86 grants and tax reliefs available to people and businesses covered by Belfast City Council, including national and Northern Ireland-wide schemes.
Department for Communities (Northern Ireland)
Northern Ireland's own workplace support scheme for disabled people and those with a long-term health condition, run separately from the Great Britain Access to Work scheme but with broadly similar aims and support types.
InterTradeIreland
Cross-border sales growth support for Northern Ireland (and Republic of Ireland) SMEs, funding towards a dedicated sales resource or consultancy support to grow cross-border sales across the island of Ireland — up to £17,250 (€21,562), covering up to 50% of eligible costs, e.g. towards the salary of a part-time sales resource for 6–12 months (up to £9,200/€11,500).
HM Revenue & Customs
Lets a business deduct the full cost of qualifying plant and machinery — up to £1 million a year — from taxable profits in the year it's bought, rather than spreading the relief out over several years. Available to sole traders, partnerships, and companies alike, though some rules apply where connected businesses share the same allowance.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
Tax-free weekly benefit for people who have reached State Pension age and need help with personal care or supervision because of a physical or mental disability or illness, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
HM Revenue & Customs
Corporation Tax expenditure credit for UK film, high-end TV, children's TV, and animation production costs, replacing the separate Film Tax Relief, High-End TV Tax Relief, Animation Tax Relief, and Children's TV Tax Relief for new productions. Since 1 April 2025, qualifying independent films with budgets up to £15 million can opt in to an enhanced rate — the Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC) — worth 53% rather than the standard 34%.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
A tax-free lump sum followed by up to 18 further monthly payments for people whose husband, wife, or civil partner has died, replacing the older Widowed Parent's Allowance, Bereavement Allowance and Bereavement Payment. Paid regardless of your own income or savings, based on your late partner's National Insurance record.
HM Revenue & Customs
Adds an extra £3,250 tax-free (2026/27) on top of your standard Personal Allowance if you're registered blind or severely sight impaired. Registration routes differ slightly by nation — England and Wales use blind or severely sight impaired registration, while Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own separate registration processes — but the allowance itself is claimed the same way, by telling HMRC directly.
Local councils (England, Scotland, Wales); Department for Infrastructure (Northern Ireland)
UK-wide disabled parking permit scheme letting badge holders park closer to their destination, including in restricted on-street bays and some pay-and-display bays for free. Not a cash payment, but a real, practical, and widely-used entitlement.
HM Revenue & Customs
Tax relief for employees who have to buy more substantial or expensive equipment for their job than the 'small tools' covered by the flat-rate uniform/tools expense — claimed as a capital allowance on the cost rather than a flat rate.
HM Revenue & Customs
The amount of profit you can make from selling assets like shares or property each year before Capital Gains Tax is due — currently £3,000 for individuals and £1,500 for most trusts. Like the Dividend Allowance, this has shrunk considerably in recent years, down from £12,300 in 2022/23, so gains that would once have been tax-free may now trigger a bill.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
The main benefit for unpaid carers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone receiving a qualifying disability benefit such as PIP, DLA, or Attendance Allowance. Pays £86.45 a week (2026/27 rate) provided your own net earnings stay under the weekly threshold — going even £1 over loses the whole week's award. Receiving it can reduce the disabled person's own means-tested benefits via the 'severe disability premium', so it's worth checking that interaction before claiming.
HM Revenue & Customs / Department for Work and Pensions
A National Insurance credit (not a cash payment) for carers who provide 20+ hours/week of care but don't qualify for, or don't want to claim, Carer's Allowance — protects your State Pension record from gaps caused by caring.
Full Fibre Northern Ireland (FFNI) Consortium — led by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, delivered by all 11 NI councils, supported by Invest NI
Grants for Northern Ireland small and micro businesses and social enterprises to adopt advanced digital technologies — AI, AR/VR and other immersive technologies, IoT, robotics, big data, blockchain, and systems integration — covering £5,000–£20,000 per project at up to 70% of eligible costs. Delivered jointly by all 11 Northern Ireland councils under the Full Fibre Northern Ireland Consortium rather than by any single council, so it is modelled here as one Northern Ireland-wide entry rather than duplicated across council-specific listings.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
Tax-free benefit for children under 16 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who need more looking after or have more difficulty getting around than a child of the same age without a disability or long-term health condition. Claimed by a parent or guardian on the child's behalf.
