From April 2010, the Research Councils have made the decision to set the higher education institution (HEI) dispensation rate at the lower quartile 
of the data available through the TRAC benchmarking process carried out in January 2010, this document includes the upper quartile too. Some outlying figures from institutions have been omitted to calculate this rate. The quartiles are based on data for the academic year 2008-09, indexed for two years. The rates reflect the prices which should be quoted as ‘current year’ prices on Research Council projects for which bids are made from April 2010 to March 2011.
A letter has been sent out to the Director of Finance of affected HEIs confirming this position.
This rate should be used by HEIs eligible for and applying dispensation rates, and also for independent research organisations (IROs).