TL;DR
- Essentials – For individuals and start-ups (£200 + VAT/month per user). Core training, WhatsApp community, 3 helpline queries.
- Professional – For small teams (£350 + VAT/month for up to four users and £50+VAT/month for additional users). 10 helpline queries, admin oversight, directory listing, more technical content.
- Professional Plus – For larger organisations (£750 + VAT/month for up to 20 users and £50+VAT/month for additional users). Targeted training by role, 15 helpline queries, account manager.
- Enterprise – For national or multi-site organisations (bespoke pricing). Fully tailored training and support solutions.
Whether you work alone or as part of a large organisation, the fact that you’re reading this suggests that you’re interested in R&D tax relief.
However, what’s also true is that where you work probably shapes what support you need. For example, if you have a big team around you, you might not have the same need for peer support as when you’re working on your own.
We recognise that different sizes of organisation often have very different needs – which is exactly why we have a range of memberships that are tailored to suit your needs.
Let’s walk you through your options.
“Essentials”
For those who are just starting out, our ‘Essentials’ membership gives you stripped back access to some of the core training and support that we offer to larger organisations.
For £200+VAT per month, you get:
- 3 free Helpline queries per month (we have a next-business-day SLA, although we aim to respond same-day where we can)
- Access to our WhatsApp Community, with 20+ dedicated groups on a variety of R&D-related topics, like HMRC, enquiries, technical questions, and useful AI or specialist R&D software.
- All of our video-based training courses, which are available to take 24/7
- All of our Community and Spotlight webinars and workshops, in which we gather your thoughts for HMRC consultations or highlight new products and services within the R&D space.
This package is designed for individuals who want to keep their costs down while getting a new R&D consultancy business off the ground, as well as those working in teams where they are the only person delivering an R&D service.
Once you have a colleague or two working alongside you, that’s when our next tier becomes the natural stepping stone and most cost-effective option.
“Professional”
For teams working in R&D tax relief, “Professional” membership gives you access to more technical content than you can access with Essentials. It also gives you some oversight into the activity on your licence, so you can tell who’s making good use of the training and who might need some encouragement.
For £350+VAT per month, in addition to everything in “Essentials” you get:
- More free Helpline queries per month (10 instead of 3)
- Access to monthly Technical webinars, in which we dive into the detail of the R&D schemes
- Extra resources, calculators and guides on R&D tax relief
- Up to 2 administrator accounts, so you have visibility of your team’s activity
- Our Knowledge Bank, with a collection of R&D FAQs
- A listing in our Members Directory, in which your ranking increases as you complete our training
- A free review of your website against our Good Practice in Marketing Standard, after which we give you recommendations on any updates required
- You can replace each person on your licence once per year, allowing you to handle changes in your staff.
- Space on your licence for up to 4 people, and you can add more for £50+VAT per month per person. For a team of 4, this works out as less than £90+VAT per month per head – much cheaper than the £200+VAT of Essentials.
Professional is designed for companies who want to provide their teams with as much R&D training and support as possible.
However, to get the best results from training, you need good management – and powerful management features that help them do their jobs. And that’s where our next membership tier comes in.
“Professional Plus”
For organisations looking to get the best possible results with the least possible impact on revenue generation, we have Professional Plus. This gives you the ability to be far more targeted in how you deliver specialist training within your organisation.
For £750+VAT per month, in addition to everything in “Professional” you get:
- More free Helpline queries per month (15 instead of 10)
- To define up to 5 training roles within your organisation e.g. “Technical”, “Costs”, “Compliance”, “Business Dev”.
- To select exactly what training content you want to be available for each of these roles. This makes training much easier to manage, because all your team only have access to the content that you have specifically allocated. This minimises distractions and impact on revenue generation.
- Dedicated account manager, giving you a single point of contact for anything relating to your licence or membership.
- Space on your licence for up to 20 people, and you can add more for £50+VAT per month per person. For a team of 20, this works out as less than £40+VAT per month per head – less than half the cost of “Professional”.
Of course, when organisations start to get really big, that’s when their needs start to change again. For companies with hundreds of employees we offer “Enterprise” solutions that are specifically tailored to your needs and requirements.
So, whether you’re working solo, running a small advisory company, or managing a large team, you deserve access to great training, responsive support and group of like-minded peers.
We believe that the R&D world works best when we share knowledge, raise standards together, and make good advice accessible at every level. Our various tiers of membership is our way of making sure that continues.
If you’ve ever thought The R&D Community didn’t have what you were looking for, this is your invitation to take another look.
Start 2026 with the tools, training, and support you need to do R&D the right way, no matter your size.
