SECR for LLPs: what's different

A large LLP reports under SECR in a separate energy and carbon report, not a directors' report. It applies once the LLP meets two of three tests: more than 250 employees, over £36 million turnover or over £18 million balance sheet. The members approve the report, a designated member signs it, and it goes to Companies House with the accounts.

Updated 19 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Figures use the official UK government conversion factors and are checked against the current gov.uk guidance.

The short version

Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) covers LLPs as well as companies, and the figures it asks for are the same. What differs is the paperwork. A company puts its energy and carbon disclosures in the directors' report. An LLP has no directors' report, so the 2018 regulations created a separate document for it: the energy and carbon report. Our SECR guide covers the contents in full. This post covers what is specific to LLPs.

Which LLPs are caught

The thresholds are written into the LLP rules themselves, so they did not change when the Companies Act size limits rose in April 2025. An LLP is exempt in a year when it meets two or more of these conditions, and caught when it does not:

turnover of not more than £36 million
balance sheet total of not more than £18 million
not more than 250 employees

As with company size tests, there is a two-year rule. Once the LLP has been exempt, it stays exempt until it misses the conditions in two years running. A parent LLP is tested on the whole group's figures, with gross limits of £43.2 million turnover and £21.6 million balance sheet if you work from the figures before group adjustments.

Counting employees. The headcount is the monthly average of people employed under contracts of service. Members are not normally employed on those terms, so a firm with 60 partners and 230 staff is usually counted at 230. If some members are treated as employees, ask your accountant how they count. Our SECR checker has an LLP option and takes under a minute.

What is different for an LLP

	Large unquoted company	Large LLP
Where it goes	Directors' report	A separate energy and carbon report
Who approves it	The board	The members
Who signs it	A director or the company secretary	A designated member, on behalf of all the members
Extra content	None beyond the directors' report	Names of everyone who was a member during the year, and of the signing designated member
Filing	With the accounts at Companies House	Delivered by the designated members with the accounts at Companies House
"Seriously prejudicial" exemption	In the directors' opinion	In the members' opinion

The energy and carbon report also has to be sent out with the accounts to anyone entitled to them, and it can be revised if it turns out to be defective, just like the accounts. If the LLP doesn't prepare one, every member who failed to take reasonable steps to make sure it was done commits an offence, and the penalty is a fine.

The largest LLPs carry more. An LLP with more than 500 employees and turnover over £500 million, which is not traded or a bank, must also put climate-related financial disclosures in its energy and carbon report: how it governs, assesses and manages climate risks, and the targets and measures it uses. Our post on climate risk explains the language.

What goes in it

The content follows the rules for large unquoted companies:

UK energy use in kWh from gas, purchased electricity and transport fuel, including business mileage in employees' own cars where you pay for the fuel
The emissions from that energy, in tonnes of CO2e
At least one intensity ratio, such as tonnes per £1 million of fee income
The methodology
The principal energy efficiency measures taken in the year
From the second year, the same figures for the previous year

You can leave out energy used outside the UK. If some of the information is not practical to obtain, say what is missing and why. If the LLP used 40,000 kWh or less in the UK, you can omit the figures and say that is the reason.

A worked example

An illustrative professional services LLP with 280 employees and £42 million of fee income has one office building. In 2026 it uses 400,000 kWh of electricity and 150,000 kWh of gas, and staff drive 60,000 business miles in their own cars.

Source	kWh	tCO2e
Natural gas	150,000	27.35
Electricity (location-based)	400,000	52.38
Business mileage in employees' cars	68,963	16.02
Total	618,963	95.75

Its intensity ratio is 2.28 tCO2e per £1 million of fee income. The figures use the 2026 government conversion factors, and the mileage is converted to kWh with the same factor set. For an office-based firm, electricity is usually the biggest line, so it is also where efficiency work shows up most in next year's comparison.

Groups with LLPs in them

A parent LLP that prepares group accounts must prepare a group energy and carbon report covering the undertakings in the consolidation. A subsidiary LLP doesn't need its own report if it is included in a parent's group report for a year ending at the same time or earlier. The same works the other way: an LLP owned by a company can rely on the parent company's group directors' report, provided that report includes the full disclosures.

What might change

The government published a post-implementation review of SECR in May 2026, which found room to simplify it, and corporate reporting as a whole is out for consultation until 30 November 2026. Nothing has changed yet for current reporting years. Our post on SECR reform tracks where that has got to, and our SECR for small companies post covers firms below the thresholds.

How Carbon Recycling helps

Carbon Recycling's SECR report produces everything the energy and carbon report needs from your bills and mileage: energy in kWh by source, emissions by scope, the intensity ratio, last year's comparison, a methodology statement and your efficiency narrative, with every figure traced to the government factor behind it. It flags when your UK energy use is under 40,000 kWh. Add the list of members and the designated member's signature when you paste it into the LLP's report. The same data builds a Carbon Reduction Plan if you bid for public contracts.

Frequently asked questions

Does SECR apply to LLPs?

Yes, to large LLPs. An LLP must prepare an energy and carbon report if it meets two or more of: more than 250 employees, turnover over £36 million, or a balance sheet over £18 million. In practice that is two of the three tests, and the exemption only falls away once the LLP has been over the line for two years in a row.

Do partners count as employees for the SECR test?

The test counts the average number of people employed by the LLP under contracts of service. Members are not normally employed under contracts of service, so they usually fall outside the headcount, but if some of your members are treated as employees, check with your accountant.

Where does an LLP's SECR report go?

In a separate document called the energy and carbon report, because LLPs don't prepare a directors' report. The members approve it, a designated member signs it, and the designated members deliver it to Companies House with the accounts.

What must an LLP's energy and carbon report contain?

The names of everyone who was a member during the year, the name of the designated member who signs it, UK energy use in kWh, the emissions from gas, transport fuel and purchased electricity, at least one intensity ratio, the methodology, the main energy efficiency measures, and from the second year the previous year's figures.

What if the LLP used less than 40,000 kWh?

If the LLP used 40,000 kWh of energy or less in the UK in the year, it can leave out the figures, as long as the report says that is why. It still has to prepare the report itself.

Plastic Packaging Tax: what it is and how it links to carbon
The 2026 rate, who registers, the April 2027 changes and where plastic packaging sits in your Scope 3 footprint.
Packaging EPR: what small producers have to report
Who counts as a small producer under packaging EPR, what to report by 1 April, the fees, and how the data links to your carbon footprint.
ISO 14064-1 explained: do you need it?
The ISO greenhouse gas inventory standard in plain English: its six categories, how it compares with the GHG Protocol, and when you need it.

All posts on this topic →

Get your figures and reports done in an afternoon

Add a year of bills and Carbon Recycling produces your footprint, PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan and SECR report, with every figure traced to its government factor. Prices are on the pricing page, from £59 a month + VAT.

Start free trial See prices

14 days free. No card needed.