2018, A BUMPER YEAR FOR R&D:
We’re getting to the end of 2018, but before we all head off for some mince pies in our Christmas jumpers, we’d love to celebrate a great 2018.
The R&D Statistics report, released in September, showed how much investment there has been in Research & Development by companies in the UK. Almost 40,000 companies (big and small) spent a combined £25bn on developing new products, processes and technological solutions, and those companies have been rewarded (through the R&D scheme) to the tune of £3.5bn.
As you would expect, the majority of claims come from London and the South-East (34%), but there has been substantial growth across the country and both the North-West (11%) and the Midlands (15%) are well represented.
IT”S NOT JUST THE SCHEME THAT’S DOING WELL:
Earlier in the year RandDTax reached the milestone of 1,000 clients and - out of the 600+ claims we have managed this year - it’s really encouraging that over 110 were for new clients that have come on board.
Our total claims for the year have exceeded £19.6m and we are well on track to hit our next target of £100m total claims sometime in early 2019 - we’re already at £97.7m since we launched in September 2012.
The breakdown of our claims reflects the national statistics, with about 75% split between software/IT, manufacturing and technical engineering, but we have clients that have worked on some incredible projects (from the bottom of the sea, into outer-space) dealing with everything from machine learning to clean water and renewable energy, to name just a few.
THE SCHEME IS DOING WHAT IT WAS DESIGNED TO DO:
The scheme was introduced to stimulate and encourage growth in the economy and reward the companies that drive this growth forwards.
R&D development benefits us all on a local, national and international level and more and more companies are investing in R&D to make themselves more innovative, more competitive and more productive – especially useful as we head into some uncharted waters in 2019!
Thanks to all of our clients and partners. We’ll raise a glass to you over Christmas and the New Year, and will be raring to go in January 2019.
Happy Christmas to all!