Grant guide
Eligible costs in grant applications
Eligible costs are the budget lines a funder is willing to pay for. They are source-specific and should be checked before a project budget is treated as ready.
Teams deciding where to spend application time
Applicants building grant budgets and deciding whether a funding opportunity can realistically support their project costs.
Make the first review more concrete
Understand what eligible costs mean in grant applications.
Review workflow
What FundingLens helps you do
Keep source facts, caveats and next actions together so your team can decide what deserves attention before application work starts.
Check direct project costs, staff time, overheads, capital items, equipment, VAT, travel, volunteer expenses and evaluation costs against the source wording.
Look for excluded costs such as retrospective spending, general running costs, recoverable VAT, activities outside geography or costs already funded elsewhere.
Where general guidance exists, still defer to the specific opportunity brief or funder agreement because it can override broad rules.
Readiness checks
- Each budget line maps to an eligible cost category.
- Retrospective and already-incurred costs are checked.
- VAT, overheads and staff time are treated correctly.
- Match funding and double-funding risks are recorded.
- Opportunity-specific rules are cited beside the budget.
Eligibility caveats
- Eligible costs vary by funder, programme and applicant type.
- General guidance is not a substitute for the live opportunity rules.
- FundingLens can flag cost caveats, but final budgets need human review.
Source references
Use Innovate UK funding rules to check business-led requirements, collaboration, eligible costs, grant-claiming partners and subsidy constraints.
Official sourceUKRI eligible costs guidanceUse UKRI guidance to check eligible cost categories for research funding while still deferring to the opportunity-specific rules.
Official sourceNational Lottery Heritage GrantsUse the programme page to check applicant type, heritage outcomes, ownership or permission evidence, grant amount and public-benefit requirements.
Related FundingLens pages
Build a grant budget template that checks eligible costs, overheads, VAT, match funding, evidence and funder-specific exclusions before you apply.
Grant readiness checklistGrant readiness checklist for small organisationsUse this grant readiness checklist to decide whether a funding opportunity deserves application time, evidence gathering and internal approval.
Grant eligibilityGrant eligibility: what funders usually checkUnderstand grant eligibility as a source-backed review of applicant type, geography, project fit, eligible costs, deadlines and evidence.