The Funding Service (TFS) - UKRI
In 2023, all research councils will transition from the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system to the Funding Service for submission of research applications. The pilot of TFS began in summer 2020 and the number of UKRI calls using TFS will be increased over time. Full details of the transition from JeS to The funding Service can be found here.
The aim of TFS is to make applying for and managing research simpler and more streamlined. Further information on TFS can be found here.
Researchers can create their own accounts on TFS by clicking on a call and pressing the start application button. All current UKRI calls can be found on the funding finder here.
TFS for Research Services
Research Services staff who approve and submit applicaitons to the Research Councils will need an administrator account on TFS. RS collaegues should contact The Funding Service for an administrator account and also copy in researchoperations@manchester.ac.uk when they make their account request. This will allow the central Research Services Team to approve the request on behalf of the University.
UKRI has launched a dedicated webpage detailing how research offices use the UKRI Funding Service. This reseource covers how to request an admin account, what features are currently available on TFS and also what functionalities are currently in development.
The UKRI Research Office Administrator webinar from 8th December 2021 that illustrates what The Funding System can and can't do at the moment and answer some of the common questions can be accessed here.
Training and updates on exisitng and new functionality on TFS can be found on the UKRI youtube channel here.
Groups Functionality on TFS
The Funding Service (TFS), the application portal for UKRI applications, has now launched groups functionality. This functionality is similar to the submitter pools system which is used in JeS.
Groups functionality for researchers
When you start a new application, you will be given the option to choose an organisational group to assign your application to. The University of Manchester has 5 groups to choose from in TFS:
- Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
- Faculty of Humanities
- Faculty of Science and Engineering
- President’s Office
- University of Manchester Cultural Assets
Choosing the group for your faculty will ensure that notifications relating to your application will be sent to the correct Research Services team. However, if you are unsure which group you should choose, you can select 'I cannot choose a suitable group'. Notifications for those applications will go to all Research Services staff within the institution.
Groups functionality for Research Services
The majority of Research Services staff will have already received an email notifying them that they have been added to an organisational group in TFS. If you have not received a notification this may be because you don’t have an administration account on TFS. Contact researchoperations@manchester.ac.uk to request that an admin account be set up for you.
The aim of organisational groups is to limit the number of notifications research offices receive as an application progresses through the funding journey. When you are allocated to an organisational group you will only receive notifications for applications that have been assigned to that group. However, you will still be able to see all applications for the University of Manchester when you log into TFS. You can be assigned to more than one organisational group in should you wish. If you would like to be assigned to more than one organisational group or wish to change which group you are assigned to please contact researchoperations@manchester.ac.uk
UKRI Live Award Migration to The Funding Service
Any UKRI awards, currently managed in the Je-S system, will be migrating to
UKRI's Funding Service (TFS) over the course of 2026. PIs will be contacted directly with details of any awards they hold which are going to be migrated. You do not need to take any action, your award(s) will be automatically transferred to TFS.
Award payments will not be affected. UKRI's payment system is separate from Je-S and will continue to operate as normal throughout the migration.
Award terms and conditions and reporting requirements are not
changing. The migration is a technical move of award data into TFS.
No action is required right now. Migration will happen automatically, and
Research Services will be in touch if there is anything specific you need to do.
Once an award has moved to TFS, it will show a 'migrated' status in both Je-S and TFS, so colleagues will be able to track the status of awards in either system. The award will remain visible as read-only in Je-S, and the award in TFS will become the master record, with any future change requests carried out through TFS.
Awards are moving in stages throughout 2026. Timing differences between awards reflect technical factors, not any order of priority - so it's normal for one award to migrate before another, even within the same organisation or funding opportunity.
Awards with a change request in progress will not be
migrated until it is complete. There is no need to submit a change request ahead of migration - wait until your award has migrated before making
any changes.
Data is handled securely and in line with UK data protection law. All
personal data is migrated securely and in line with UK GDPR and UKRI's privacy
policy.