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Northern Ireland's mandatory adaptations grant, administered by the Housing Executive rather than a council. On a low income you can get grant aid up to £35,000, and in some cases the Housing Executive can increase the award to a maximum of £70,000 — noticeably higher than the caps in England (£30,000) and Wales (£36,000). The work has to be recommended by an occupational therapist, and the route in is your local Health and Social Care Trust rather than the Housing Executive directly. It is means-tested, with a calculation deciding whether you contribute towards the cost.
Land & Property Services (LPS), Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland's equivalent of the Council Tax Disabled Band Reduction Scheme: a 25% reduction in domestic rates for a household specially adapted or with additional features to accommodate a resident's disability. NI has no Council Tax — it uses a separate rates system, hence a structurally different (but functionally similar) scheme.
Student Finance England / SLC (England); Student Awards Agency Scotland — SAAS (Scotland); Student Finance Wales (Wales); Student Finance NI (Northern Ireland)
Extra, non-repayable funding on top of standard student finance for students with a disability, long-term health condition, mental health condition, or specific learning difficulty (e.g. dyslexia, ADHD) that affects their ability to study. Covers specialist equipment (e.g. a computer needed because of the disability), non-medical helpers (note-takers, British Sign Language interpreters, study-skills tutors), extra travel costs where public transport isn't accessible, and other disability-related study costs — but not costs a student would have anyway regardless of their course. The same DSA name and mechanism operates across all four UK nations, but is administered separately with different rate caps by each nation's student finance body.
Local councils (Scotland and Wales); Northern Ireland Housing Executive (Northern Ireland)
Extra, discretionary help towards housing costs for renters already getting Housing Benefit or the Universal Credit housing element — used for shortfalls caused by the bedroom tax or benefit cap, for rent that exceeds the Local Housing Allowance, and for one-off costs like a tenancy deposit, rent in advance, or removal expenses. There is no fixed amount: each award is judged case by case against your circumstances and the administering body's budget, and payments are usually time-limited. In England the statutory scheme was abolished on 1 April 2026 and absorbed into the Crisis and Resilience Fund's Housing Payment strand, so English applicants should look for that instead (often still signposted locally under the old DHP name).
Department for Communities (Northern Ireland)
Northern Ireland's national statutory crisis and hardship scheme, equivalent to England's Crisis and Resilience Fund, Scotland's Scottish Welfare Fund and Wales's Discretionary Assistance Fund — but administered directly by the Department for Communities rather than by local councils, since NI's district councils don't run welfare/crisis-support functions the way English/Scottish/Welsh councils do. It helps with short-term living expenses (e.g. buying food), buying, repairing or replacing basic household items (e.g. a cooker), limited travel expenses, and rent payable in advance to a private landlord (not the Northern Ireland Housing Executive). Support is awarded case-by-case as either an interest-free loan or a non-repayable grant depending on circumstances, rather than a fixed published amount.
HM Revenue & Customs
Lets you receive £500 of dividend income tax-free each year before dividend tax starts to apply — useful if you hold shares directly or run a limited company and pay yourself via dividends. This allowance has been cut sharply in recent years, down from £2,000 and even £5,000 in earlier years, so it's worth less than it used to be.
Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland)
Northern Ireland's equivalent of England's 16-19 Bursary Fund — a weekly payment of £30, paid fortnightly, for 16-19 year-olds from lower-income households staying on at school or moving into further education college, with two additional one-off £100 bonus payments available for meeting attendance/progress targets set by the school or college.
HM Revenue & Customs
Cuts up to £10,500 a year off an eligible small employer's Class 1 National Insurance bill, claimed automatically through payroll software rather than as a separate application. The allowance was increased from £5,000 in April 2025, and the previous £100,000 prior-year employer NI eligibility cap that shut out slightly larger employers was removed at the same time.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
Contribution-based benefit for people whose illness or disability limits their capability for work, paid regardless of savings or a partner's income (unlike the now-closed income-related ESA). Can be claimed alongside Universal Credit.
