Payment and recognition

There are a number of common potential causes of issues with payment and recognition in community engagement in research. 

National policy and legislation

Whenever we pay an individual or organisation, there are certain laws and policies that we have to follow. These may create barriers or restrictions on what we are able to offer people in terms of recognition, and how. For example, if we are working with asylum seekers or recipients of welfare benefits, certain laws and policies mean that we are unable to offer financial remuneration in the same way as we might be able to with other people. 

Organisational finance policies and procedures 

• As well as following national policy and legislation, we have to follow our own organisation’s finance policies and procedures.

• These can create problems, for example, where high levels of bureaucracy and administration requirements place a high administrative burden either on ourselves or community organisations. 

• The perceived level of effort that these requirements present may not match the perceived ‘value’ of the funding available for community partners. 

• When working for an NHS Trust, for example, a contracting process is required for paying community organisations, regardless of how small the amount of funding is. 

• Internal finance policies and procedures may also be inflexible to the needs and preferences of the individuals and organisations we are working with. For example, if we want to provide vouchers for people who cannot receive recognition payments (for example, because they are recipients of welfare benefits), our organisation may have a policy that the only type of recognition possible is through payment to the individual, or it may be more difficult to set up vouchers.

• Our organisation's processes may require us to remunerate individuals or organisations retrospectively after they have delivered activities and have spent the money they are being remunerated. For some organisations and individuals, this is not a financial situation that they can put themselves in and may restrict their ability to get involved. Our internal processes for making payments may also take time or be subject to delays, which can lead to partners or individuals being paid late, in turn leading to frustration and issues of trust

Partner organisation policies and procedures

• If we are working with partner organisations, they will have their own finance policies and procedures that we need to consider. If these are different from our own, and we cannot take a flexible approach to meet their needs, problems can arise. 

• If we are working with people who volunteer for one of our partner organisations and we want to provide them with a recognition fee, this may contradict the partner organisation’s policies that volunteers cannot be paid for their time. If the individual is a paid member of staff for that organisation, then they may not be able to dedicate time to your project during working hours that are already funded by other project/organisational funding. 

• Alternatively, some partner organisation staff may need to have their hours funded by you in order to be able to commit their time to your project. Their rate per hour may be higher than your usual remuneration fee. You may not have a budget to sufficiently cover the costs that partners have to pay to be involved. 

Partner organisation’s capacity to manage resources

• Some partner organisations may prefer to handle their funding and resources themselves (e.g. through a lump-sum grant). However, some organisations may need you to directly manage some aspects of resourcing due to the level of administration required and their level of capacity. For example, if you are providing recognition payments for public contributors who volunteer with that organisation, they may prefer for you to make these payments directly to the individuals if they do not have the capacity to take on this administrative task themselves. 

Lack of resourcing for community time and contributions 

• Partner organisations need to be covered for both their time and project costs. Partner organisations and individuals who collaborate with us in our engagement should never be out of pocket as a result. 

• However, engagement projects and workstreams are often allocated low levels of resourcing, and the funding offered to partner organisations is insufficient to cover the costs of their involvement. If we are asking partner organisations to engage with them, we need to offer coverage of staff time committed to the project. 

Poor communication 

• Poor communication relating to payment and recognition can often lead to problems, especially where several staff members, departments or layers of process are involved. 

• For example, if a payment is delayed, a partner organisation may let us know directly, but we may then need to contact staff in other departments who are managing lots of different payments and wait for a response. 

• Equally, we may not have oversight of payment timelines and progress when they are being made by our finance department elsewhere. This can lead to convoluted and poor communication about payments, leading to potential challenges in our relationship with partners and individuals.

There are steps you can take at various stages of your engagement to prevent some of these issues. Use the checklist provided in your handbook to work through these steps. 

Before you engage: 

• Check whether the people you are engaging are likely to be able to receive payment or whether, for example, they are recipients of welfare benefits or are seeking asylum.

• Check your organisation’s finance policies and procedures and whether they allow for payment to community organisations, individuals, and reimbursement of expenses.

• If yes, you will need to understand what the process requires of you, partner organisations and individuals, and that you are able to explain this to partner organisations and individuals. 

• It will also be helpful to understand what alternative methods of remuneration are available to use, such as, vouchers, or in kind support. 

When you first engage: 

• Explain what the remuneration and recognition options are in as simple and transparent a way as possible. 

• Ask the organisation or individual what would work for them, and try where possible to be flexible to their needs and preferences. 

• Make sure that you understand from your partner organisations what budget they would need to cover all aspects of their involvement (including staff time) and that you have sufficient budget to cover these costs. 

• Make sure you offer in-kind support, and ask whether there are any forms of recognition that they would find useful. 

During your engagement: 

• Leave plenty of time to take the required steps to process a payment, for example, if you need to set up a partner organisation as a supplier. 

• Be transparent with partner organisations and individuals about the payment process, what is involved, how long it should take, and keep them updated on progress. If it is taking longer than expected, be honest about this and apologise, and ask if there is anything you can do in the meantime. 

• Provide feedback and lessons learned from payment and remuneration processes to relevant colleagues, for example, in finance and operations, and those who have the decision making power to alleviate any issues moving forward. Where possible and needed, update internal processes and policies to facilitate better and more appropriate remuneration processes in future work with communities.