SECR reporting services for UK businesses

What is Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)?

SECR is the UK's mandatory greenhouse gas reporting framework. Introduced by the UK government in April 2019, it replaced the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme and now requires large UK organisations to disclose their annual energy use and carbon emissions, plus the energy efficiency actions taken, in their report and accounts. SECR applies to quoted companies, large unquoted companies and large LLPs that are incorporated in the UK. The aim is to make energy consumption and greenhouse gas reporting visible to directors, investors and the public, and to nudge organisations toward better energy management and a real carbon reduction commitment.

The report covers your Scope 1 and 2 emissions, your total energy use in kWh, and a narrative on the energy efficiency measures you have taken. This energy and carbon reporting framework sits alongside your existing reporting and gives a consistent, comparable picture of your carbon footprint year on year. Done well, it builds on the SECR data you already collect rather than bolting on a separate exercise.

Who needs to comply with SECR?

You are required to comply with SECR if you are incorporated in the UK and meet any of the following in the relevant financial year:

• Quoted companies — listed on the LSE Main Market, an EEA exchange, NYSE or NASDAQ. All comply regardless of size.
• Large unquoted companies — those that meet at least two of the following: turnover over £36M, balance sheet over £18M, and 250 or more employees.
• Large LLPs — the same thresholds.

These reporting requirements did not change with the April 2025 company-size uplift. The general definition of a "large" company rose, but the SECR regulations kept their original figures — so an organisation now classed as medium-sized can still fall in scope. It is a trap that catches a lot of finance teams.

You are exempt if you are a low energy user — that is, you used less than 40,000 kWh in the reporting period — or if disclosure would be seriously prejudicial to your interests, or genuinely impractical (both rare and narrow). If your business is part of a group, the parent can report on a consolidated basis.

Here is how the requirement breaks down by organisation type:

Organisation type	Comply with SECR?	Size test
Quoted company	Always	No threshold — all comply
Large unquoted company	If large	Two of: turnover over £36M, balance sheet over £18M, 250+ employees
Large LLP	If large	Same thresholds
Low energy user	Exempt	Under 40,000 kWh in the year

Not sure where you stand? Run our free SECR eligibility checker — four questions, instant answer.

What must be included in the report?

These SECR requirements sit inside your Directors' Report and, as a minimum, you must disclose the following for the reporting year:

• Scope 1 emissions — direct GHG emissions from owned or controlled sources: gas combustion, your owned fleet, process emissions and refrigerant leakage.
• Scope 2 emissions — indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heat and steam (location-based as a minimum).
• Total energy use in kWh across electricity, gas and transport.
• An intensity ratio — emissions against a quantifiable factor you choose (per £1M turnover, per tonne of output, per m² or per FTE).
• A narrative on your methodology and the energy efficiency actions taken in the year.
• Prior-year comparatives from your second filing onwards.

The specialist you are matched with calculates your emissions using the current 2025 DEFRA conversion factors and prepares the SECR disclosures in the format your auditor and Companies House expect — full coverage, with no gaps to query. Try our DEFRA conversion factors tool or our carbon calculator to see the numbers for yourself.

A worked intensity-ratio example

Say your business emitted 480 tonnes CO2e in the year and turned over £24M. Your intensity ratio is 480 ÷ 24 = 20 tonnes CO2e per £1M turnover. Report the same ratio each year and the trend tells investors whether your carbon emissions are falling as you grow. Choosing a ratio that genuinely reflects your activity — output, floor area or headcount — makes year-on-year comparison meaningful rather than noisy.

What the data you will need looks like

Most of the delay comes from chasing data, not writing the report. Pull these together before your specialist starts and the job moves quickly:

• 12 months of electricity and gas bills (kWh, not just £) for every site.
• Fleet fuel records — litres of petrol and diesel, or mileage claims for business travel in employee-owned vehicles.
• Any on-site fuel: heating oil, LPG, generators, refrigerant top-ups.
• Last year's figures, if this is not your first filing, for the comparatives.
• Floor area, FTE count or output volume for your chosen intensity ratio.

How your matched specialist delivers SECR support

This is the SECR reporting support we connect you to — end-to-end SECR support so your finance team is not left translating energy data into a compliant disclosure:

1. Scope and data review — confirm the energy and emissions sources that fall inside your boundary, and flag any data gaps early.
2. Calculation — convert energy usage into GHG emissions using the correct UK carbon factors, covering direct, indirect and any voluntary value-chain emissions.
3. Intensity ratio and narrative — set a meaningful ratio and write the energy efficiency actions narrative the regulations require.
4. Drafting — produce the disclosure in Directors' Report format, ready for your auditor.
5. Sign-off support — answer auditor and director queries so the report is signed off without back-and-forth.

How SECR differs from ESOS

SECR applies alongside the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS), and the two are separate UK regulations that often apply to the same organisation. One is an annual carbon and energy reporting requirement filed in your accounts; ESOS is a four-yearly energy audit. Many businesses in scope for one must also comply with ESOS — see our ESOS reporting page if both apply to you.

Scope 3 emissions — voluntary, but increasingly expected

Scope 3 reporting is voluntary under the scheme, with one exception: business travel in employee-owned vehicles falls inside the boundary. Even so, value-chain emissions are increasingly expected by investors, tender authorities and large customers — especially those filing CDP or CSRD, or building a net zero and carbon reduction strategy. Strong data here also strengthens your wider sustainability reporting framework and supports carbon management decisions. A specialist can screen Scope 3 for materiality and, where it matters to your stakeholders, build a fuller inventory. See our scope 3 emissions consultancy and scope 3 emissions guide.

Why use a vetted specialist rather than your accountant

Many finance teams assume their auditor will handle the carbon numbers. They usually will not — auditors check that a disclosure exists and is internally consistent, not that your emissions were calculated correctly from the right energy data. A specialist who does this every working day knows the current DEFRA factors, the common boundary errors, and what a clean disclosure looks like to Companies House. The result is a report that survives scrutiny, with the energy efficiency narrative the regulations expect, rather than a box-ticking entry that invites questions later.

Every specialist we match you with is IEMA-qualified and vetted before they ever appear in our network. You deal with one named expert, not a call centre.

How matching works

This site is free to use. You tell us about your company — turnover, financial year-end and what you need — and we connect you with a single vetted, IEMA-qualified specialist who handles compliance every working day. They get in touch within one working day to confirm your SECR obligations and give you a fixed-fee, no-obligation quote. You proceed only if it is right for you. Your details go to that one specialist; they are never sold to marketing lists.

Your SECR filing deadline

The report is filed with your annual accounts: nine months after your financial year-end for private companies and LLPs, and six months for public companies. The deadline follows your company type, not whether you are quoted. Calculate your deadline with our free deadline calculator.

A missing or materially deficient disclosure is an offence under the Companies Act 2006, and late filing of the accounts attracts separate Companies House penalties. Getting your data right the first time keeps directors out of trouble and builds a strong foundation for environmental reporting in the years ahead. Beyond compliance, a good report helps you improve energy efficiency and reduce your energy costs — when large UK energy users report on their energy honestly, they tend to find real savings hiding in their consumption, which is the point of the scheme. Read the full guide to SECR penalties.