HMRC R&D tax credit statistics 2026: September release (tax year 2024-25)

HMRC's September 2026 release includes claims for accounting periods ending in 2024-25. It is the first to include the merged RDEC scheme and enhanced R&D intensive support (ERIS), and the first year in which the April 2023 rate changes apply in full. The result is fewer claims again, but more money: relief is up, and it is concentrating in fewer, larger claims.

Relief rose to £8.2bn

HMRC estimates that £8.2bn of relief was claimed for 2024-25, which is 5% more than the £7.8bn (revised figure) for 2023-24. The qualifying R&D spending behind those claims was £51bn, up 7%. On HMRC's revised figures, relief has now risen every year since 2020-21.

Last year HMRC estimated the relief for 2023-24 at £7.6bn. Late claims have lifted the 2023-24 claim figure to £7.8bn, and the number of claims for that year has been revised up from 46,950 to 48,610. Our September 2025 edition keeps the figures as first published.

Fewer claims again

There were 40,325 claims, 17% fewer than in 2023-24 and the lowest number since 2014-15. Claims peaked at 87,180 in 2020-21, so the number has more than halved in four years.

HMRC says a key driver "is believed to be the continuing impact of the additional information form", compulsory for every claim since 8 August 2023. It is unusual for HMRC to point to one of its own compliance measures in its statistics.

I spent 32 years at HMRC and I understand why compliance had to tighten. The test now is whether the pendulum has swung too far and the net is catching some claims it should not.

Jonathan Yeomans

Large companies made 3,800 claims across RDEC and merged RDEC, 4% more than a year earlier. Across all schemes, SME claims fell by 19%.

The new schemes

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, most companies claim under the merged RDEC scheme. Only loss-making SMEs that meet the R&D intensity test can claim under ERIS. The old SME and RDEC schemes closed to new periods from that date, so 2024-25 includes claims under both old and new rules.

Relief through RDEC and merged RDEC rose by 29% to £5.9bn, on 15,760 claims. 91% of merged RDEC claims came from SMEs. Relief through the SME scheme and ERIS fell by 29% to £2.3bn, on 24,570 claims, of which 4,965 were R&D intensive or ERIS claims. The scheme table at the top of this page shows each scheme separately.

HMRC says SME figures for 2024-25 are not comparable with earlier years, because some SMEs now claim under the new merged scheme instead. The number of claims by large companies can still be compared.

The merged scheme also changes who claims for contracted out R&D. The company that decides to carry out the R&D now claims, not the contractor doing the work. HMRC says some SMEs that claimed RDEC as contractors may now make smaller or fewer claims.

Where the money goes

Large companies received £4.6bn of relief and SMEs £3.6bn. Large company R&D spending rose by 14% to £30.2bn. SME spending fell by 3% to £20.7bn, while SME claims fell by 19%. The SMEs leaving the relief are mainly small claimants, not the largest spenders.

The average claim rose by 27%. Claims over £2m rose by 14% in number and 21% in value. 58% of claims were for £50,000 or less and took 6% of the relief. 6% of claims were for £500,000 or more and took 69% of it, up from 62% a year earlier. You can see where a claim of your own would sit in Compare your own claim, further down this page.

R&D tax relief is still providing a significant return to some UK companies. It's just flowing to fewer, larger claims. Six per cent of claims now take 69% of the relief.

Jonathan Yeomans

New claimants

HMRC's first-time figures run a year behind. In 2023-24 there were 3,405 first-time SME claimants, 53% fewer than the year before, and 1,845 first-time RDEC claimants, down 8%. First-time claimants overall fell by 43%, the fifth fall in a row. Before 2019-20 the number had risen every year.

HMRC's figures show first-time SME claimants more than halved in 2023-24. Whatever the right number of claims is, a relief that new innovators stop finding isn't doing the job it was designed for.

Jonathan Yeomans

One group cannot appear in these figures at all. For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023, a company claiming for the first time, or that has not claimed in the previous three years, must notify HMRC within six months of the end of its accounting period. If it misses that deadline, it cannot claim. Those companies never make a claim, so HMRC's tables never count them.

Because the rule starts with periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023, it barely touches the 2023-24 figures, and HMRC's first-time data for 2024-25 is not yet complete. Next year's release will be the first real measure of its effect.

Which sectors claim

Information and communication, manufacturing and professional, scientific and technical activities made 75% of claims and received 71% of the relief, up from 72% of claims a year earlier. Manufacturing made 27% of claims and received 27% of the relief. Information and communication made 27% of claims and received 20%. Professional, scientific and technical activities made 20% and received 24%. The sector table has every sector.

Claims have fallen in every sector since 2021-22. In five they are down by more than 75%: accommodation and food, wholesale and retail, health and social work, real estate and education. These are smaller sectors, but the pattern is the same as last year: the more a sector relied on small claims, the faster it fell away.

Where claimants are based

Companies registered in London made 24% of claims and received 30% of the relief. The South East made 15% of claims and received 19%, and the East of England 10% and 14%. The figures follow the registered address, which is not always where the R&D is done. The region map and table show every region.

Error and fraud

These statistics do not measure error or fraud. HMRC's latest estimate, for 2023-24, is in its 2025-26 annual report, with an illustrative view of 2024-25 and 2025-26. We will look at it separately.

What the next release will show

The 2024-25 figures are provisional and will be revised next year. HMRC's next release, planned for autumn 2027, will cover 2025-26: the first full year of the merged scheme and ERIS, and the first with complete first-time claimant figures for 2024-25. This edition will keep showing the September 2026 figures as published.