Supporting the EU-UK relationship

UK association to Horizon Europe and Copernicus

The UK is associated to Horizon Europe and Copernicus. On 7 September 2023, the European Commission and the UK Government announced that they had reached an agreement on the association of the UK to Horizon Europe and Copernicus from 1 January 2024. On 4 December 2023, the association agreement was adopted in the form of a protocol to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement by the EU-UK Specialised Committee on Participation in EU Programmes.

Participating as an Associated Country

From the 2024 Work Programme onwards and for the remainder of the current Horizon Europe programme (2021-2027), UK organisations can participate in calls for proposals on the same terms as institutions from other Associated Countries, including leading consortia and receiving EU funding.

There are a small number of exceptions to the UK participating in the full Horizon Europe programme:

The European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund – which provides equity finance support to EIC Accelerator projects. However, in view of ongoing negotiations regarding a possible association of the UK to the EIC fund, transitional arrangements are now in place and can be viewed on the European Commission’s website.
Limited exceptional cases where the eligibility for individual funding calls within a Work Programme is limited to member states (or certain specified countries).

The UK is a Category D country, therefore subject to Article 22.5 Exclusions; this means that occasionally, there are funding calls where associated country partners are not able to join consortia due to research security considerations. Currently, the UK is not eligible to participate in a small number of space-related calls in Cluster 4, this is detailed in the relevant Work Programme.

Copernicus

Participation in Copernicus, the EU Earth Observation programme, enables the UK’s access to a state-of-the-art capacity to monitor the Earth and to its services, as well as providing the UK research community with access to unique data, which is often required on Horizon Europe projects.

Read the UK Government explainer on UK Association to Horizon Europe and Copernicus on GOV.UK

The Horizon Europe Guarantee

During the period of non-association, UK applicants to calls in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 Work Programmes were fully eligible for evaluation by the EU and, if successful, were then funded through the UK Horizon Guarantee. UK participants who received a UKRI grant under the Horizon Guarantee will remain on it for the lifetime of the project, subject to UKRI’s bespoke terms and conditions.

UK association to Erasmus+

The United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) have agreed for the UK to associate to the Erasmus+ programme from 2027.

Erasmus+ is an EU programme that provides grant funding for international placements and partnership projects for organisations working in education, training, youth and sport. Participants can build personal and professional skills through educational and work placements in eligible countries.

For organisations, Erasmus+ provides opportunities to build international partnerships that encourage innovation and strengthen practice, creating lasting benefits for staff, learners, young people and communities.

UK participation in other EU programmes

The UK is considered a non-associated third country in all other EU programmes, and in most cases, UK organisations can participate as Associated Partners without receiving EU funding. There are currently no dedicated funding mechanisms in the UK to support these programmes as Associated Partners. Find out more about these programmes on the European Commission website:

UK participation in Horizon 2020

The Withdrawal Agreement (GOV.UK) meant that the UK was able to participate in Horizon 2020 until its closure. UK participants continued to receive EU grant funding for the lifetime of individual Horizon 2020 projects.

More information on Horizon 2020

Strengthening UK–EU research and innovation

UKRI is responsible for a major part of the government’s work to maximise the value of participation in Horizon Europe for UK researchers and businesses. UKRI hosts a network of National Contact Points who cover every aspect of the programme – all Pillars, Clusters, Programmes and Missions – and provide expert advice to applicants.

UKRI is represented in Europe by the UKRI Brussels Office, which monitors EU Commission policies, promotes the UK’s research and innovation strengths and capabilities, and liaises with EU institutions and other key stakeholders working in the EU research and innovation landscape. UKRI Brussels works with teams across UKRI to support UK participation in Horizon Europe. It also works with government partners and the UK Mission to the European Union (GOV.UK), which represents the UK and promotes the UK government’s position.

What UKRI is doing to boost participation in Horizon Europe

Through the network of National Contact Points, UKRI is delivering regular awareness-raising events and webinars to promote Horizon Europe engagement across all R&I sectors in the UK, explaining novelties in Work Programmes and policy changes that impact applicants and their host institutions.

Since association, UKRI has funded 80 SMEs through a Pump Priming scheme, addressing barriers to consortia building and application writing to increase the UK’s share of eligible proposals and successful applications. Our work has built new multi-country consortia, through brokerage visits across 7 countries and 8 thematic areas, including energy and smart manufacturing, and we supported 300 re-applicants to Horizon Europe through our Reapply Masterclass events, offering dedicated, expert application support.

In 2026 UKRI piloted a new scheme to enable grant holders to transfer active 2021, 2022 or 2023 ERC grants into the UK from Europe via the Horizon Guarantee.

See our events page

Further guidance on association on GOV.UK

Further reading on UK association to Horizon Europe and Copernicus:

Last updated: 29 October 2026