Research - paying participant expenses and compensating for time: guidance

7. Modes of payment

In keeping with the principles outlined earlier in this document, ensure that participants can make an informed choice about the mode of payment that will be used to compensate them. This will include making participants aware of any potential benefits implications – there is further information on this in section 12 of this guidance.

There are several modes of payment available:

• Bank transfer: the payment methods outlined in this document mean that no physical cash will be handled by officials or participants. Many participants will prefer to be paid by bank transfer, and where practical this option should be available to them. You will need to consider potential benefits implications for participants of bank transfer payments – there is further information on this in section 12 of this guidance.
• Vouchers: many projects offer payment in the form of voucher. This is often because vouchers will not impact on any benefits received by participants.
• Time Banks: some organisations offer participants the opportunity to deposit in Time Banks their hours spent being involved in a project. This means that participants can ‘withdraw’ an equivalent number of hours of skills and support from others who use the Time Bank.

This guidance provides information on how you can make bank transfer payments securely, accountably and promptly. It also provides an overview of how to pay participants using vouchers. If you are interested in making use of Time Banks to remunerate participants, please contact your local Finance team.

Some participants may wish to donate their payment to charity. Scottish Government is not able to make charitable donations on behalf of participants. If a participant wants their payment to be donated to charity, they will need to receive the payment from Scottish Government and make a donation themselves.

Some participants involved in the same project may prefer different modes of payment. Where it is practical to do so, discussing this with participants demonstrates that their views are valued and that you are giving careful consideration to how to recognise that value.