Participant reimbursements for research studies

There are three options available for paying study participants.

Gift voucher purchases

From 17 January 2022, vouchers payments for study participants can no longer be sourced using Pcards or through iProcurement.

All voucher purchases will need to be completed using the appropriate 'Request' form and submitted to the Income Office, using the email address vouchers@manchester.ac.uk.

The Income Office will then purchase and issue electronic vouchers to the recipients. The appropriate forms and further guidance can be found on StaffNet.

Complete a PR20 form

Study participants can fill in a PR20 form. A PGR supervisor must sign this form and return this to the Doctoral Academy Finance team for final approval.

Cash advance

PGRs can, in some instances, collect a cash advance and use it to pay the participants.

Evidence is required to show that the money was paid out to participants. For example, PGRs can draw up a list of the participants' name/ID numbers (if we can't use names for GDPR proposes) and participants can sign beside their names/ID to confirm receipts of funds.

Where this is not possible, such as when making payments for questionnaires completed via telephone, the PGR can obtain email approval from their supervisor.

The supervisor would be required to confirm that the PGR's PhD project does require the use of participants and is therefore an eligible expenditure. We will attach the email to the claim form before submitting it to HR.

Complete a PR7 form

The third option is only advised for small participant payments if a PGR thinks they are financially buoyant enough to fund the payment out of their own funds, and then claim it back through the PR7 expense claim form. Please note that this currently takes 12 weeks to be processed by the University.

Please contact us by emailing FBMH.doctoralacademy.funding@manchester.ac.uk beforehand regarding the payment of study participants, so that we can discuss the ideal payment with you based on the individual scenario.