UK R&D Tax Credit Statistics 2026: Fewer Claims, Larger Value

HMRC's September 2026 R&D tax credit statistics appear to contradict themselves. The number of claims fell 17% to an estimated 40,325, yet the total value claimed rose 5% to £8.2 billion. This means that fewer companies are claiming, but the claims they are making are worth more.

This post looks at the longer pattern behind that gap, what is driving it, and what it means in practice for claimants and advisers. The figures cover the 2024 to 2025 financial year and come from HMRC's official statistics release, published on 29 September 2026.

What do the headline figures show?

HMRC estimates that companies claimed £8.2 billion of R&D tax relief for 2024 to 2025, on £51.0 billion of qualifying expenditure. Relief rose 5% and expenditure rose 7%, while claims fell 17%. HMRC reports that the average claim value rose 27% as a result.

Claims have more than halved since 2021 to 2022

The 2024 to 2025 fall is part of a longer trend, and the trend is clearer than any single year. Claim numbers peaked at 87,180 in 2020 to 2021 and have fallen in each year since, by 3%, 23%, 25%, and 17%. Over the same period relief claimed has risen, so the average claim has grown sharply.

Average claim value is relief claimed divided by the number of claims. Figures from 2022 to 2023 onwards are provisional.

From the peak to the latest stats, claims are down 52% and relief is up 7%, so the average claim has more than doubled, from around £91,000 to around £203,000. That is a change in the character of the reliefs, not a one-year correction.

What is driving the fall in claim numbers?

Three factors account for most of it, and they work in different ways.

Compliance measures are narrowing the field

The continuing impact of the Additional Information Form (AIF) and other compliance measures is a key driver of the reduction. The AIF has been mandatory for all claims submitted from 8 August 2023, and it arrived alongside other administrative changes designed to improve compliance, like mandatory registration of any agent preparing your claim. In practice, a claim that cannot be described clearly is now harder to submit, which is the intention.

This largely affects the smallest claims, as genuine small claimants are driven away by the reporting requirements, as well as spurious claimants being reduced.

The scheme changes have reshaped who claims where

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 condition can claim under ERIS. That explains why claims under the SME and ERIS schemes fell 36%, while across all SME claims, including those made under Merged RDEC, the fall was 19%.

Contracted R&D is now eligible for large companies

There is a change for contracted-out R&D under the Merged RDEC. Now, the decision-maker can claim, which in most cases is the company commissioning the work. Previously, large companies weren't able to claim for contracted R&D, but under the Merged scheme, this is now possible. That means the value of large claims is increasing as contracted costs can now be included, and SMEs that previously claimed as contractors for large companies may therefore make fewer or smaller claims.

Why is the value still rising?

Because the claims that remain are larger, and the largest have grown fastest. Claims over £2m rose 14% in number and 21% in value, and HMRC identifies them as the driver of the higher average. There were around 560 of them, 1.4% of all claims, with a combined value of around £4.0 billion, close to half of all relief claimed.

The concentration is visible across the wider bands too. Claims of £500,000 and above made up 6% of claims but 69% of relief, up from 62% the year before. Meanwhile the smallest claims are shrinking. Comparing the last two years, claims of up to £50,000 fell by around 21% (from 29,645 to 23,375), while claims of £500,000 and above rose by around 7% (from 2,190 to 2,335).

Large companies sit behind much of this. They made around 3,800 claims (up 4%) worth £4.6 billion, or 56% of all relief. Their qualifying expenditure rose 14% to £30.2 billion, while SME expenditure fell 3% to £20.7 billion. HMRC also attributes part of the shift to the new 20% RDEC rate applying for a full year.

The average has therefore been lifted from both ends. The largest claims are getting bigger, and the smallest are disappearing.

What does this mean in practice?

Fewer, larger claims change the risk profile of each submission. For a large claimant, a single claim now carries more weight, so the technical narrative, cost apportionment, and supporting records need to be robust before filing, not reconstructed after an HMRC enquiry. For smaller claimants, the fall in small claims is not a sign that small projects no longer qualify; 58% of claims are still for £50,000 or less. It is a sign that the submission process asks more of them, and proportionate, contemporaneous evidence is what meets that.

Three checks are worth making before any claim:

• Scheme: whether the company claims under Merged RDEC or, as a loss-making R&D intensive SME, under ERIS.
• Contracted-out work: which company is the decision-maker on the project, and so who is entitled to claim.
• Consistency: whether the AIF, the technical narrative, and the cost figures tell the same story.

It is also worth noting that the statistics say nothing about how many claims are challenged. HMRC's release excludes any assessment of error and fraud; the latest estimate of 6.4%, which relates to 2023 to 2024, is in HMRC's annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026.

How reliable are the figures?

Treat them as a strong indication of direction rather than a final count; the 2024 to 2025 figures are provisional. HMRC revises earlier years in each release, which can sometimes produce large changes, and the next release is planned for autumn 2027.

Key takeaways

• Claims are falling while value rises. There were 40,325 claims worth £8.2 billion in 2024 to 2025, down 17% in number and up 5% in value, with the average claim now around £203,000.
• The trend is sustained. Claims have fallen in each of the last four years and are down 52% on 2021 to 2022.
• Three forces explain the fall. The AIF and related compliance measures, the move to Merged RDEC and ERIS and contracted R&D now eligible for large companies.
• Value is concentrated. Claims over £2m rose 14% in number and 21% in value, and claims of £500,000 and above account for 69% of relief.
• Evidence matters more per claim. Each claim carries more weight, so robust records made as the work happens are the best protection.

A smaller population of claims does not mean a harder route for genuine R&D. It means a more closely examined one, and the businesses that find claims straightforward are those that record their work as it happens.

If you're preparing an R&D claim, or reviewing how the merged scheme affects your position, don't leave it to chance. Contact us to discuss your specific situation.