HM Revenue & Customs
The bigger sibling to SEIS — offers individual investors 30% Income Tax relief on investments in qualifying higher-risk UK small and medium-sized companies, up to £1 million a year (or £2 million for knowledge-intensive companies), plus the ability to defer Capital Gains Tax on other gains by reinvesting them through EIS.
HM Revenue & Customs
Lets qualifying SMEs — companies with gross assets under £30 million carrying out a qualifying trade — grant tax-advantaged share options worth up to £250,000 per employee (with a £3 million company-wide limit) as a way of rewarding and retaining key staff. When the options are exercised, Capital Gains Tax on the gain can be as low as 10% via Business Asset Disposal Relief, rather than standard CGT rates.
Family Fund (registered charity, grant-funded by the UK, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments)
The UK's largest grant-making charity for families on a low income raising a disabled or seriously ill child or young person (up to age 24) — grants cover items like essential equipment, furniture, sensory/play equipment, technology, clothing, and family breaks.
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA)
Northern Ireland's replacement for the EU Basic Payment Scheme: an annual direct area payment to active farm businesses, phased in via the Farm Sustainability Transition Payment (2025) before the full Farm Sustainability Payment took effect from 1 January 2026. The 2026 scheme introduced a Historic Years Exercise (recalculating entitlement history), progressive capping of payments above £60,000, new land eligibility rules, and a move from EU-style cross-compliance to a domestic 'Conditionalities' framework. It sits alongside DAERA's wider Sustainable Agriculture Programme, which also funds environmental top-ups such as the Farming with Nature Transition Scheme (a separate entry in this directory).
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA)
An environmental grant of up to £20,000 per year (no minimum application value) for Northern Ireland farm businesses to carry out practical nature-friendly actions — arable field margins, herbal leys, hedgerow and riparian buffer management among them. Delivered under DAERA's Sustainable Agriculture Programme as the practical successor to the pre-2021 Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS). Following a successful Year 1, the expanded Year 2 (2026) scheme added new actions and eligibility for existing Environmental Farming Scheme agreement holders, but its application window (30 June-31 July 2026) has now closed — this entry is included so it is visible ahead of the next expected window rather than because it can be applied to today.
HM Revenue & Customs
Permanent 100% first-year Corporation Tax capital allowance letting companies deduct the full cost of qualifying new plant and machinery from taxable profits in the year of purchase, rather than spreading relief over several years. Successor to the temporary 130% 'super-deduction' that ran April 2021–March 2023.
Department for Work and Pensions (Social Fund) / Department for Communities (Northern Ireland)
Help from the Social Fund towards the cost of arranging a funeral in England and Wales, for people on a low income who are responsible for a funeral and receive a qualifying benefit. Pays in full any burial fees for a particular plot or cremation fees (including the doctor's certificate), plus up to £1,000 towards other costs such as the funeral director's fees, coffin, or flowers — reduced to £120 towards other costs if the deceased had a pre-paid funeral plan that already covers some items. Administered by the Department for Communities under the same qualifying benefits, rates and structure in Northern Ireland — not a devolved replacement, just a different claim-handling body. Scotland has no Funeral Expenses Payment; Scottish residents instead apply for the structurally different Funeral Support Payment — see the separate entry.
HM Revenue & Customs
Lets a charity reclaim an extra 25p for every £1 you donate, at no extra cost to you, simply by you signing a Gift Aid declaration. If you're a higher or additional rate taxpayer, you can also personally claim back the difference between basic rate and your own tax rate via Self Assessment — a saving basic rate taxpayers don't get, since the charity already reclaims the basic rate portion.
NHS Business Services Authority
Prepaid NHS card scheme helping low-income pregnant women and families with children under 4 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland buy healthy food (milk, fruit, vegetables, pulses, infant formula) and free vitamins.
Department for Business and Trade
A government-subsidised leadership and management course for small business owners and senior managers, delivered through accredited business schools. The government covers around 90% of the course cost, leaving businesses that have been trading for at least a year to pay a fixed £750 contribution.
