
But small businesses complain of dangers ahead following slashed tax credit support
New figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest UK business R&D expenditure in 2021 increased by almost £3 billion since 2020, and by almost £6bn since 2018, to £46.9bn in current prices.
The figures were calculated by the government statistics body using a changed methodology aimed at better capturing the activities of small businesses, which found roughly an extra £16bn a year in business spend that was not previously captured in its data.