Data sources

Why this page exists

We'd rather you check than take our word for it

Every rate, stat and threshold used on this site is sourced below, with the body it comes from and, where relevant, a date. If a figure ever looks out of date, it's here so you can verify it directly rather than trusting a claim on a finance site. See Editorial Standards for the checks a figure has to pass before it's allowed on the site at all, and Methodology for how our own datasets and tools are built, versioned and corrected.

Want the figures as files? Bank Rate history, the Companies Act size thresholds, the April 2025 size-band shift and the SIC classification gap are on Data downloads as CSV and JSON, each with its source and the date we checked it.

Links last checked: every source link on this page was checked and working on 23 September 2026.

Key figures

Recent official figures behind our R&D tax relief and company charges pages. Each one links to the source we read it from on 3 November 2026.

• R&D tax relief paid in error or through fraud: HMRC estimates 6.4% of all R&D tax relief for 2023 to 2024, £493 million. By scheme, it is 11.1% (£347 million) in the SME scheme and 3.2% (£146 million) in RDEC. HMRC says it revised these 2023 to 2024 figures using newer results from its Random Enquiry Programme. Source: HMRC annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, accounts and annexes. Related: R&D enquiry risk score.
• Small R&D claims: in 2024 to 2025, 58% of claims were for £50,000 or less, and together they got 6% of the relief claimed. Source: HMRC, R&D tax credits statistics, September 2026 (provisional figures). Related: is my R&D claim too small?
• Large R&D claims: in 2024 to 2025, the 6% of claims in the £500,000 and above bands got 69% of the relief claimed, up from 62% in 2023 to 2024. Source: HMRC, R&D tax credits statistics, September 2026 (provisional figures). Related: R&D tax relief.
• Fewer SME claims: HMRC estimates SME claims fell by 19% in 2024 to 2025, while claims by large companies rose by 4%. Large companies got £4.6 billion of relief and SMEs £3.6 billion. Source: HMRC, R&D tax credits statistics, September 2026 (provisional figures). Related: what the 2023 rate changes did.
• First-time SME scheme claimants: 3,405 companies in 2023 to 2024, 53% fewer than the year before. This is the latest year HMRC gives for this measure. Source: HMRC, R&D tax credits statistics, September 2026. Related: should I stop doing R&D?
• SME employers that applied for R&D tax credits: around 6% said they had applied in the last 3 years: 20% of medium, 10% of small and 5% of micro businesses. Source: Department for Business and Trade, Longitudinal Small Business Survey 2025. Related: R&D for accountants.
• Receivership appointments: only 3 were registered in the 12 months to September 2026. Source: Insolvency Service, company insolvency statistics, September 2026. Related: charge crystallisation.
• What HMRC gets back in formal insolvency: on average, HMRC says it eventually gets 5p in the pound once a debt is in formal insolvency. It received £293 million in such payments in 2025 to 2026. Source: HMRC annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, accounts and annexes. Related: charges and insolvency.
• Overdraft use: the overdraft utilisation rate at the main banks was 51.4% in June 2026, the highest since March 2020. See our overdraft page. Source: UK Finance, Business Finance Review 2026 Q2.

Rates and lending data

• Bank of England base rate: the official policy rate, set by the Monetary Policy Committee. Currently 4%, raised from 3.75% on 5 November 2026. Source: Bank of England.
• SME overdraft balances: the stock of bank overdrafts to SMEs was £7bn at December 2025, down 13% from 2024 and the lowest value on record, against a total bank lending stock (term lending and overdrafts) to SMEs of £198bn, up 11% from 2024. Source: British Business Bank, Small Business Finance Markets 2025/26 (Figure 1, Bank of England data).
• Business Finance Review (quarterly): UK lending volumes across invoice finance, asset-based lending, and other commercial facilities. Source: UK Finance.
• Small Business Finance Markets Report (annual): SME finance usage and access patterns. Source: British Business Bank.

