Contents
Definitions
- activity lead – member of staff responsible for organising an activity. For example, a Policy Manager is developing new principles. If they involve public contributors, REC and CAG members in the process, they are the activity lead
- honorarium – a voluntary, token payment
- HRA Community – REC and CAG members, and members of the public who inform or influence the HRA’s work through public involvement activities
- volunteer / voluntary – for the purposes of this document, we understand a volunteer as someone who chooses to give their time to protect and promote the interests of patients and the public through the Research Ethics Service and Confidentiality Advisory Group. All REC and CAG members are volunteers
HRA values
This policy and procedure has been developed with consideration to the HRA’s six core values:
- inspiring leadership, integrity, trusted, transparent, collaborative, empowering
Further information on our values is available on the HRA website.
Climate change poses a major threat to our health as well as our planet. The HRA is committed to incorporating environmental sustainability as part of our normal working practice and culture.
The HRA will work with our staff, and our partners, by building on the great work already completed, continue to reduce our carbon emissions, sharing ideas on how to reduce the environmental impact of research, and reach net carbon zero. This policy/procedure has been developed with these commitments in mind.
Background
Whilst the HRA directly employs around 280 staff, almost a thousand people work alongside us to deliver our mission to make it easier to do research that people can trust.
Through the different roles and activities they carry out, our Community helps people understand, value and trust us and the way that we work.
This policy and procedure will help to make sure our community of volunteers and public contributors have a good experience working with us.
Purpose
This policy and procedure set out:
- whether honoraria payments may be claimed for certain activities that members of our HRA Community participate in
- what these payments are
- how these will be managed and processed
- when we require identity checks and right to work checks
Objectives
- improve fairness and transparency
- manage legal and regulatory risk
Scope
This policy applies to honoraria payments made to the HRA’s Community:
- Research Ethics Committees
- the Confidentiality Advisory Group
- the Community Committee
- members of the public influencing and informing the HRA’s work through public involvement activities.
It does not cover:
- independent members of the Audit and Risk Committee
- other suppliers delivering services to the HRA e.g. external trainers
This policy does not include expenses. These are set out in two policies:
- Reimbursement of HRA Committee Members Expenses Policy and Procedure
- Policy for payments arising from the involvement of the public in the work of the HRA
Audiences
The primary audience for this policy is HRA staff who involve the HRA Community in their work.
The secondary audience is teams that directly and indirectly support the HRA Community and facilitate their involvement. This includes roles in member support, confidentiality advisory team, public involvement, finance, communications, governance, learning and development, organisational development and inclusion.
HRA Community members are impacted by the policy, and will be made aware of it. All relevant information will be shared directly with Community members when they are invited to take part in a new role or activity. Community members are encouraged to get in touch with their main point of contact with any queries.
Publication and dissemination
To support transparency, the policy has been published on the HRA’s website.
A communications plan will help:
- people impacted by the new policy and procedure understand what it means for them and what (if anything) they need to do differently
- community members feel valued and supported
Principles
- Payments are honoraria and offered in recognition of the commitment made. Payment does not imply a contract. It is not intended to replicate salary or consultancy rates.
- It is the activity that determines the payment rate that can be claimed. Everyone is offered the same amount for each activity. This means an individual may claim different rates, depending on the activity they are involved with.
- The process of claiming payments should be clear, streamlined and use existing shared processes such as purchasing, payroll and expenses systems.
- The HRA will not pay fees or expenses for time already contracted or paid by another organisation.