What is changing?
In the UK there is an expectation for sponsors of non-commercial research to use unaltered template agreements when setting up studies.
This expectation is currently not formally mandated.
In partnership with UK Policy Leads, and building on the January 2026 update to the NIHR RDN terms and conditions requiring use of contracts as specified in the letter of HRA and HCRW Approval, we have agreed to mandate the use of unaltered template agreements for non-commercial research.
This will align our policy position for non-commercial research with what has been in place for commercial research since 2018.
Which agreements does this apply to?
The agreements to be mandated are:
Why are these agreements being mandated?
A mandate to use the commercial model research agreements unaltered was introduced in October 2018 and has led to a significant reduction in the time taken to negotiate commercial research agreements. In turn this has freed up capacity for sites and sponsors in other areas of set-up.
Mandating the use of non-commercial model research agreements will have a similar positive impact, and further support streamlining of study set-up processes at NHS organisations.
Alongside the mandated use of an unaltered agreement, we will also implement a new waiver process to manage the small number of cases where it is appropriate to use bespoke or altered non-commercial agreements.
Share your feedback
Our plan is to introduce this mandate in early 2027, but before we do so we want to hear feedback from sponsors who currently alter the non-commercial template or use bespoke research agreements.
If you are using altered or bespoke templates, please get in touch with us by 5pm on Friday 14 August 2026 so we can better understand the reasons why you aren't using the existing template.
This will help us ensure that the mandated non-commercial agreements work for everyone.
You can get in touch and share your feedback by emailing research.agreements@hra.nhs.uk
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