Company and classification data

• Companies Act size thresholds: the official turnover, balance sheet and employee bands for micro, small and medium companies, effective for accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025. Source: gov.uk, checked against the Companies Act 2006 and SI 2024/1303 on legislation.gov.uk. Applied to your own figures in the company size checker.
• SIC classification gap: 762,111 live UK companies had a "not elsewhere classified" first SIC code at the end of August 2026, 13.4% of the register. Our own count from the Companies House Free Company Data Product snapshot dated 1 September 2026; method, file hashes and the quarterly series on the n.e.c. SIC code tracker. For comparison, The Data City's 2023 analysis of Companies House filings counted 886,106 companies using at least one n.e.c. code, around 1 in 5 of all UK companies on its own framing, of which ~740,000 had no other SIC code alongside it. Source: The Data City, 2023.
• Audit-exemption threshold shift: an estimated ~113,000 companies moved from the small to the micro-entity band following the April 2025 threshold rise (the same reform separately moves ~14,000 medium companies to small and ~6,000 large companies to medium; 113,000 is the small/micro slice specifically, not the whole reform's headcount). Source: gov.uk, government impact assessment for the Companies Act thresholds change.
• n.e.c. SIC code counts, quarterly: our own counts of live companies under the 38 "not elsewhere classified" codes, made from Companies House's monthly Free Company Data Product snapshots and its condensed SIC list. Method, file hashes and the full series on the SIC n.e.c. tracker. Source: Companies House.
• Company charges and filings: registered debentures, charges, and accounts. Source: Companies House.
• Company charges statistics: our own counts from the Companies House register of charges: time to register a new charge, the share recorded as satisfied, and the share of new charges covering all the company's property. Method, dates and limits on company charges statistics. From the same register: charges at companies in liquidation or administration and invoice finance charge statistics.

Tax and regulatory sources

• R&D tax relief rules and the merged scheme. Source: HMRC.
• Tax adviser registration requirements: Finance Act 2026, Part 7 (section 223 sets the requirement; Schedule 20 lists the exceptions). Checked against the Act on 24 September 2026; online registration rolls out in stages from 18 May 2026 (HMRC).
• Duty deferment account guarantee waivers. Source: gov.uk.

Sector and mechanism sources

• Community pharmacy reimbursement cycle: the FP34C submission process, advance and reconciliation payment timing. Source: Community Pharmacy England.
• MOD SME spend and payment policy: annual SME spend, the direct-award/supply-chain split, and the Prompt Payment Policy target. Source: MOD SME Action Plan and Defence Office for Small Business Growth.
• Veterinary sector consolidation: the CMA's market investigation into corporate ownership of UK veterinary practices, concluded 24 March 2026. Source: Competition and Markets Authority.
• Public-sector payment terms: the Procurement Act 2023's 30-day cascading payment requirement, SME payment targets, and Payments Compliance Notices. Source: gov.uk prompt payment policy. The voluntary Prompt Payment Code was retired in favour of the Fair Payment Code, December 2024.
• Construction Industry Scheme (CIS): deduction rates and gross payment status thresholds. Source: gov.uk CIS deductions and gov.uk gross payment status.
• Construction retentions: standard practice and the government's own reform consultation. Source: gov.uk consultation on retention payments.
• VAT payment deadlines: the standard and Annual Accounting Scheme deadlines. Source: gov.uk submit a VAT return and gov.uk Annual Accounting Scheme.
• Deferred-revenue accounting for subscription businesses: IFRS 15 and FRS 102's five-step revenue recognition model. Source: IFRS Foundation and the Financial Reporting Council.
• Marketplace/platform payout timing: Amazon and Shopify's own published disbursement mechanics. Source: Amazon's official seller-payments documentation and Shopify's official payout-scheduling help pages.
• Retailer deductions in the grocery supply chain: the Groceries Supply Code of Practice. Source: gov.uk, the Groceries Code Adjudicator.
• Apprenticeship and skills funding structures: milestone and outcome-based payment for training providers. Source: gov.uk apprenticeship funding guidance and DfE Skills Bootcamps funding guidance.
• Care home regulation: CQC registration requirements. Source: Care Quality Commission.

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