CEO Update - 2 June 2025

Government Pension Investment Review promises to unlock capital for UK growth

The UK Government’s Pensions Investment Review published last week is a landmark moment in unlocking UK pension funds to become a more productive capital pool for UK growth sectors like ours. Martin Turner’s deep dive blog is a must read on what it means for our sector and my letter to the Times published today shows how we continue to make the case for change amid loud voices of unhelpful city orthodoxy. It is the first of a series of government announcements expected in the next two weeks – including the spending review and industrial strategy and sector plans that will set the tone of this government for growth.

Steve Bates OBE
CEO, BIA

Optimising R&D tax reliefs in practice  

The BIA also recently responded to HMRC's consultation on advance clearances for R&D tax relief. We know the scope of the reliefs and how the system works in practice are as important to members as the headline rate (something worth understanding if advisors are selling you on superficially attractive overseas schemes).                                                                                                                                          
So this detailed consultation is a welcome and important step – advance clearances could minimise fraud, provide greater certainty, and enhance the R&D tax relief experience for early-stage life science companies. In our response, we underlined that certainty on some technical issues (e.g., SME status or spend abroad) is more critical than clearing an entire claim, and a pre-claim clearance procedure targeting specific issues would be far more efficient than pre-activity or post-claim procedures. We also called for a mandatory system in high-risk sectors, backed by a voluntary option for complex claims, and suggested a £25,000 minimum threshold for R&D tax relief to reduce non-compliance, with targeted grants to protect genuine early-stage innovators. Our objective is to be a trusted partner, enabling a fair, effective system that supports real R&D and the UK companies driving it.

BIA June starts with a bang

Our packed June Calendar starts this week with BIA’s Parliament Day. Members will bring the sector to key stakeholders across Whitehall and Westminster, sharing the insight and excitement of our innovative ecosystem with policymakers and explaining the coalface experience of policies that impact our companies.

Next week we have TechBio X in Cambridge as our contribution to Cambridge Wide Open Week (CWOW), before we digest the impact of the Spending Review and industrial strategy sector plans in our next webinar, before taking the UK message to BIO and hosting our annual Life Science Leadership Summit before the month is out.

I look forward to seeing many of you at one of these events in the weeks ahead, and thank you for your engagement that helps make us such a vibrant Association.