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Northern Ireland's version of Right to Buy, open to Housing Executive secure tenants. Five years' tenancy earns a 20% discount on the market value, rising 2% for each further year up to a maximum of 60% or £24,000 — whichever is lower, which makes the cash cap the binding limit on most properties. Sheltered housing, group housing schemes and certain small single-storey or ground-floor homes are excluded. The parallel scheme for housing association tenants closed in August 2022, so this is now the only statutory discounted-purchase route for social tenants in Northern Ireland.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
Tax-free weekly payment for people disabled because of an accident at work or a disease caused or made worse by their job, regardless of who was at fault. Scaled by assessed percentage disablement.
Innovate UK (UKRI)
Corrected August 2026: this is not purely in-kind support — current Innovate UK Business Connect guidance describes total project costs of up to £100,000 over a maximum 6-month project, funded via Minimal Financial Assistance or a match-funded grant (combining company and research-partner costs), following a two-stage Expression of Interest → brokerage → Stage 2 proposal process. Gives businesses access to technical expertise and analytical facilities at UK public research institutions to help solve a specific innovation or R&D challenge — useful if your project needs specialist testing, characterisation, or analytical capability that would otherwise be too expensive to access alone.
Innovate UK (UKRI)
Status refresh (August 2026): Innovate UK's own Smart Grants guidance confirms the programme has been paused since January 2025 'to develop tailored support', with a pilot originally expected in spring 2025 — as of this pass there is no confirmed relaunch date, and secondary reporting on a 2026 reopening is conflicting. While live, it backed ambitious, genuinely disruptive R&D projects rather than incremental improvements — any UK-registered business, of any size and in any sector, could lead an application alone or with partners, typically via a feasibility stream (roughly £25,000–£100,000) or a full industrial research/experimental development stream (up to £500,000 for a single applicant, up to £2 million for a collaborative project).
Innovate UK (UKRI)
Updated August 2026: the award value has risen to £75,000 (previously £50,000). An annual competition for women leading a UK-registered business with a genuinely innovative idea, offering £75,000 in grant funding alongside 12 months of bespoke leadership and business support (training, networking, mentoring) rather than cash alone. Designed to address the funding gap women-led innovation businesses often face in accessing early-stage capital; the 2025/26 round required the project to align with advanced manufacturing, digital and technologies, or life sciences.
Invest Northern Ireland (delivered with Innovate NI)
Updated August 2026: the voucher value is now up to £10,000 (previously recorded as £5,000), paid directly to an approved university or college "Knowledge Provider" in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, so a Northern Ireland business or aspiring entrepreneur can access expert help on an innovation project. As of this pass, the application call is closed with no open window. Distinct from the Business Innovation Grant (BIG) also listed in this directory under Invest NI Innovation Grant, since the funding is paid to the Knowledge Provider on the business's behalf rather than directly to the business.
Invest Northern Ireland
Updated August 2026: Invest NI's current small-business innovation product is specifically the Business Innovation Grant (BIG), offering £5,000–£20,000 at up to 70% of eligible costs (30% business contribution) — a different amount/rate than previously recorded here. It helps Northern Ireland sole traders, micro-businesses and SMEs develop and commercialise a new or improved product, process, or service, with successful applicants entering the wider Innovate NI programme for ongoing advice and guidance. Invest NI periodically updates its specific grant products and rates, so it's worth speaking to a business advisor to confirm what's currently on offer for a larger R&D project.
HM Revenue & Customs
Enhanced Corporation Tax deduction — 150% of qualifying costs — for companies that clean up land or buildings acquired from a third party in a contaminated or long-term derelict state, to encourage brownfield redevelopment over greenfield sites. A 'polluter pays' rule means a company can't claim for contamination it caused itself. Loss-making companies can instead surrender the loss for a cash payable credit worth 16% of the qualifying loss; claim via your Corporation Tax return (CT600) for the period the remediation costs are incurred.
HM Treasury / HM Revenue & Customs (accounts held with ISA providers)
A savings account for a first home or for later life that pays a 25% government bonus on whatever you put in — up to £4,000 a year, so up to £1,000 a year of free money, paid monthly rather than at the end. You have to open it before you turn 40 and can keep paying in (and earning the bonus) until you're 50. Used for a first home, the property has to cost £450,000 or less; otherwise the money is locked until you're 60, because taking it out for any other reason costs a 25% withdrawal charge that claws back more than the bonus added. HM Treasury consulted during 2026 on replacing it with a simpler First Time Buyer ISA (bonus paid as a lump sum at purchase, no withdrawal charge, no retirement use) — no launch date has been published, and the consultation confirms LISAs can still be opened and paid into under existing rules until then.
