Stages & Timeline

Expenditure Budgeting

In this period, you submit the core expenditure for your CSP, plus any sponsorship/external funding. CSPs must submit their Annual Budget for 2026 by Friday 24th April, 5pm at the latest. We recommend submitting your budget as early as possible to give your Management Group, the Deputy Presidents, and the Activities Team more time to discuss it with you.

During this stage, it is important to follow the guidance in the next sections on how to budget and how to request grant. 

Opens Mon 30 March, 5pm

Closes Fri 24th April, 5pm

Grant Allocation

This stage is noted in the budgeting app as "ABCEX" and "GRANT".

During the "ABCEX" stage, the Annual Budgeting Committee will review your expenditure, checking that it reflects the true finances of your CSP, and allocating grant where you have requested it.  During this time, they may send the budget back to you for amendments or clarifications. The minutes from this meeting will be public for full transparency, alongside notes on individual budgets and requests.

The "GRANT" stage marks that your CSP has received a final allocation. All CSPs will move to this on 16th April. Once the committee has allocated grant, there may be a need to scale all allocations to fit the total available. We will aim to not scale budgets significantly, but if we do this will be reflected in the "SCALING" stage.

It is important to keep a close eye on your emails during this stage in case your budget reviewers request changes to your budget, or have any questions.

Appeals

Provisional grant allocations will be released by 15th May 2026.

Should you wish to appeal your allocation, either on the basis of unjust process or an administrative error, you may do so from Mon 18th May to Fri 22nd May, 5pm.

Appeals will be considered by a panel chaired by the Union's Director of Membership Services, with guidance from the Annual Budgeting Committee. Your Management Group or Constituent Union representatives will be invited to support and represent you during any appeals. Full information is in the appeals section.

Opens Mon 18 May

Closes Fri 22 May

Income & Membership Budgeting

Once all grant allocation and appeals are complete, you will need to let us know how your CSP intends on making up any deficit. This can be a membership fee which covers it all, or a combination of a base membership fee and other income.

All CSPs are required to break-even yearly (except where approved by the Activities Team).

Final Approval

The Union's Board of Trustees will approve the Union's whole budget in July, including CSP budgets. Don't worry - there's nothing for you to submit here as the Annual Budgeting Committee will submit all CSP budgets for approval.

June & July