Salary enhancement
From 1 April 2006
The Wellcome Trust revised its policy on salary enhancement for all grants awarded from 1 April 2006 onwards.
Under these arrangements, the host institution determines the appropriate basic salary for the individual and details this salary and the total costs of the post in the application form. The Wellcome Trust will then provide the following enhancements for basic science fellows:
- Distinction Awards for new principal research fellows of either £20 000, £30 000 or £50 000 per annum, based on the individual's standing and performance
- fellowship supplements of £2500 per annum for 'training' or 'junior' fellows, £7500 per annum for 'intermediate' fellows and £12 500 per annum for senior research fellows.
Distinction awards and fellowship supplements are provided at a fixed rate and should not be increased for inflation/cost of living awards.
An appropriate sum for employer's contributions to cover the costs of these distinction awards and fellowship supplements will also be provided.
Given the increasing trend towards local salary settlement for non-clinical postdoctoral research assistants, the Wellcome Trust will now provide the salary requested by the institution and will not apply an additional enhancement premium.
These changes do not apply to grants awarded before 1 April 2006, where salary enhancement is provided according to the rules applicable at the time of the grant award.
Before 1 April 2006
For awards made until 1 April 2006, the following types of salary enhancement apply:
Calculation of Wellcome Trust Fellows' salaries
(a) Wellcome Fellows will first be assigned to a point on the national scales according to age and experience. Basic science fellows will then normally be moved two incremental points up the scale and clinical science fellows will normally receive one additional incremental point.
(b) Most UK-based basic science fellows, whose grants are awarded for three years or more, will also receive an additional enhancement premium equivalent to 30 per cent of their salary.
(c) UK-based basic science fellows who do not fall into category (b) above will receive an additional incremental enhancement premium according to the individual's location:
- London institutions are entitled to an enhancement premium of four incremental scale points
- South-east institutions are entitled to an enhancement premium of three incremental scale points (included in this category are the Universities of Brighton, Cambridge, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Oxford, Oxford Brookes, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Surrey, Sussex)
- other institutions are entitled to an enhancement premium of two incremental scale points.
Non-clinical postdoctoral research assistants may receive an enhancement premium, provided the institution has agreed to apply the Wellcome Trust's enhancement policy and has costed for enhanced salary support in the application form. This enhancement premium will permit the researcher's salary to be moved a number of incremental points up the relevant salary scale, according to the individual's location:
- London institutions are entitled to an enhancement premium of four incremental scale points
- South-east institutions are entitled to an enhancement premium of three incremental scale points (included in this category are the Universities of Brighton, Cambridge, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Oxford, Oxford Brookes, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Surrey, Sussex)
- other institutions are entitled to an enhancement premium of two incremental scale points.
Enhancement premiums do not apply to grants made under the Wellcome Trust's Medical Humanities Programme or to awards made outside the UK.