Category: Blogs

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced a new £20 million funding initiative to support innovative ideas for zero-emission vehicles in the UK.

The DfT is due to launch a new research and development (R&D) competition in the field of e-mobility, to help “some of the most promising electric vehicle technology innovations”.

This competition will help to fund zero-emission emergency vehicles, charging technology and electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling projects, according to the DfT.

Around £18 million of the funding will come from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, while a further £2 million will be provided from other Government funds to support outside investment in green technologies.
Part of this funding has already been ringfenced for The Niche Vehicle Network, an independent association of more than 900 niche vehicle manufacturers and engineering companies, promoting research into low-carbon technology. Transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said: “The funding announced will help harness some of the brightest talent in the UK tech industry, encouraging businesses to become global leaders in EV innovation, creating jobs and accelerating us towards our net-zero ambitions.”

The latest funding follows news of a “suite of innovation funding competitions backed by a combined £92m of investment to support energy storage, floating offshore wind power, and sustainable biomass production projects” that was announced in the Budget earlier this month.

The latest funding pot is part of the Government’s ambition to phase out all sales of new fossil-fuelled and hybrid cars within the next decade.

As well as benefitting from direct grant funding from this new scheme, many of these innovative businesses may be able to access the UK’s generous R&D tax credit.

If you would like to find out how our automated claims solution could help you or your clients make the most of these reliefs – which offer up to 33p for every £1 of qualifying expenditure – please arrange a demo with our team today.

 

New analysis of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) latest R&D tax credit data shows that the UK’s construction sector accounted for just under six per cent of the UK’s R&D tax credit claims.

With many innovations coming out of this important industry, experts feel that there could be greater potential for some companies to make a claim.

In fact, the data shows that for those that did make a claim from the sector as a whole, the average value of a claim was just over £70,000.

The reason for so few claims in the sector may be down to ongoing misconceptions about R&D tax credits only suiting the most high-tech industries, however, this couldn’t be further from the truth, with funding provided to almost every sector in the country.

HMRC defines innovation eligible for an R&D tax credit claim as any project that overcomes an uncertainty – something that could not easily be worked out by someone who is a professional in the field – and delivers a new scientific or technological advancement.

Even if the innovation ultimately fails, the work conducted and expenditure incurred could still be eligible for tax savings under the scheme.

Within claims for the construction sector, a business could claim against staff costs, subcontractors, externally provided work, software and consumables like heat, light and power.

If you operate in the construction sector or have clients that do, who may benefit from making a claim on R&D projects, which could include new construction techniques, materials or advancement in green technology, then our automated claims software could help.

Using the immense power of the cloud, Made.Simplr can work alongside existing online accounting platforms like Xero to make the claims process simpler, quicker and more cost-effective.

To find out how our systems can assist you, please arrange a demo with our team today by clicking here.

The Government has launched a new independent review into UK research bureaucracy, which is intended to help researchers free up greater time to focus on projects.

The latest review is part of a wider policy within Government to support publicly and privately funded research and development (R&D) across the country via the &D Roadmap, published in July 2020.

The new review will be led by Professor Adam Tickell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex and will look to make recommendations to remove unnecessary red tape in the UK research and development system.

It will also look to identify practical solutions to bureaucratic issues faced by researchers and businesses across the UK such as overly complicated grant forms that require in-depth financial knowledge, a lack of clarity over funding available to researchers and having to provide the same data multiple times in different formats to different funders.

The Government said that the review and its reforms will balance safeguarding the need to demonstrate impact and value for money while supporting the UK research environment.

Amanda Solloway, Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, said: “The UK is home to some of the world’s leading scientists and researchers and their response over the past year to the coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on the vital need for them to be able to carry out their ground-breaking work at pace. Their discoveries have created much needed medical treatments and vaccines that are saving lives across the world.

“As we build back better by unleashing innovation, it’s crucial that we create a research environment that harnesses this same scientific speed and endeavour. This review will identify how we can free up our brightest minds from unnecessary red tape so they can continue making cutting edge discoveries while cementing UK’s status as a science superpower.”

The review will end in early 2022, with interim findings published later that year. The review will involve broad engagement with the whole UK R&D community.

