HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published the 2024/25 figures for EIS (the Enterprise Investment Scheme) in May, and the Headline is the people, not the pounds. The number of EIS income-tax claimants through Self Assessment fell 7% to 33,220, down from 35,6751. Investment covered by those relief claims also fell 7%. Separately, provisional company-reported EIS fundraising held at £1,575m across 3,735 companies. HMRC says the series are not directly comparable: investors can carry claims back a year, and some claim through PAYE.
This reporting year pre-dates the April 2026 cut to VCT (Venture Capital Trust) income-tax relief, which fell from 30% to 20% and sat outside this reporting year. The claimant count fell by 2,455, but this does not identify individual angels who stopped investing.
One tier below, SEIS (the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme) went the other way. Companies raised £276m in 2024/25, up 14%. In the following tax year, 2025/26, advance-assurance requests reached 4,085, up from 3,2852. These request and investment figures cover different tax years; advance assurance does not establish that a company secured funding. London and the South East took 60% of EIS money, down from 63% a year earlier and 65% the year before that, a slow drift of seed capital out of the capital.
