Submitting a Claim continued...

Transaction Lists

The Scottish Executive has advised that audit reports from European Commission auditors have indicated that the claim form currently used by all Scottish Programmes does not contain sufficient information to allow the identification of ineligible expenditure.

SEP Ltd has now received notification from the Scottish Executive that, as from 1 June 2006, transaction lists will be required for all ERDF and ESF claims submitted.

In essence this means that each claim must be supported by a list of invoices or transactions (grouped under claim cost headings) that make up that claim.  The format this takes is likely to be up to each project sponsor depending on their own internal financial management systems.  The Scottish Executive has advised that a standard format will not be prescribed.

Detailed guidance is now available.

Final Claim Audit Certification – Relaxation of Requirement

Following discussions with Audit Scotland, The Scottish Executive has confirmed that final claims received by SEP Ltd and/or other Programme Management Executives after 31 March 2007 will no longer require final claim audit certification. Project sponsors will instead be required to submit a comprehensive transaction list for the full amount of cumulative expenditure declared in the final claim.

For final claims that are in the process of obtaining certificates the following arrangements may be applied:

• final claim audit work may be cancelled and any call-off fee and/or other audit costs incurred to date will not be eligible for grant
• final claim may be submitted with a comprehensive transaction list
• any provision within the approved application for audit costs that will not be incurred may be used to off-set cost overruns for other existing approved cost headings

For project sponsors that have already secured a final claim audit certificate, the normal arrangements for claiming grant and processing the claim will apply. The associated audit costs will remain eligible for grant.

Further advice and information can be obtained from Alan.Bain@wsep.co.uk, tel 0141 572 4463.

Retention of Documents

Supporting documentation for individual projects funded under the 2000-2006 Western Scotland Objective 2 and Clyde Waterfront URBAN II Programmes should be retained until 31 December 2012. Please remember that this requirement also refers to all projects' documentation including that held by third party sub-contractors and beneficiaries. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that all this information is accessible. Information on dates for document retention for other Programmes can be found here.