What it's actually secured on
Not the business generally, the claim specifically
A conventional loan looks at the business as a whole: trading history, assets, general creditworthiness. An R&D advance is narrower and, in a sense, simpler. It's structured against the value of a specific expected outcome: the tax reduction or cash repayment HMRC is expected to pay out or credit against your liability. That's why the underwriting conversation is different too: a lender assessing an R&D advance wants to understand the claim itself, not just the balance sheet.
Timing: why this almost never happens speculatively
Advances follow a claim. They don't fund one into existence
This isn't a formal rule anywhere. It's how the underwriting logic works out in practice. A lender generally wants a claim that's been filed, or is genuinely close to being filed, not a hypothetical based on work you're planning to do. Before that point there's nothing concrete to advance against: no cost identification exercise, no technical narrative, no filed figure to size a facility around.
If you're at the "we think some of our work might qualify" stage, the right next step is preparing the actual claim first (see R&D claim services). Advance funding is the stage after that, not instead of it.
What a lender typically wants to see
The claim, the correspondence, and who prepared it
Requirements vary by lender and by the size of the advance, but three things generally matter:
- The claim itself. The technical narrative and cost breakdown. A thin or boilerplate claim is usually harder to advance against confidently, whatever the headline figure says.
- HMRC correspondence. Filing confirmation at minimum, plus any enquiry or compliance check correspondence if one's been opened. An open enquiry tends to change both the timeline and the risk a lender is taking on.
- Who prepared the claim. An adviser with a credible track record and, since the Finance Act 2026 changes, proper registration status is generally viewed as lower-risk than an unregistered or unfamiliar preparer.
None of this is a fixed checklist. It's the shape of what tends to matter, and the specifics are worth confirming directly rather than assuming.
The bit people underestimate: an open HMRC enquiry doesn't automatically rule out an advance. It generally changes the shape of one: often a smaller amount priced to reflect the enquiry risk rather than a straightforward refusal, though the specific outcome depends on the lender and the enquiry itself. Companies sometimes assume an enquiry rules advance funding out entirely and don't ask. It's worth asking anyway.
Decision helper
Choosing an adviser
The adviser's standing affects the lender too
Advisers who interact with HMRC on a client's behalf now fall under a formal registration requirement under the Finance Act 2026, Part 7 (Schedule 20 sets out the exemptions to it, not the requirement itself). It's worth confirming registration status directly with HMRC before instructing anyone, not just relying on their own marketing, since the adviser's standing is one of the things a lender will weigh too.
Alternatives and limitations
If it's too early, or not really about R&D
If there's no claim in preparation yet, this page is early for you. Start with R&D claim services and come back once there's something concrete to advance against. And if the cash-flow need is unrelated to R&D at all, don't wait on a claim to address it: see Invoice Finance or Credit Lines depending on the shape of the gap.
