UK: HMRC releases latest R&D tax credit data

HMRC reports GBP 7.6bn in R&D tax relief for 2023–24, with SME claims down and RDEC claims up.

The UK’s HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published the latest update in its yearly series on research and development (R&D) activities on 30 September 2025. The report presents provisional data on R&D claims for accounting periods ending in the 2023-24 tax year.

The key points from the 2025 Research and Development (R&D) tax credits publication are:

• The provisional estimated amount of total R&D tax relief support claimed for the tax year 2023 to 2024 was GBP 7.6 billion, a decrease of 2% from the previous year. This corresponds to GBP 46.1 billion of R&D expenditure, 1% lower than the previous year.
• This is the first publication to include statistics affected by the change in relief rates for the SME and RDEC schemes, part of the reform of the R&D reliefs. It also includes the first statistics featuring claimants at the SME intensive rate. The 2023 to 2024 year is also the first full tax year in which all claims must be supported by an additional information form, one of the administrative changes made to the schemes in order to improve levels of compliance in the R&D reliefs.
• Following the rate, and other changes, the amount of tax relief claimed through the SME scheme fell by 29% compared with the previous year to GBP 3.15 billion, while the amount of relief claimed through the RDEC scheme increased by 36% to GBP 4.41 billion.
• The provisional estimated number of R&D tax credit claims for the tax year 2023 to 2024 was 46,950, a decrease of 26% from the previous year. The decrease occurred in both schemes, but the most notable impact was in the SME scheme, where the volume of claims is 31% lower than the previous year. In comparison, claims for the RDEC scheme fell by 5%.
• There is a larger drop in the number of claims for up to GBP 15,000 of tax relief compared to larger claims (above GBP 250,000). This has resulted in a 33% increase in the average claim value compared to the previous year. This explains why, despite a large drop in the volume of claims, the total value of R&D relief claimed has only fallen by a small amount. It also reflects the increase in the generosity of the RDEC scheme, which generally has larger value claims than the SME scheme.
• Consistent with previous years, there is a concentration of claims by companies with registered offices in London (24% of total claims and 31% of total amount claimed), and the South East (15% of total claims and 20% of total amount claimed). However, the registered office location may not be where all the R&D activity takes place.
• The Information & Communication, Manufacturing, and Professional, Scientific & Technical sectors continued to have the greatest volume of claims, making up 72% of total claims and 71% of the total amount claimed for the tax year 2023 to 2024.