R&D specialist ramps up expansion with new Birmingham office

Research and Development Specialists has announced it is launching an office at Birmingham Business Park, Solihull Parkway at the beginning of 2023.

The Greater-Manchester headquartered company, which has offices in Altrincham and Nottingham, is looking to expand into the West Midlands where, according to Government statistics, 4.3% of UK businesses are registered.

Research and Development Specialists CEO Mark Joyner believes that companies in Birmingham and the West Midlands that could be eligible to claim tax relief through the HMRC Tax Incentive, are potentially missing out on thousands of pounds to inject back into developing their businesses.

He said: “8.47% of the total R&D claims in 2020/21 were from the West Midlands, which was the fourth largest area behind London, the South East and the East of England. However, this equates to only 1.95% of all businesses in West Midlands, meaning that many companies that could be eligible to claim may be missing out.”

RDS has recently experienced a period of exponential growth and following the expansion of the team in the head office, it is now looking to focus on Birmingham. With the average R&D claim across the region worth on average over £50,000 to businesses, Joyner hopes moving region can help more business owners successfully claim.

He said: “For many businesses the research and development incentive is overly complex to understand, and they just don’t have the time to commit to investigating it or even starting their own claim.

“Many also don’t realise the work they’ve undertaken is eligible to claim, or they don’t believe their industry fits the bill. We want to help demystify the incentive so that every business in Birmingham that is eligible, understands what qualifies and realises the potential financial rewards.”

Joyner has aims to grow the company threefold in the next five years.

“We’ve gone from strength to strength. Having started in a two-man office five years ago, our head office is now in a converted spa over 2000 sq. ft, and we employ 17 people, with the team growing on a monthly basis. We have over 500 clients and 200 partners.

“Over the past five years, we’ve signed off 1114 claims, the biggest sum that a company received back through the scheme was over £440,000.

“And in that time, we’ve also helped businesses to re-invest over £30m during some of the toughest financial times we’ve ever seen as a country.”