreement suspension
• in-kind contribution by third parties
• costs or contributions declared by the beneficiary under other EU grants (or grants awarded by an EU Member State, non-EU country or other body implementing the EU budget), except the following cases:
  • if the action grant is combined with an operating grant running during the same period and the beneficiary can demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any (direct or indirect) costs of the action grant
• costs or contributions for staff of a national (or regional/local) administration, for activities that are part of the administration’s normal activities (i.e. not undertaken only because of the grant)
• costs or contributions (especially travel and subsistence) for staff or representatives of EU institutions, bodies or agencies
• in the case of renting or leasing of equipment, the cost of any buy-out option at the end of the lease or rental period
• costs of opening and operating bank accounts (including costs of transfers from/to the National charged by the bank of the beneficiary)

Sources of financing

In general, projects supported by grants shall involve co-financing ¹⁴ , either directly or indirectly in the form of lump sums, unit costs or flat rates. If required by the call conditions, the applicant should indicate in the application form the contribution from sources other than the EU grant. Direct co-financing may take the form, for example, of the beneficiary's own resources or financial contributions from third parties. If, at the time of the final report and request of payment of the balance there is evidence that there is a surplus, please refer to sections above on No-profit and Co-financing and relevant grant agreement provisions.

Contributions in kind from third parties are not considered as a possible source of co-financing.

Footnote

1. Article 138(1) c) iii) of the EU Financial Regulation ↩ back
2. See Article 32 of Erasmus+ Regulation. ↩ back
3. Article 195 of the EU Financial Regulation. ↩ back
4. To this aim, the receipts are limited to income generated by the project, as well as financial contributions specifically assigned by donors to the financing of eligible costs. The profit (or the loss) as defined above is then the difference between:
   • the provisionally accepted amount of the grant and the income generated by the action and
   • the eligible costs incurred by the beneficiary

   In addition, whenever a profit is made, it will be recovered in accordance with the grant agreement. The National Agency or Executive Agency are entitled to recover the percentage of the profit corresponding to the Union contribution to the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary to carry out the action. Further clarifications on the calculation of the profit will be provided for actions for which grants take the form of reimbursement of a specified proportion of eligible costs.
   ↩ back

5. Article 195 (3) of the EU Financial Regulation ↩ back
6. As set out in the Decision authorising the use of lump sums and unit costs under the Erasmus+ Programme 2021 – 2027 ↩ back
7. For actions managed by the Executive Agency, the detailed applicable financial provisions are presented in the Model Grant Agreement published in the Funding and Tender Opportunity Portal ↩ back
8. Article 125 and 189 of the EU Financial Regulation ↩ back
9. Commission Decision of 10 April 2019 authorising the use of unit costs for declaring personnel costs for the work carried out by volunteers under an action or a work programme (C(2019)2646 ↩ back
10. Commission Decision of 30 July 2024 authorising the use of unit costs for the personnel costs of the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises and beneficiaries that are natural persons not receiving a salary for the work carried out by themselves under an action or work programme (C(2024)5328) ↩ back
11. Commission Decision of 31 July 2024 authorising the use of unit costs for travel, accommodation and subsistence costs under an action or work programme under the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework (C(2024)5405). ↩ back
12. In the Member States the VAT national legislation translates the VAT Directive 2006/112/EC. ↩ back
13. See article 13(1) of the Directive. ↩ back
14. Article 193 of the EU Financial Regulation ↩ back