Land & Property Services and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Northern Ireland's narrower, age-restricted counterpart to Great Britain's Council Tax single-person discount: a 20% reduction on domestic rates for homeowners and tenants aged 70 or over who live alone. Unlike the GB discount, it isn't available to sole occupants of any age — only pensioners aged 70+ — reflecting Northern Ireland's structurally different rates system.
HM Revenue & Customs
Lets a lower-earning spouse or civil partner transfer up to £1,260 of their unused Personal Allowance to a partner who's a basic rate taxpayer, worth up to £252 a year off the couple's combined tax bill. You need to be married or in a civil partnership, with one of you earning below the Personal Allowance — and if you've missed out in previous years, you can backdate a claim up to 4 tax years.
HM Revenue & Customs
A distinct, much older allowance from Marriage Allowance, this reduces the tax bill for married couples or civil partners by between £436 and £1,127 a year (2026/27), depending on income. It's only available where at least one partner was born before 6 April 1935 — an increasingly narrow, very elderly group of claimants (at least one partner must now be 91 or over) — so most couples should look at Marriage Allowance instead.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
A state-paid weekly benefit for pregnant women/people who don't qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) — typically because they're self-employed, recently stopped working, or haven't been with their current employer long enough. Pays up to £194.32 a week (2026/27) or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is less, for up to 39 weeks. Administered by the Department for Work and Pensions in England, Scotland and Wales, and by the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland under the same rules, rates and MA1 claim form — not a devolved replacement, just a different claim-handling body. Unlike SMP, Maternity Allowance is tax-free, but it does count as income for means-tested benefits such as Universal Credit, Council Tax Reduction and Housing Benefit.
HM Revenue & Customs
Tax relief for employees who use their own car, van, motorcycle, or bike for business travel and are reimbursed less than HMRC's approved mileage rate (or not reimbursed at all). The self-employed can use the same pence-per-mile rates via 'simplified expenses' as an alternative to claiming actual vehicle running costs.
Motability Operations (charity-overseen, using the mobility component of a qualifying DWP/Social Security Scotland benefit)
Lets recipients of the enhanced/higher mobility rate of a qualifying disability benefit exchange that payment for the lease of an accessible car, scooter, or powered wheelchair — insurance, breakdown cover, servicing, maintenance, and tyres are typically included in the lease.
HM Revenue & Customs
Gives charitable museums, galleries, and their subsidiaries a Corporation Tax expenditure credit worth 45% of qualifying costs for touring exhibitions, or 40% for non-touring ones. It's restricted to charitable companies, wholly-owned subsidiaries of a charity, or companies owned by a local authority that runs a museum or gallery — it's not available to commercial exhibition organisers.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
A contribution-based fortnightly payment for people who are unemployed or working under 16 hours/week and actively looking for work, paid regardless of savings or a partner's income — unlike the now-closed income-based JSA. Can be claimed alongside Universal Credit if you also qualify for that.
NHS Business Services Authority (England, Scotland, Wales); Business Services Organisation (Northern Ireland)
Help with NHS health costs — prescriptions, dental treatment, glasses/contact lenses, wigs and fabric supports, and travel to NHS appointments — for people on a low income who don't already qualify for automatic help via another benefit. The scheme works the same way (an HC1 application leading to an HC2 certificate for full help, or an HC3 for partial help) across all four nations, but its relevance differs sharply by nation: prescriptions are already free for everyone in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, so the scheme mainly matters for prescription costs in England — but dental treatment, optical vouchers, and NHS travel costs are charged in all four nations, so the scheme (under its local branding, e.g. HC2W in Wales) remains genuinely relevant UK-wide for those specific costs.
HM Revenue & Customs
Gives a Corporation Tax expenditure credit worth 45% of qualifying costs to companies producing orchestral concerts — the same rate applies whether the concert tours or not. The concert needs to involve a minimum number of instruments and performers as defined by HMRC, and can't be primarily a recording session rather than a live performance.
