86 grants and tax reliefs available to people and businesses covered by North Ayrshire Council, including national and Scotland-wide schemes.
Department for Work and Pensions
Grant funding practical, workplace-based support for disabled people and those with a long-term health condition — e.g. specialist equipment, a support worker or job coach, BSL interpreters, travel costs, or mental health support — to help them start, stay in, or move into work in England, Scotland or Wales.
Social Security Scotland
Scotland's devolved replacement for Personal Independence Payment — the main disability benefit for working-age adults resident in Scotland, covering the extra costs of a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability.
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.
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.
Social Security Scotland
Scotland's devolved replacement for Healthy Start — a payment card helping low-income pregnant women and families with children under 3 in Scotland buy healthy food, at more generous rates and with materially higher uptake than the rest of the UK.
Social Security Scotland
Scotland's devolved, more generous replacement for the Sure Start Maternity Grant: three separate one-off payments for low-income families as a child grows, rather than England/Wales/Northern Ireland's single £500 payment. Pregnancy and Baby Payment: £796.65 for a first child, or £398.35 for each subsequent child, claimable from the 25th week of pregnancy until the baby turns 6 months old. Early Learning Payment: £331.95 per child, claimable while the child is aged between 2 and 3 years 6 months. School Age Payment: £331.95 per child, claimable during the year the child first becomes eligible to start primary school. Families can apply for all three using the same form; each is assessed and paid separately. (2026/27 rates, confirmed directly on mygov.scot in this pass.)
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.
Social Security Scotland
Scotland's devolved replacement for Carer's Allowance, for unpaid carers resident in Scotland who spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone receiving a qualifying disability benefit. Pays the same £86.45/week base rate as Carer's Allowance, plus a weekly Scottish Carer Supplement worth £11.70/week from 15 March 2026 — a combined maximum around £98.15/week before any extra Carer Additional Person Payment for carers supporting more than one person. Existing Carer's Allowance claimants in Scotland were transferred across automatically; new applicants apply directly to Social Security Scotland.
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.
Social Security Scotland
Scotland's devolved replacement for child Disability Living Allowance — for children and young people under 16 living in Scotland who need extra care, supervision, or help getting around because of a physical or mental condition.
North Ayrshire Council
UK Shared Prosperity Fund grant administered by North Ayrshire Council's Economic Development, Growth and Regeneration team for community and voluntary-sector projects that improve health and wellbeing, reduce crime, tackle homelessness, grow the visitor economy, or improve high streets and town centres.
Local councils (England, Scotland, Wales)
Reduces a household's Council Tax to the rate of the next band down where the property has been adapted or has extra space to meet the needs of a disabled resident (adult or child), so disabled people don't pay more Council Tax for needing a larger home.
Local councils (Scotland), under a national scheme set by the Scottish Government
A means-tested reduction — up to 100% — in a household's Council Tax bill for people on a low income, run under a single national framework set by the Scottish Government (unlike England, where each council sets its own scheme). Administered locally by each council but with consistent national eligibility rules. Recipients typically save around £750 a year on average, and can also get up to 35% off water and waste charges alongside the Council Tax reduction itself.
Local councils (England, Scotland, Wales)
A simple, nationwide 25% discount on Council Tax for anyone who is the only adult (18+) living in their home as their main residence, or who lives with other adults who all count as 'disregarded' (e.g. full-time students). Extremely commonly missed — for example when a partner moves out, an adult child leaves home, or a household member dies and the remaining resident doesn't proactively notify the council that they're now living alone.
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).
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.
Local councils (school pupils) and colleges (Scotland), within a national scheme set by the Scottish Government
Scotland's equivalent of England's 16-19 Bursary Fund — a weekly payment of £30 for 16-19 year-olds from lower-income households who stay on at school or move into further education college, intended to help with the everyday costs of studying (travel, meals, materials). Paid fortnightly and subject to maintaining attendance and agreeing a learning plan with your 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.
Scottish Government (Rural Payments and Services)
Supports capital investment by Scottish food and drink businesses that process agricultural produce into food and drink products, funding projects that improve processing capability, capacity, productivity or efficiency. Grants of up to £400,000 are available, covering up to 40% of eligible project costs.
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.
Scottish Government / Rural Payments and Services
Scotland's capital grant scheme for farm business investment, helping active farmers and crofters improve business efficiency, environmental performance, and resilience to climate change — funding items such as improving soil quality, creating hedgerows, and upgrading livestock management infrastructure. Round 1 ran 14 July-22 August 2025 and is now closed; a second round is confirmed to open from winter 2026, with at least 725 farming and crofting businesses expected to share an indicative £14.25 million budget. Enhanced support rates are planned for new entrants to farming (up to 80% of eligible costs) and Highlands and Islands-based businesses (up to 60%), alongside standard rates for other applicants.
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.
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.
Home Energy Scotland (Energy Saving Trust, funded by Scottish Government)
Helps Scottish households pay for renewable heating and energy efficiency improvements, combining a grant of up to £9,000 with an optional interest-free loan of up to £7,500 on top. Caps vary depending on the specific measure being installed and whether the property is rural or off the gas grid — Home Energy Scotland's free advice service can confirm what applies to you before you apply.
