Jumpstart

As the election draws ever nearer it is now clear that whichever party rules the roost at Downing Street after May, one thing is for certain, companies should be confident that the R&D Tax Credit programme will be a part of the business landscape for the foreseeable future. The Conservative Party have taken on-board the recommendations in the report by James Dyson titled ‘Ingenious Britain’ and will retain the R&D Tax Credit programme – effectively a U-turn in policy from last year. Dr Tim Bradshaw, head of enterprise and innovation at the CBI, welcomed this change and supported Dyson’s view that strengthening the programme further was necessary. He continued by saying: “R&D tax credits should not be restricted to SMEs and hi-tech firms, but should be available to companies of all sizes and sectors. This would encourage all businesses to grow through investment and innovation”.

We think this deserves three sucks on a Dyson vacuum cleaner!

As our blog post in November mentioned. Karen Valentine has now joined the company as Technical Analyst taking our running total of analysts to six.

Karen is a technical writer and business analyst with over twelve years experience. She has worked on a number of different systems within the Energy & Utilities sector. Karen can effectively analyse R&D activity within companies and has developed a good understanding of the NETA and BETTA marketplace.

Karen joins the company with a First Class (Hons) in Computer Science, which means, to date, all members of staff have degrees excluding our Managing Director, Don Galloway. Don has noted this but is determined not to let it get him down – he plays a vital role in other aspects of Jumpstart’s development and keeping staff motivated. Just remember Don, Karen drinks tea with milk, no sugar!

In the Chancellor’s Pre Budget Report on Wednesday 9th December he announced further improvement to help small and medium sized companies who are claiming for R&D tax relief. Previously these companies had to own the IP on their eligible activities; this requirement has now been removed. Great news and further strengthens the program, let’s hope more is on the way.

As mentioned in our November blog we are delighted to introduce Jumpstart’s latest recruit – Stephen Edwards.

Stephen joins the company after a year in Africa working in Niger along with his wife Karen and young son Rory. Stephen comes with a raft of qualifications – Diploma in Chemical Engineering, 1st Class Honours in Biological Sciences and a Master of Philosophy in Bioinformatics

Amazingly he can also make an excellent cup of coffee… but his tea is in need of improvement. You never stop learning!

For regular readers of the Jumpstart Blog our apologies for no entry in October. What with work, our AGM and our year end it was a very busy month and as the headline to this post shows its’ also been a very busy year. 53 new clients on board and 110 technical claims in progress – it’s kept the team on their toes!

Talking of the team we have recruited two new technical analysts. Stephen Edwards joins us on the 16th November and Karen Valentine joins on the 12th January. We’ll give you more information once they join along with pictures – you know how we like our pictures at Jumpstart!

So, there we are, another year begins for Jumpstart with two new clients on board already in November we’re obviously getting the word out there. To the clients working with us, thank you, and to those who are reading this and have not claimed… go on give us a call, you never know what might happen!

This months Blog post has a more serious note.

We were very encouraged to hear recent reports from CBI president Helen Alexander (above) of the organisations un-faltering support for the R&D tax credit program.

The business group wants the tax credit to be extended, and serious consideration to be given to introducing a “royalty box ” system – where revenues from certain areas of IP, such as drug patents, are taxed at a lower rate, encouraging investment.

Speaking at the CBI’s East of England annual dinner this month she said the development and exploitation of IP will play an important role in the UK’s economic recovery.

“We want to see future tax changes have to pass a test, which is: Will it make the UK a more attractive place for businesses to invest in, develop and exploit IP?” she said.

“We must have a stable and competitive tax framework if we’re to incentivise IP development and exploitation. Change and uncertainty undermine the confidence of those making long-term investment decisions.”

The UK’s current R&D tax credit scheme works well, but other countries are fast catching up, said Alexander.

“The US has recently decided that its R&D tax credit is such an important part of its business landscape that it will make the credit permanent. Competing with the US is never easy, and so any plans to remove the UK’s R&D tax credit should be rejected out of hand as dangerously short-sighted,” she said.

Let’s hope these views are also the views of government whoever that may be in
the future.

We are delighted to announce the arrival of Sarah Hollis to Jumpstart from Baker Tilly. Sarah will be working with us to help clients in all things relating to the accountancy side of an R&D tax credit application.

It should be noted that Sarah is very keen on Karaoke but she points out that this does not make her a singer! All Jumpstart can say is… “that’s us sorted for our Christmas entertainment this year then…!”

Okay, we’re not motor mechanics – but the picture is good! If you bank with the Royal Bank of Scotland you may have seen this picture in their recent publication of ‘Business Sense’ that featured beside an article on Jumpstart. Richard our Director of Technical Consulting took delight in posing for a number of shots taken by the photographer Murdo Macleod.

We decided to go with this shot rather than the ones taken with a cuddly toy, a Playboy model and Richard dressed as a Nun!

If you haven’t already you can see the article on page 15 of the 2009 Summer edition of the RBS ‘Business Sense’ magazine. If you want a signed photograph just call, I’m sure Richard will be very happy to accommodate.

For those of you who don’t know, all of Scotland’s R&D tax credit applications are submitted to the Cardiff R&D unit.

The unit is staffed by good people who work very hard to help process the hundreds of applications that go through the department’s doors every year. So when the weekend comes I’m sure, like most people, they will let their hair down over a beer or a glass of wine.

As we know, all cities in the UK can get a bit wild at the weekend and it was with interest I read an article in the Mail Online of Polish photographer Maciej Dakowicz and the pictures he’s taken over a 4 year period in the streets of Cardiff. Now I’m not suggesting at all that staff of Cardiff’s R&D unit behave like the gentleman in the picture above, but if they did it would make for interesting conversation in the department on Monday morning!

Please note the Scotsman in the picture below… we get everywhere don’t we!

We are pleased to announce a new ‘Case Studies’ page on our website. Some of our clients have been kind enough to put pen to paper (or should that be fingers to keyboard?) and tell you of their experience in using our services. We’d like to extend our thanks to the companies concerned – the cheques are in the post!

We occasionally come across a client who asks a question on the R&D programme that we can’t immediately answer – yes it does happen sometimes. We will always go away and do some research and get back to them. On one such occasion a few months ago we came across a discussion paper written by Rachel Griffith, Stephen Redding and John Van Reenen, titled ‘Measuring the cost effectiveness of an R&D tax credit for the UK’

On page 9 of the report was this wonderful equation;

The first person that gets in touch to tell us what it means will win a cuddly toy and a cocktail bought for them by our Managing Director, Don Galloway. Alternatively you may just want the cuddly toy!

A few weeks ago we wrote to Simon Potter, head of HMRC’s R&D unit in Cardiff, introducing Jumpstart and explaining what we were doing and why. We were delighted when Simon called our office; he was interested to know what we, and our clients, felt about the programme. We were also happy to inform him that we found the staff in Cardiff very helpful and always willing to help.

We invited him to our office next time he was up, he said that was kind but there was very rarely an opportunity for him to come to Scotland – to be honest, I don’t think he really wanted to see us… never mind.

Discussing R&D tax credits isn’t the most exciting subject for some clients but it always helps to have a good cup of coffee in your hand. Our newly installed coffee machine is the perfect answer – Latte or Espresso anyone?

 This is our first entry to the Jumpstart blog and therefore a perfect opportunity for people who have not visited us to see where we live . . .