Ofgem’s energy price cap announcement has made clear that energy price hikes will hit consumers hard this year. Yet as the cost of fossil fuels continues to climb, soaring energy bills are likely to be just as devastating to businesses, at what has already been a difficult time for many.

Household bills are likely to jump by 50%, rising by nearly £700 for the average household. According to sources, wholesale gas prices have increased by 250%¹ since last January leading to price hikes across the entire energy market. Corporate energy bills too are rising at an unprecedented rate and the fact that the energy price cap does not cover small businesses means the impact is even greater.

A small business with an average annual electricity usage of 25,000kwh and gas usage of 30,000kwh, will likely see bills rise by up 200% based on January 2021, meaning it would rise from £5,118 to £10,236 with the changes coming into play. A medium-sized business could see bills grow from £9,437 to £18,946, based on a 50,000 KWH usage on electricity and 65,000kwh usage on gas.

In reality, prices could increase by an even largerpercentage; and all of this comes at a time when many businesses are struggling to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

According to research by payments service NatWest Tyl,almost 65% of SMEs are spending up to one-fifth of their total business costs on energy consumption, while 8% of SMEs are spending a whopping 35-50% of their total business costs². And nearly 70% of small and medium businesses believe that energy costs impact their growth.

There could however be a ray of hope for business owners faced with unforeseen charges, especially those that have undertaken research and development projects in this or the previous financial year.

R&D Claims to Offset Energy Price Rises

The HMRC tax incentive scheme was set up in 2000 to help stimulate growth and innovation across the UK. The scheme is aimed at UK limited businesses from start-ups to established firms, with the potential to access a tax refund or tax credit for any eligible research and development work conducted.

The average claim for a small to medium sized business is £53,000, which would more than cover increasing energy costs.

Our average claim of £53,000 would cover electricity and gas usage for a small business for the next five years.

A medium-sized business (one with less than £50million turnover/250 staff), could offset the costs of energy for the next 33 months (two years and nine months) with the average sum of one of our R&D claims.

Any research and development project should make a business eligible, with the only stipulations being that the project relates to your company’s trade and evidence can be provided to show how it:

The research/development phase is enough to qualify in most cases, with no rule to say the product or servicemust be finished or brought to the market.

Mark Joyner of Research & Development SpecialistsLTD (RDS) (www.randdspecialists.co.uk) a specialist firm that helps business nationwide to navigate from the exploratory phase right through to successful claims of tens of thousands of pounds, said:

“Every business has felt the pressure of rising energy bills, including our own. Many companies have been in the position where they have had to use reserves or contingency funds to stay afloat during the pandemic, so now they’re completely exposed by the rising energy bills they face.

“What I love about what we do is that we are able to help business owners with a real cash injection into their business, which can then be spent on any business need. Whether that is on further investment to grow and improve the business or to cover unforeseen costs such as rising energy bills that could not have been predicted.

“Our sole purpose is to steer business owners through the process of a HMRC tax incentive claim, by making it as easy and straight forward as possible. Very often all we need is a fifteen-minute conversation to find out if a company is eligible and then we will do all the hard work from thereon in. We are completely transparent at every stage and ensure we limit the time demands on our clients leaving them free to complete their daily operations.”

Although there are different types of R&D scheme depending on whether you fit HMRC’s guide as being an SME or large company, eligibility to claim is focussed on the research project rather than the type of business. Itis completely open to businesses in any sector. Typically, an R&D claim can be submitted for a business’s current and previous financial year.

For more information visit https://randdspecialists.co.uk/.

The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund has launched a new web platform https://www.rafbf.org/ to drive more online donations and provide a comprehensive audience-focused resource that can better support those who need the charity’s services.

The new platform has been designed and developed by digital experience agencyAccess.

The RAF Benevolent Fund assists veterans and serving Royal Air Force personnel with welfare support. This also extends to their families.

The new website introduces innovative technical features including a support finder tool, which provides faster access to relevant pages; a new online beneficiary form to replace a PDF process and a Progressive Web App to enable quick app installation to devices.

Site editors can also easily create and update microsite pages using the new platform. Microsites include RAF Widows’ Association, the RAF Disabled Holiday Trust and the Alexander Duckham Memorial Schools Trust. These microsites contain alternative brand colours and content. The build process included utilising a colour palette option in a settings area for the content types, and setting up a series of pages and content related to one site, where site editors can alter the colour palette for each page.

Ruth Patterson, Digital Engagement Manager, from the RAF Benevolent Fund said:
“Through in-depth audience research and user feedback we have created a web platform that will better meet the needs of all of our audiences. Our website serves two core functions, and we’ve facilitated the best user journeys for each.

“For those wanting to support us, the means to donate or get involved in fundraising is a much simpler, audience-focused journey. We’ve developed a suite of features that will help us to build stronger ongoing relationships with supporters, and promote
advocacy to get involved with us.

“For those that need support, we’ve expanded our services to beneficiaries and improved accessibility to our resources so that they are clear and easy to find. Our new site also hosts an array of content so being able to access this in a more intuitive way is a huge step forward.”

Patrick Hamilton, Operations Director at Access, said:

“Central to the new platform is that different user’s needs have been considered at all stages of the journey, alongside a fresh and inspiring design. Our development process began with in-depth audience research, creating personas and holding interviews, before moving on to prototyping and validation.

“Using our Drupal experience we’ve created a best-in-class experience that is both user friendly and easy to manage, to meet all of the charity’s objectives including a need for greater efficiency and measurability. Accessibility and the user journey is front and centre at all stages, alongside a fresh and inspiring design.”

rafbf.org/ www.weareaccess.co.uk