The UK has an ambitious vision for the future of R&D, including the goal of minimising bureaucracy whilst maintaining flexibility, diversity and necessary accountability. This review is the next phase in delivering on that commitment, according to the Government.

A key factor in the success of many research projects is the generous R&D tax credit system, which provides around £5.1 billion in funding a year that supports £36 billion of R&D expenditure.

If you would like help making the R&D tax credit claim process simpler, find out how our automated cloud-based solution can help you today by arranging a demo with our experienced team.

Standing before Parliament, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak outlined several plans to invest in innovative UK businesses and the research and development (R&D) sector.

The nation has set a target to raise total investment in R&D to 2.4 per cent of UK GDP by 2027, with the country’s existing R&D tax reliefs playing an important role in achieving this.

During the Budget 2021, the Chancellor confirmed a review of the existing R&D tax reliefs, which will be supported via consultation with key stakeholders.

Through this consultation, the Government hopes to explore the nature of private-sector R&D investment in the UK and how the tax relief system can better support innovative work.

This new wide-ranging consultation process will look at the two key elements of the tax credit system, the SME scheme and the Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC).

In particular, the review hopes to consider:

• How the two R&D relief schemes support R&D in the UK;
• How they operate; and
• How effectively they interact with modern R&D practices.

Importantly, the consultation will also look at the definition of R&D and the scope of what should qualify for relief, to ensure that the system is still fit for purpose.

Stakeholders will be asked to share their views on the two current systems and whether they should be merged in some way to make the relief simpler to claim.

The consultation document states: “Having two schemes also means having two, overlapping sets of rules instead of a single coherent system.

“The 2017 Budget promised to simplify the R&D claim process, and stakeholders have suggested that ‘RDEC for all’, potentially with a higher rate for SMEs, could be one such simplification.”

HM Revenue & Customs, which operates the scheme and manages claims, also wants to know whether the claims process might be improved, both to give a better experience for claimant companies and to improve controls.

At Made.Simplr we work with lots of businesses and accountancy firms to help automate the claims process. Like many, we would welcome any improvements to the R&D tax relief system that would enhance companies’ ability to claim.

If you or any of your clients are interested in making an R&D tax credit claim and would like to know how our cloud-based system can save you time and money, please book a demo with our team now.

 

A recent study from recruitment agency Hays shows that around four out of five accountancy practices in the UK experienced a skills shortage in 2020 due to staff absences and changes to their workforce.

Mainly the result of COVID-19, the study highlights the difficulties that many accountancy practices are facing when it comes to maintaining a skilled team of professionals.

With such a significant skills shortage in the industry at this time, some practices are experiencing a backlog of work, including in areas such as R&D tax credit claims.

While some firms may seek to outsource manual work overseas, there is a much simpler and cost-effective solution that could allow many practices to retain their clients’ work in-house.

Automation in the accountancy profession has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, with many apps and software packages developed to do a wider variety of tasks, from automating invoicing and payroll to managing credit control.

These innovations are revolutionising the industry by removing much of the manual administrative input from teams and freeing up professionals to offer a higher level of advisory services to clients.

One area where automation can help is the production of accurate and effective R&D tax credit claims. While many smaller accountancy firms may outsource this kind of work to larger partners, automation through software, such as Made.Simplr, allows them to bring this work in-house and increase the volume of claims they handle.

Using existing cloud accounting software like Xero, these programs can collate, analyse and check the information necessary to make a claim, meaning that firm’s need only submit the final documents for their clients.

If you would like to know how the automation available through made.simplr could help your firm deal with skills shortages and increase your practice’s revenue, please arrange a demo with our team today.

 

A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) has given the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund positive feedback after finding that it is helping academia and industry to engage better on research and development (R&D).

The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund was established by UKRI to improve long-term productivity within the economy and support research and development projects in future mobility, clean growth, artificial intelligence and data.

Through this initiative, UKRI invites academics and businesses to make suggestions on particular challenges that might contribute to these objectives and provide a worthwhile use of financial support from the public purse.

As part of this, the NAO has a supervisory role, to ensure the Fund is meeting its objective and providing value for money. The report looked at how UKRI is managing the projects and meeting the objectives set by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which oversees the UKRI.

