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Through Enhanced R&D Intensive Support (ERIS), your SME can claim up to £27 for every £100 of R&D investment. We’re the experts at helping early-stage startups and innovative small and medium-sized businesses maximise their R&D tax relief claims.
The ERIS scheme is only for loss-making SMEs whose R&D spend is at least 30% of their total expenditure. The main R&D Tax Credits scheme is the merged R&D scheme, which is available for large and small businesses.
HMRC calculates R&D intensity as the proportion of your qualifying R&D expenditure compared to your total relevant expenditure. If your SME qualifies, you can claim a total deduction of 186% along with a payable credit that’s not liable to tax, which is worth up to 14.5% of the surrenderable loss (giving you a net benefit of 27%).
Enhanced R&D Intensive Support
Leadership, Quantified
Business supported in the UK
Years of Expertise
Countries
Of UK Claims submitted by Leyton
in R&D Tax Credits claimed in 2025.
how we work
You’ll meet your dedicated consultancy team and together we’ll identify the key stakeholders for your claim. We’ll then carry out an R&D claims assessment and agree timelines.
We’ll work with your team to review your eligible projects and select the strongest examples to include in your claim.
We’ll identify your qualifying R&D expenditure and prepare the financial documentation needed to support your claim.
We’ll compile all the technical and financial documentation, including an internal quality audit, and then we’ll resolve any remaining queries before we submit your claim.
Once your claim is ready and signed off, we’ll agree the tax benefit option and then guide you through the final submission. Afterwards, we’ll provide you with ongoing support for any HMRC questions or formal enquiries.
If your company is claiming R&D Tax Credits for the first time or if you haven’t claimed in the last three accounting periods, you’ll need to submit a claim notification online. You must tell HMRC within six months of the end of the accounting period that you plan to claim. If you don’t apply in time, you’ll miss out on being able to claim your ERIS benefit, even if you’re eligible.
Find out more: Understanding pre-notification for R&D Tax Credits claims
Our services
We offer support for all of the UK’s core innovation incentives and tax relief schemes, including:
Claim with Leyton
We’re here to help! Book a free assessment with our team and take the first step toward maximising your tax relief with the merged R&D scheme.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
All you need to know about the Enhanced R&D Intensive Support (ERIS) scheme.
For R&D intensive SMEs, the credit rate is 14.5%. The additional deduction rate is 86% on top of the normal 100% tax deduction for research and development.
If your company is conducting eligible R&D activities but isn’t a loss-making R&D intensive SME, then you should look to claim under the merged R&D scheme (for accounting periods starting on or after 1 April 2024). For accounting periods starting before this, you can make a retrospective claim under the R&D SME scheme if you’re an SME, or RDEC in specific circumstances.
For companies that have just slipped out of the intensity threshold after previously claiming, there is a one-year grace period. So, if your company qualified as R&D intensive in the last accounting period and made a valid claim during that time, you may still be able to claim ERIS.
The intensity ratio takes into account any connected companies. If there are connected companies, as defined by HMRC, total expenditure will be aggregated for calculating R&D intensity.