England’s largest ever seagrass planting hits new milestone

England’s largest ever seagrass restoration project has reached a new milestone by planting around 70,000 seed bags spanning 3.5 hectares of seabed, which will provide vital habitat for marine life.

The £2.5 million LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES partnership to ‘Save Our Seabed’ led by Natural England and funded by the EU LIFE Programme, was launched in July 2019. It is seeking to protect and restore sensitive seabed habitats which are at risk.

Habitats such as seagrass meadows, mangroves and tidal marshes, are increasingly being recognised for their essential carbon capture abilities – seagrass can be as effective at absorbing and storing carbon as our woodlands. It also provides habitat for sea life including juvenile fish, seahorses and jellyfish, cleans surrounding seawater and helps to stabilise the seabed which can help to reduce coastal erosion. However, research shows the UK has lost at least 44% of its seagrass since 1936.

For more information, visit: England’s largest ever seagrass planting hits new milestone – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If your company is undertaking research and development to create new and innovative products and services or improve existing ones, did you know that you probably qualify for valuable Research & Development (R&D) Tax Relief from the Government?

R&D Tax Relief offers tax breaks designed to encourage innovation by incentivising companies to invest in R&D, enabling them to reduce their tax bill or claim payable credits on a proportion of their R&D expenditure. And eligibility is not limited to activities taking place in laboratories and science-based research centres. The relief can often be claimed in far broader areas and various enterprises could qualify for significant tax reductions and gain a cash flow boost.

Loss making companies can even claim back tax they haven’t paid in the first place!

So don’t miss out! R&D Tax Relief provides excellent incentives for UK companies to invest in innovation. However, the claims process itself can be complicated and convoluted, with lengthy paperwork involved and plenty of room for error. It is therefore essential that businesses seek specialist advice to ensure that all associated risks are minimised and that all aspects of the process are taken care of, thereby maximising one’s chances of getting back all the tax benefit owed to you, through the undertaking of innovative activities.

For more information, or to arrange a no obligation preliminary meeting on how your company could qualify under the R&D Tax Relief scheme, please contact us.