The BEIS set out five key objectives for UKRI to follow in running the Fund. These are to:

• Increase UK business investment in R&D and R&D capabilities, capacity and technology adoption;
• Increase multi- and inter-disciplinary research;
• Increase engagement between industry and academia;
• Increase collaboration between new small companies and those that are established; and
• Increase overseas investment in R&D in the UK.

Up to £3 billion is being made available via the Fund to spend during the next eight years. To date it has already made £1.2 billion available to 24 challenges involving a total of 1,613 individual R&D projects.

As well as using taxpayer funding, the initiative also relies on financial support from industry, which has contributed £567 million to these projects.

Those who have applied for funding were successful in one in four bids and were positive about the support provided to industry through the Fund.

Despite the success of the scheme, the NAO has asked the Government to look at ways of speeding up the process to approve funding requests, as some bids took more than 100 weeks to move from an expression of interest to an offer of funding.

The NAO is concerned that this lengthy process for approving bids deters applicants, which may be why the current budget for the project is 11 per cent lower than estimated (as of March 2020).

The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund is part of a wider R&D campaign by the Government to improve innovation in the UK and works alongside the popular R&D tax credit scheme.

Similar to this fund, claims for this tax relief continue to be below official estimates, suggesting more businesses could make a claim.

To find out how we can help you and your clients make a claim, using our automated, cloud-based solution,  book a demo. 

In January 2021, the Government announced they are investing £213 million into UK science, under their flagship Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap, which aims to make the UK the best place globally for scientists and researchers to live and work.

This shared funding will upgrade the UK’s scientific infrastructure, enabling researchers in science facilities to respond to worldwide challenges such as Covid-19 and climate change.

Leading scientists, research institutes, and universities are among those that will benefit from £27 million (from the £213 million funding) to upgrade or purchase brand-new vital supplies, to drive outstanding research.

Which cities and institutes will receive the funding?

The Capability for Collections Fund (CapCo) will benefit from £15 million to renew struggling research institutions across the UK, including those within archives, galleries, libraries and museums. This funding aims to conserve the UK’s heritage whilst modernising these spaces for local communities and generations.

Medical Research Centres based in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow will share £2.8 million worth of the funding to purchase advanced specialist equipment and technology to support Covid-19, human genomics, long-term programmes in cell biology and more extensive virology research.

With this funding, researchers will be a step further in detecting and modelling diseases in more detail than before, contributing to the UK’s response to the current and future pandemics, plus cancer, dementia and other global diseases.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) will receive £30 million worth of funding in total. £20 million to improve campus infrastructure at its sites in Edinburgh, Liverpool City Region, North Yorkshire and Oxford, enabling further development of flagships projects, such as pre-launch satellite testing to search for dark matter.

They will receive £10 million to upgrade laboratories which support scientific activity across Edinburgh, Liverpool, North Yorkshire and Oxford, including projects in artificial intelligence, pre-launch satellite testing and quantum physics.

The University of Essex will also get support for its wide-scale survey, to discover how covid-19 has affected family relationships and home-schooling.

Additionally, £34 million will go towards developing the UK’s digital research capabilities, plus £1 million for new hardware in urban data centres in Glasgow, Liverpool and Oxford.

The Government hopes that this funding will maintain UK scientists, whilst attracting other international talents.

Amanda Solloway, the UK’s Science Minister, states that

The response from UK scientists and researchers to Coronavirus has been nothing short of phenomenal.

We need to match this excellence by ensuring scientific facilities are truly world-class, so scientists can continue carrying out life-changing research for years to come.

If you are conducting innovative projects related to science or technology within your company, you could benefit from R&D tax credits. To find out more, book a demo with our team now.

 

The R&D tax credit scheme continues to grow in popularity each year, but the number of claims made is still well below the number of projects that may be eligible for this relief.

It is difficult to put an exact number on how much R&D tax relief goes unclaimed but previous attempts have estimated that as much as 80 per cent of eligible projects don’t benefit from the relief available to them.

In many cases, businesses assume that this form of tax relief is only suitable for those at the cutting edge of digital technology or science, but the relief covers most research and development that can show that it:

• Aimed to make an advance in an area of science and technology
• Involved technological uncertainty
• Made efforts to overcome this uncertainty
• Couldn’t have been easily worked out by a professional in the field.

