Leyton opens professional services hub in Belfast

Leyton UK & Ireland has opened a professional services hub in central Belfast and plans to create 12 jobs over the next two years.

The consultancy has taken space in the Metro Building on Donegall Square East, with support from Invest Northern Ireland. The new team will work across areas including research and development tax credits, capital allowances and energy-related tax relief.

Leyton’s Belfast office will provide specialist advisory capacity rather than operate as a general administrative centre. The business serves companies across the UK and Ireland and expects the new operation to support clients both inside and outside Northern Ireland.

Belfast has attracted sustained investment from professional services, financial services, technology and legal businesses, supported by its graduate population and lower operating costs than several larger UK cities.

Consultancies also have a growing need for specialist staff as areas such as innovation tax relief become more technically demanding. HMRC has tightened scrutiny of research and development claims in recent years, increasing the importance of evidence around qualifying activity and expenditure.

Companies remain responsible for the accuracy of their claims even where external advisers prepare or support submissions. That places greater emphasis on the technical knowledge and quality controls used by consultancy teams.

Leyton combines tax expertise with sector-specific assessment of innovation activity, placing the Belfast recruits inside advisory work where the facts of a client’s projects can be as important as knowledge of the tax rules themselves.

The 12 planned roles are limited in scale, but they add specialist employment to a regional business services sector that has increasingly competed for higher-value functions rather than routine back-office work.

Invest Northern Ireland has used employment support and inward investment programmes to encourage businesses to establish operations capable of serving markets beyond Northern Ireland. Exportable professional services fit that model because local teams can support customers across several jurisdictions without requiring a large physical footprint.

Leyton already operates internationally, so the Belfast office can draw on established systems and client relationships while building local expertise. Recruitment will take place over two years rather than through a single intake.

The pace of further expansion will depend on the volume of advisory work the hub attracts once the initial team is established. The office gives Leyton additional capacity in the UK and Ireland while adding another specialist employer to Belfast’s professional services market.