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.
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.
Revenue Scotland
Scotland's equivalent of first-time buyers' stamp duty relief: it lifts the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax nil-rate threshold from the standard £145,000 to £175,000, relieving up to £600 of tax. Unlike the England and Northern Ireland version there's no upper purchase price at which it disappears — buy above £175,000 and you still get the benefit of the raised threshold on the portion below it. Almost 105,000 first-time buyers had used it by the end of November 2025, and the Scottish Budget 2026-27 confirmed both the relief and the underlying rates and bands continue unchanged.
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.
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.
North Ayrshire Council
Flexible grant and consultancy funding from North Ayrshire Council's Business Team to help new businesses, existing businesses, and businesses relocating to North Ayrshire survive and grow, assessed case-by-case in line with the council's Community Wealth Building aspirations.
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.
Social Security Scotland
Scotland's devolved replacement for Attendance Allowance — a tax-free weekly payment for people over State Pension age who need help with personal care or supervision because of a disability, long-term condition, or terminal illness.
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.
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.
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.
Scottish Enterprise
Funds larger-scale research and development projects for Scottish businesses, covering 35–50% of eligible costs for SMEs (25–40% for large companies) working independently, with additional support available for consortium projects. Aimed at significant innovation with clear commercial prospects rather than routine product updates, and pitched at a larger scale than the smaller SMART: SCOTLAND grant also listed in this directory — the minimum grant is £250,000, reflecting an expected minimum project spend of around £1 million.
Scottish Government / Rural Payments and Services
Scotland's post-Brexit replacement for EU Common Agricultural Policy support (including the Basic Payment Scheme), delivered under the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 as a four-tier framework: Tier 1 (Base) provides direct area payments to active farmers and crofters, initially continuing to use the existing Basic Payment Scheme mechanism while it is developed further; Tier 2 (Enhanced) is being phased in from 2026, building on the former greening top-up with additional climate/nature requirements; Tier 3 (Elective) funds targeted actions — habitat creation, species protection, agroforestry, organic conversion — currently delivered mainly through the existing Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS); and Tier 4 (Complementary) funds training, advice, and community-led rural development. Around 70% of funding continues to flow through direct payments, giving farmers five years of relative certainty under the plan.
Scottish EDGE (funded by the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise and private-sector partners)
Scotland's largest business funding competition, run in annual rounds and offering £10,000–£150,000 in grant/loan funding across several award categories: Main EDGE for early-stage companies and social enterprises (up to £100,000, split grant/loan), Young EDGE for founding teams entirely under 30 (up to £15,000, grant-only), Wild Card EDGE for pre-trading individuals, sole traders and partnerships, and a dedicated Social Enterprise EDGE category. Round 27 (2026) awarded £1.5 million across 31 winners.
Local Scottish councils (statutory scheme)
Scotland's national statutory equivalent to England's Household Support Fund/Crisis and Resilience Fund — a distinct scheme with its own legal basis, administered locally by every Scottish council rather than a single national body. Crisis Grants cover urgent short-term needs (emergency food, fuel, clothing); Community Care Grants cover longer-term needs (furniture, white goods) for people leaving care or setting up a home.
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.
Local councils (Scotland)
Scotland's own business rates relief for small properties, running on different thresholds from the equivalent England scheme. For a single property, 100% relief applies up to a £12,000 rateable value, tapering down to 25% at £15,000 and to 0% at £20,000. Ratepayers with multiple properties get a different taper: 100% relief where combined rateable value is up to £12,000, 25% relief on individual properties valued at £15,000 or less, and a taper to 0% for individual properties between £15,001 and £20,000, provided the combined rateable value of all properties doesn't exceed £35,000.
Scottish Enterprise
Status refresh (August 2026): SMART: SCOTLAND is confirmed on hold — Scottish Enterprise's own page is titled 'SMART: SCOTLAND grants - on hold' and states it is not currently accepting new applications, with a replacement fund due to launch in late autumn 2026. While it was live, it funded Scottish SMEs (up to 249 employees) to carry out either a technical feasibility study or a full R&D project developing an innovative new product or service, covering up to 70% of eligible costs for small enterprises or up to 60% for medium enterprises. Feasibility studies could receive up to £100,000 over 6–18 months; details of the successor fund's amounts and scope have not yet been published.
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.
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).
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 Energy Security and Net Zero / energy suppliers
Takes £150 off the electricity bill of eligible low-income households each winter, applied as a one-off annual credit. Most recipients qualify automatically through means-tested benefits data-matching, but there's also a separate disability-related route (for example via PIP, DLA, or Attendance Allowance) alongside the main low-income criteria — some suppliers still require you to apply, so it's worth checking with yours each winter.
Social Security Scotland
Scotland's alternative to the Cold Weather Payment — instead of being triggered by a specific cold snap, it's a fixed annual payment of £59.75 paid once each winter to low-income households, regardless of how cold the weather actually gets. Like its England/Wales counterpart, it's paid automatically to people already receiving a qualifying benefit, with no separate application needed.
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.