 In short, if a company is a technical specialist in their field that makes an advance, and they weren’t sure if they could achieve the scientific or technological aims of the project, you’ve got technical uncertainty and a potential claim if others couldn’t have delivered a similar solution.

This means, for example, that if a business in the agricultural sector develops a new method of fertilising soil, or if a surgeon creates a new technique in plastic surgery, their R&D investment could be recouped via this scheme.

It is often down to these businesses’ accountants and advisers to spot the potential for a claim in their accounts, but this is sometimes not easily achieved.

In many cases, it is only where an accountant digs deeper into a company’s finances or has a strong bond with clients that it can spot the potential for a claim.

Even where an opportunity to make a claim is identified, the business or its accountants may not have sufficient resources, time or knowledge to prepare a successful claim.

During the last year, businesses in the UK have had to adapt quickly to the ever-changing rules and regulations around work and life.

This is likely to have sparked a wave of small, but important innovations within many companies, which could be eligible for relief, where it is identified.

How Made.Simplr can help

To help businesses and their accountants, we have developed a cloud-based solution, which automates the claim preparation process – taking away the burden of producing a claim and speeding up the process considerably.

By using our technology accountancy firms can also considerably reduce the cost of preparing a claim and open up the relief to a wider potential pool of clients.

If you are digging deeper to find out whether a business can make a claim, why not speak to our team to find out how we can help.

 

Recent research reveals that the global cybersecurity market is estimated to rise to £180.77 billion by 2023.

In 2018 the market reached £111.23 billion, and this estimated increased number represents a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.6 per cent.

Due to the numerous key individuals and tech companies residing in North America, this region is forecast to obtain the largest market size. Europe comes in second, with Asia-Pacific following.

Why the demand for cybersecurity?

The coronavirus pandemic and its enforced social distancing requirements caused a demand in cloud adoption, remote working technology advances and, therefore, the increased use of cybersecurity.

Additionally, due to recent hacks in the US, the market for informational security reached £93.89 billion in 2020 alone. The private company Microsoft was among one of the victims that got exposed to malware.

Malicious software’s design is to cause widespread damage to data, systems or to obtain unapproved access to a network.

Within cybersecurity, security services saw the highest spending, then infrastructure protection, followed by network security equipment.

Cybersecurity in the UK

In March 2020, the Government published its Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2020, which revealed 46 per cent of businesses, plus 26 per cent of charities had encountered cybersecurity violations between March 2019-2020. 

With the attacks becoming an increasing threat to UK organisations, the Government committed to investing £10 million in developing new cybersecurity technology solutions over the next four years.

Funded from the Digital Security by Design program (2018), nine grant winners will divide the funding to create or develop their software and solutions to decrease the risk of hacking attempts.

This initiative is part of the Government’s promise to drive innovation in the UK, through increasing investment into Research and Development (R&D) by 2.4 per cent by 2027.

Did you know that there is funding available from the Government for R&D-related projects? To see if you could be eligible, book a demo with our team now.

 

In the 2020 Budget, £10 million of funding was allocated to Research and Development (R&D) to help internationally-known distilleries in the UK go green by switching to low carbon fuel.

The ‘green industrial revolution’ is in its initial funding phase to ensure carbon emissions decrease, and new green jobs receive the necessary support.

With the Government funding, UK distilleries can switch to alternative energy sources, such as biomass, low-carbon hydrogen and repurposed waste to power their operations, ultimately cutting nearly a million tonnes of CO2 every year. This amount is equivalent to removing 200,000 cars from the road.

In total, six distilleries in England, and seven it Scotland, can now start their sustainable innovations with funding of between £44,000 and £75,000, in the first phase.

Additionally, utilising these alternative fuels and energy sources enables decarbonisation R&D to increase. Already the use of biofuel and hydrogen boilers, along with geothermal energy, are in its production process.

Director of Industry at the Scotch Whisky Association, Dagmar Droogsma, believes that “the Green Distilleries Fund is an important step in the industry’s journey towards net-zero.

“It will help the industry test new technologies, like hydrogen, which can be rolled out at scale in future years and enable Scotch Whisky to further drive down emissions and protect the natural environment.”

For more information or guidance regarding R&D funding, book a demo today.