HM Revenue & Customs
Cuts the effective Corporation Tax rate to 10% on profits earned from patented inventions and certain other qualifying intellectual property, well below the standard rate. To qualify, your company needs to own or hold an exclusive licence for the qualifying patents and to have carried out genuine development work on them, not simply bought them in.
HM Revenue & Customs
Scheme letting employees donate to charity straight from their gross pay, before Income Tax is deducted, via their employer's payroll — giving automatic tax relief at their marginal rate with nothing to claim back separately.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
The most commonly-cited underclaimed benefit in the UK — tops up the weekly income of people over State Pension age who are on a low income, even if they have savings, a small pension, or own their home. Guarantee Credit brings weekly income up to a minimum level, while Savings Credit (only for those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016) rewards modest retirement savings. Critically, it also acts as a 'gateway' benefit: claiming even a small amount of Pension Credit can unlock a free TV licence (over-75s), help with NHS dental/glasses/travel costs, a Council Tax Reduction, Cold Weather Payments, and Winter Fuel Payment eligibility under the post-2025 means-testing rules — several of which are covered as separate entries in this directory.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
The main disability benefit for working-age people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, paid to help with the extra costs of a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability — split into a daily living component and a mobility component.
HM Revenue & Customs
Lets you earn interest on savings tax-free before Income Tax kicks in, with the amount depending on which tax band you're in: £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers, £500 for higher rate taxpayers, and nothing at all for additional rate taxpayers. It's applied automatically by HMRC through your tax code or Self Assessment, so there's no separate claim to make.
HM Revenue & Customs
Tax relief on professional membership fees or annual subscriptions you personally pay to an HMRC-approved professional body or learned society on HMRC's 'List 3', where membership is relevant to your job. Relief is given at your marginal Income Tax rate — a basic-rate taxpayer effectively saves 20% of the cost, a higher-rate taxpayer 40% — with no fixed cap, though lifetime membership fees don't qualify and the fee must be paid by you rather than reimbursed by your employer. Claim online via the gov.uk P87 service, through Self Assessment, or by post.
HM Revenue & Customs
Covers the first £1,000 a year of property income tax-free — useful for smaller-scale letting like renting out a driveway, garage, or a patch of land, rather than a full tenancy. It can't be combined with claiming your actual expenses on the same income, and can't be used alongside the Rent a Room Scheme for the same property.
HM Revenue & Customs
Gives companies carrying out qualifying R&D a 20% taxable credit against their spend, claimed through their Corporation Tax return. This merged scheme replaced the previously separate SME R&D relief and RDEC schemes for accounting periods starting on or after 1 April 2024, folding what used to be two different routes into one.
HM Revenue & Customs
A more generous alternative to the merged R&D scheme, aimed specifically at loss-making SMEs whose R&D spending is intensive — qualifying R&D expenditure needs to make up at least 30% of total spending. In exchange, it offers a higher payable credit, worth up to 27p per £1 of qualifying spend, on top of an additional deduction.
Land & Property Services and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Northern Ireland's structural equivalent of Council Tax Reduction — Northern Ireland has no Council Tax, using a separate domestic rates system instead, so low-income help is delivered as a Rate Rebate (for owner-occupiers, via Land & Property Services) or through Housing Benefit combined with Rate Relief (for tenants, via the Northern Ireland Housing Executive) rather than through local councils.
HM Revenue & Customs
Lets you earn up to £7,500 a year tax-free from letting out furnished accommodation in your own home — for example a spare room to a lodger. If someone else also receives income from letting the same property (a partner, for instance), the allowance is halved to £3,750 each rather than doubled.
HM Revenue & Customs
Encourages individuals to back genuinely early-stage, high-risk UK start-ups by offering 50% Income Tax relief on investments up to £200,000 a year, plus a Capital Gains Tax exemption on any gains. The relief applies to the investor rather than the company, but the company being invested in has to meet its own conditions — broadly, gross assets under £350,000 and less than 3 years old.
