Although there are increases in the expenditure of claims being paid out, there has been a decline in R&D and RDEC claims, with R&D claims falling to 65,690, with SME claims being 23% lower than the year before.

In total there was £4.5bn worth of R&D claims while R&D expenditure credit (RDEC) claims came to £3.5bn.

RDEC claims also fell by 9% despite the 7% increase in expenditure.

This is largely due to the number of claims up to £15,000 dropping while the number of claims above £250,000 increasing, for the average claim in the 2022/23 tax year.

Kay Oldham, R&D tax director at JS said: ‘R&D is essential for the economy and without it, growth and innovation are stifled. These latest statistics clearly show the additional administrative burden of the AIF and HMRC’s volume approach strategy when it comes to enquiries is having an impact on the number of claimant companies.

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