Is your project R&D? Find out in 60 seconds — free.

The claims that never get made

HMRC paid out £7.6 billion in R&D tax relief last year — but the firms this product is built for are exactly the ones who never find out they qualify.

the average SME claim last year

£85k

the average SME claim last year

of small firms are aware the relief exists at all

41%

of small firms are aware the relief exists at all

first-time SME claimants in a single year — eligible firms scared off, not gone

−45%

first-time SME claimants in a single year — eligible firms scared off, not gone

of all claims come from manufacturing — £2.0bn of relief

26%

of all claims come from manufacturing — £2.0bn of relief

There's also a clock. If you haven't claimed in the last three years, you must notify HMRC within six months of your accounting period ending — and more than three quarters of accountants have seen a client lose a claim to that deadline. A free screening tells you in about a minute whether it's worth starting that conversation.

Sources: HMRC R&D tax credit statistics, September 2025 (SME average derived from £3.15bn of SME-scheme relief over 36,885 claims); FSB awareness evidence to the House of Lords; accountant deadline survey reported by the R&D Community, 2025.

What this normally costs you

Finding out whether your work qualifies — and getting it written up the way HMRC now asks — is the expensive part of an R&D claim. Here's what the alternatives look like.

An R&D tax adviser15–30% of whatever you get back

Specialist firms work on a percentage, with published minimum fees running from £990 to £4,000 — so a headline “10%” with a £4,000 minimum is really 27% of a £15,000 claim. Some contracts run for several years and bill in years you don't claim at all.

Your accountantA separate fee, plus a wait

They file the return, but the technical narrative is the specialist part — many general practices either don't write them or price the R&D work separately. Either way you're paying someone to interview you about work you already did.

Working it out yourselfFree, and a lot of statutory reading

Whether it counts is set by the government's DSIT Guidelines, and before you file HMRC wants an Additional Information Form naming each project, the scientific or technological uncertainty, and how you went about resolving it.

R&D Radar gives you the verdict before you commit to any of them — so you walk into that conversation already knowing whether you have a claim, what it rests on, and where the gaps are.

Verdict

Free

With the DSIT paragraphs it rests on, your biggest gap, and a cost template.

Narrative pack

£349, once

The project narrative for HMRC's form and the evidence playbook, printable.

Claim pack

£1,000, once

Narrative plus cost schedule and relief estimate, for your accountant to check.

Flat prices whatever the claim is worth. It will never be a percentage of your claim.

Fee ranges are typical UK market rates, not quotes — every adviser prices differently, and a good one earns their fee. R&D Radar flags and drafts; it doesn't file.