STERLING scans the client portfolio every day at 6:30am, scores R&D eligibility HIGH to NOT_ELIGIBLE, and drafts referral briefs for the BRG-Leyton partnership on every client worth pursuing — no upfront cost, no claim filed until Leyton confirms it.
Most businesses don't know they qualify because nobody asked the right question. STERLING asks it, for every client, every day.
Every client is scored daily: HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, or NOT_ELIGIBLE, based on qualifying R&D expenditure signals in the business.
Daily eligibility scoringHIGH-scoring clients get a referral brief with sector, estimated qualifying spend and rationale, ready for the Leyton introduction.
Referral briefLeyton manages the full HMRC claim. When one company in a sector qualifies, STERLING raises scoring sensitivity for every peer in that sector.
Leyton handoff & learningAny project resolving a genuine technical uncertainty is a candidate STERLING will flag.
Start Your AssessmentProcess improvement and novel structural approaches both qualify under SME R&D Relief.
Construction & PropertyNovel diagnostic and treatment tooling frequently qualifies and is often under-claimed.
HealthcareFor large companies and SMEs that have received state aid — a taxable above-the-line credit.
Enhanced tax deduction — an extra 86% of qualifying R&D costs deductible from annual profit.
27% credit for loss-making, R&D-intensive SMEs spending 30%+ of expenditure on R&D.
STERLING is the R&D tax intelligence agent inside SME Growth Team. Running daily at 6:30am, it scans the client portfolio for qualifying R&D expenditure, assigns an eligibility score, and drafts referral briefs for high-scoring clients.
RDEC, SME R&D Relief, and ERIS (Enhanced R&D Intensive Support) for loss-making, R&D-intensive SMEs.
No. STERLING identifies eligibility and routes high-scoring clients to Leyton, the UK's leading R&D tax specialist, who manages the full HMRC claim process.
STERLING is included in the Scale plan. Eligibility scoring is free; Leyton's success fee is only payable on a recovered credit.