Land & Property Services (LPS), Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland's version of small business rates relief works differently from the rest of the UK, using Net Annual Value (NAV) bands rather than rateable value, with relief tiered between 20% and 50% depending on which band your property falls into. It's typically applied automatically by Land & Property Services based on your property's NAV, so there's usually nothing you need to actively claim.
HM Revenue & Customs
Takes first-time buyers in England and Northern Ireland out of Stamp Duty entirely on the first £300,000 of a purchase, then charges 5% on anything between £300,001 and £500,000 — worth up to £6,250 against the standard rates. It's an all-or-nothing relief: if the price goes even slightly over £500,000 you can't claim it at all and pay the normal residential rates on the whole purchase. Everyone buying together has to be a first-time buyer, so buying with someone who has owned before loses the relief for both of you.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
A regular payment from the government once you reach State Pension age, based on your National Insurance record rather than your income or savings. Most people now get the 'new State Pension' (anyone reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016); people who reached State Pension age before that date remain on the older 'basic State Pension' system, often topped up by Additional State Pension/SERPS or Pension Credit.
HM Revenue & Customs
Capital allowance letting businesses write off the cost of constructing, renovating, or converting non-residential structures and buildings at a flat 3% a year, spreading the full deduction over 33⅓ years rather than claiming it all at once. An enhanced 10% rate (a 10-year write-off) applies to qualifying expenditure in Freeport and Investment Zone tax sites. Available to businesses paying Income Tax or Corporation Tax on construction contracts entered into on or after 29 October 2018, but doesn't cover land cost or residential/dwelling use.
HM Revenue & Customs
Tax-free (and tax-relievable, if unreimbursed) benchmark scale rates for meals bought by mobile or travelling employees while away from their normal workplace on a qualifying business journey, claimable without keeping receipts. Site-based workers without a permanent workplace (e.g. construction workers, lorry drivers) may qualify more routinely since most of their travel counts as business travel.
Department for Work and Pensions
Help with the interest on your mortgage or a home-improvement loan if you're on a qualifying benefit — paid as a loan secured on your home rather than as a benefit, so it's repaid with interest when you sell or transfer ownership. Interest is calculated at a set rate (currently 3.66%) on up to £200,000 of your outstanding loan, or £100,000 if you get Pension Credit; at that rate £200,000 of mortgage produces around £610 a month paid directly to your lender. Waiting periods differ sharply by benefit: Pension Credit claimants can be helped straight away, Universal Credit claimants after 3 months in a row, and income-based ESA claimants after 39 weeks.
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA)
A new (2026) capital grant scheme for on-farm equipment and technology in Northern Ireland, delivered under DAERA's Sustainable Agriculture Programme as the replacement for the now-closed Farm Business Improvement Scheme - Capital (FBIS-C). Backed by a £40 million total budget to be rolled out across several rounds over the next 3-4 years, the first round offers 40% grant support (up to £25,000 per business) on approved equipment and technology investments that improve environmental performance, nutrient efficiency, and on-farm productivity.
HM Revenue & Customs (Childcare Choices)
HMRC tops up money you pay into a dedicated childcare account by £2 for every £8 you put in, worth up to £2,000 a year per child (or £4,000 if your child is disabled). Each parent needs to be earning at least the National Living Wage for around 16 hours a week, but under £100,000 a year — it's a separate scheme from the 30 Hours Free Childcare entitlement and can be used alongside it.
HM Revenue & Customs
Gives theatre production companies a Corporation Tax expenditure credit worth 45% of qualifying costs for touring productions, or 40% for non-touring ones. The production has to meet EEA expenditure and cultural conditions and your company must be responsible for producing, running, and closing it — productions that are mainly promotional, competitive, or commercial (like advertising or sporting events) don't qualify.
HM Revenue & Customs
Covers the first £1,000 a year of trading, casual, or miscellaneous income tax-free, and if you stay under that you don't even need to register for Self Assessment for that income. You can't combine it with claiming your actual expenses against the same income, though — it's one or the other, so it suits people with very low costs more than those with significant outgoings.
HM Revenue & Customs
HMRC-clarified rule (updated 2024) letting self-employed people deduct the cost of training that updates existing skills/knowledge or adds new skills/knowledge relevant to their existing trade as a business expense — reversing HMRC's older, stricter position that 'new skills' training was non-deductible capital expenditure.
