Horizon Europe Lump Sum: 2026-27 Rollout

Lump-sum funding is the biggest structural change to how Horizon Europe pays out grants since the programme began in 2021 — but it has not become the standard funding model for the 2026-2027 Work Programme. The European Commission has stated its intention to route roughly 50% of the 2026-2027 Work Programme budget through lump-sum grants, concentrated in actions where the individual EU contribution is below €10 million. The other half of the budget continues to use the original actual-cost (reimbursement) model. Full default status for lump sum — making it the presumed model across the programme rather than roughly half of it — is something the Commission has proposed for the successor programme covering 2028-2034, not something already in force for 2026-2027. Research offices that assume ‘lump sum is now the default’ when reading a 2026-2027 call topic are working from the wrong baseline, and it shows up as budgeting and reporting errors downstream.

This guide is about rollout status specifically — what share of the current Work Programme actually uses lump sum, where it concentrates, and what’s still ahead versus already live. For the underlying mechanics of the lump-sum instrument itself (payment triggers, indirect-cost treatment, how it differs operationally from actual-cost grants), see CASRAI’s Horizon Europe Lump Sum vs. Actual-Cost Grants comparison and the Lump-sum grant (Horizon Europe) dictionary entry. For the programme as a whole, see the Horizon Europe and EU Research Funding overview guide.

What’s actually rolled out for 2026-2027

Lump-sum funding was first piloted in select Horizon Europe calls starting in 2021 and expanded progressively through Horizon 2020’s later pilots and the early Horizon Europe Work Programmes (2021-2022, 2023-2024). The 2026-2027 Work Programme — the final biennial Work Programme of the current 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework period — extends that expansion further: the Commission has said lump-sum funding will apply to roughly half of the 2026-2027 budget, with adoption weighted heavily toward smaller grants, particularly actions where an individual beneficiary’s or consortium’s EU contribution falls under the €10 million threshold. Above that threshold, and in a substantial share of calls generally, actual-cost (reimbursement) funding remains the operative model.

In practical terms this means a research office cannot assume a funding model from the pillar or call type alone. Each call topic in the 2026-2027 Work Programme specifies its own funding model in the topic description and the published Model Grant Agreement variant that applies to it — that designation is fixed before a proposal is written and does not change based on what an applicant would prefer. Checking the specific topic text, not a general assumption about ‘how Horizon Europe works now,’ is the only reliable way to know which model applies to a given call.

What’s still ahead: the 2028-2034 successor programme

The distinction that matters most for planning purposes is this: 50% budget coverage in 2026-2027 is an expansion, not a conversion. The Commission’s own framing for Horizon Europe’s successor programme (covering the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework period, sometimes referred to informally as “FP10”) proposes lump-sum funding as the default model — the presumed mechanism unless a call specifies otherwise — rather than one option applied to about half of calls. That successor programme, including its funding-model architecture, is still subject to the EU’s normal legislative process (proposal, negotiation between the European Parliament and Council, formal adoption) and its exact terms were not finalized as of this writing. Research offices should treat ‘lump sum becomes the default’ as the direction of travel for the post-2027 programme, not as a change already in effect for grants signed under the 2026-2027 Work Programme.

This two-stage pattern — pilot, then partial expansion, then proposed full default in the next full programme cycle — mirrors how the Commission introduced other Horizon Europe simplification measures (flat-rate indirect costs, the move away from timesheets for many personnel cost categories) over more than one programme generation rather than in a single step.

Why the distinction matters operationally

Getting the current-versus-future state wrong has concrete consequences for a research office:

Budget planning: a proposal team that assumes lump sum applies by default may draft a work-package-based budget for a call that is actually actual-cost, or vice versa — producing a budget structure the call doesn’t accept.
Financial reporting setup: actual-cost grants require the eligible-cost tracking, timesheets (where still applicable), and cost-category documentation that lump-sum grants don’t; setting up the wrong reporting infrastructure for a given grant wastes administrative capacity in either direction.
Risk framing for leadership and finance committees: describing lump sum as “the new default” to a university’s research finance office overstates certainty about cost risk across the whole EU grants portfolio for 2026-2027 — roughly half of that portfolio is still running under the original reimbursement logic, with correspondingly different risk profile per grant.
Portfolio-level administration: an office managing multiple concurrent Horizon Europe grants signed under the 2026-2027 Work Programme should expect a genuine mix of both models within its own portfolio, not a single consistent process across all EU-funded projects.

How to check which model applies to a specific call

The funding model for a given topic is stated directly in the Horizon Europe Work Programme topic text on the Funding & Tenders Portal, and confirmed in the Grant Agreement’s Data Sheet once a proposal is selected for funding. It is not something an applicant chooses at proposal stage, and it is not inferable from the pillar (Excellent Science, Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Innovative Europe) or from the size of the consortium alone — smaller and mid-sized grants under €10 million are the segment where lump sum concentrates, but not every call under that threshold uses it, and the topic text is the authoritative source in every case.

Frequently asked questions

Is lump-sum funding mandatory for all Horizon Europe grants in 2026-2027?

No. It applies to a defined subset of the 2026-2027 Work Programme — the Commission’s own figure is roughly 50% of the budget, concentrated in smaller grants (generally under €10 million). The remainder continues under the actual-cost reimbursement model. Each call topic states which model applies.

Will lump sum become mandatory for every Horizon Europe grant?

Not within the current 2021-2027 programme. Full default status for lump sum has been proposed for the successor programme covering 2028-2034, which is still going through the EU’s legislative adoption process. Treat this as planned, not yet in force.

Does the €10 million threshold mean every grant under that amount uses lump sum?

No — being under the threshold makes a grant more likely to fall under a lump-sum call, but the funding model is set per call topic by the Commission, not inferred automatically from grant size. Always check the specific topic’s Work Programme text and the resulting Grant Agreement Data Sheet.

How is indirect cost handled differently once lump sum expands?

The expansion changes the payment trigger and cost-tracking burden, not the indirect-cost rate itself — Horizon Europe’s flat 25% indirect-cost rate logic still applies to the direct-cost basis embedded in a lump-sum work package’s fixed amount, the same way it applies to actual-cost grants. See the lump sum vs. actual-cost comparison for the full mechanics.

Where can a research office confirm the current rollout figures directly?

The European Commission’s Horizon Europe Work Programme documents and lump-sum funding guidance, published via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, are the primary source. Because rollout percentages and successor-programme terms can shift as the 2028-2034 programme moves through legislative adoption, research offices should re-check the Commission’s current guidance before treating a specific figure as final for grant-planning purposes.

Horizon Europe Lump-Sum Funding in 2026-2027: How Far It’s Actually Rolled Out