Department for Education (delivered by British Council/Ecorys)
Updated August 2026: living cost grant rates have risen since this entry was first written — now £480–£690/month depending on destination group and placement length (was £335–£490), plus a higher rate for disadvantaged students on higher-education placements, and a separate travel grant (£165–£1,360 depending on country) for students from households earning £43,000 or under on eligible short-term programmes. Funds international study and work placements for students, school pupils, and adult learners, replacing the EU's Erasmus+ programme for UK participants since Brexit — placements run 14–365 days between 1 September and 31 August. You can't apply as an individual; it's done through your school, college, university, or employer's own Turing Scheme application.
HM Revenue & Customs
The 'uniform tax rebate' — a flat-rate tax deduction for employees who personally pay to clean, repair, or replace a uniform, protective clothing, or small tools needed for their job, claimable without keeping receipts. The exact amount depends on your occupation/industry.
Department for Work and Pensions (Department for Communities in Northern Ireland)
The main means-tested benefit for working-age people on a low income, whether in or out of work, paid as a single monthly payment (fortnightly by default in Northern Ireland; Scottish claimants can opt into fortnightly payments and direct-to-landlord housing payments) made up of a standard allowance plus extra elements for children, housing costs, caring responsibilities, or limited capability for work. Replaced six legacy benefits — Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Housing Benefit, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit — for new claims; DWP's final managed-migration deadline has now passed, with Income Support and income-based JSA fully closed since 1 April 2026 and most remaining income-related ESA and working-age Housing Benefit claims closed by 30 June 2026 (a few exceptions remain, e.g. supported/temporary accommodation).
Belfast City Council
Capital grants to property owners and prospective occupiers to bring vacant properties back into use across Belfast neighbourhoods outside the city centre, prioritising units with significant frontage on urban centres and arterial routes.
HM Revenue & Customs
Optional simplified VAT accounting scheme for small businesses: instead of reclaiming VAT on every purchase, you pay a fixed percentage of VAT-inclusive turnover to HMRC, reducing admin burden and, for some low-cost-input businesses, the net VAT paid.
HM Revenue & Customs
Businesses with taxable turnover below the VAT registration threshold do not have to register for or charge VAT — a simplicity and, for consumer-facing businesses, potential pricing advantage for small businesses.
HM Revenue & Customs
Zero-rates VAT (a 20% saving) on goods and services designed or adapted for a disabled person's personal or domestic use — e.g. wheelchairs, mobility scooters, hearing aids, adjustable beds, home adaptations like stairlifts/ramps/grab rails, and the installation/repair/maintenance of qualifying goods.
HM Revenue & Customs
Lets an employer pay 0% National Insurance on a qualifying veteran's earnings, up to the Upper Secondary Threshold, for their first 12 months of civilian employment — a direct cost saving designed to encourage hiring ex-forces personnel. The veteran needs to have completed at least one day of basic training in the UK regular armed forces, and this must be their first civilian job since leaving; the relief can even be claimed retrospectively through payroll.
HM Revenue & Customs
Gives video games studios a 34% expenditure credit on qualifying UK development costs, claimed through the Corporation Tax return alongside a British Film Institute cultural test certificate confirming the game counts as culturally British. It replaced the older Video Games Tax Relief for new productions from 1 April 2025, following the same shift to expenditure credits seen across the other creative industry reliefs.
Department for Work and Pensions
Updated August 2026: eligibility is now age-based rather than means-tested via Pension Credit — you qualify if born on or before 27 June 1960 and living in England or Wales during the qualifying week (21–27 September 2026). The amount is £200 or £300 depending on age, but anyone with individual taxable income over £35,000/year has the equivalent amount recovered afterwards by HMRC (via tax code or Self Assessment) rather than being refused the payment upfront. Most pensioners are still paid automatically; some need to make a claim.
HM Revenue & Customs
Gives employees £6 a week (£312 a year) in tax relief without needing to keep receipts, but only if your employer actually requires you to work from home — simply being allowed to or choosing to isn't enough. The rules tightened after the pandemic, so it's worth double-checking you meet the stricter current criteria before claiming.