501 grants and tax reliefs available across England, from national UK-wide schemes to your local council's own schemes.
Schools, colleges, and training providers (England), funded via the Department for Education / Education and Skills Funding Agency
Financial support for 16-19 year-olds (or up to 25 with an Education, Health and Care Plan) studying at a publicly-funded school, college, or training provider in England, to help with course-related costs like clothing, books and equipment, transport, and lunch on study days. Split into a 'vulnerable bursary' (up to £1,200/year, for students in narrowly-defined vulnerable groups — e.g. in care, care leavers, receiving Income Support or Universal Credit in their own right, or receiving Disability Living Allowance/PIP plus Employment and Support Allowance) and a discretionary bursary (no set amount, awarded by the school/college itself based on individual financial need and available funds) for everyone else from a lower-income household.
Department for Education / HMRC (Best Start in Life)
Updated August 2026: the childcarechoices.gov.uk site now redirects permanently to beststartinlife.gov.uk — officialUrl updated accordingly. Gives working parents in England 30 hours a week of government-funded childcare for 38 weeks a year, for children from the term after they turn 9 months old right through to starting school — worth roughly £3,000 to £7,500 a year per child depending on how it's used. Each parent needs to be earning at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the National Minimum Wage, and each parent's own adjusted net income must stay under £100,000 a year (assessed individually, not as a household total); eligibility has to be reconfirmed every 3 months.
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.
Exeter City Council
A discretionary top-up available from Exeter City Council for residents whose disabled facilities adaptation works cost more than the mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant cap of £30,000. Sits alongside the standard national Disabled Facilities Grant, covering the same range of adaptations (level-access showers, stairlifts, ramps, widened doorways, and similar), subject to available council funds.
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 Education / Education and Skills Funding Agency
Pays employers £1,000 for each eligible apprentice they take on, aimed at encouraging businesses to hire apprentices who may otherwise be harder to place — specifically those aged 16–18, or 19–24 year olds with an Education, Health and Care Plan or who have been in local authority care. It's paid automatically once the apprentice's training is confirmed as underway, so there's no separate application to make.
Wiltshire Council
Wiltshire Council's Community Grants scheme, offering capital funding of up to £5,000 (more in exceptional cases) via each of the county's local Area Boards, to help not-for-profit organisations and community groups provide facilities and equipment for locally important projects.
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.
Brentwood Borough Council
Brentwood Borough Council's £50,000 Beyond the High Street Grant Fund, offering grants of up to £2,000 to businesses in shopping parades, villages and other commercial areas outside Brentwood town centre, Shenfield High Street and Ingatestone High Street, for shopfront repairs, repainting, signage, external lighting, guttering, and accessibility improvements (ramps, widened doorways, handrails, power-assisted doors).
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.
Ofgem (on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Covers £7,500 of the cost of swapping a fossil fuel boiler for a low-carbon alternative — an air source heat pump, ground source heat pump, or, in limited cases, a biomass boiler — in England and Wales. Available to domestic properties and some small non-domestic ones with an existing fossil fuel heating system; your installer applies for the grant on your behalf as part of the quote.
Eastleigh Borough Council
Eastleigh Borough Council grants of up to £1,000 for non-profit-making community groups, voluntary organisations, trusts, friendly societies, social enterprises and community interest companies with charitable objectives, prioritising projects that promote health, prosperity, the environment, or community development and involvement. Some local-area committee rounds (e.g. Hedge End, West End and Botley) run to specific windows; others (Bursledon, Hamble-le-Rice & Hound, Chandler's Ford & Hiltingbury) are open year-round.
West Northamptonshire Council (in partnership with Brackley Town Council)
West Northamptonshire Council grants, delivered in partnership with Brackley Town Council, of up to £10,000 (excluding VAT) for independent retail businesses with a shopfront in Brackley's designated town centre — 80% council funding for shop frontage/exterior improvements (20% applicant match) or 50% council funding for interior improvements and new services (50% applicant match).
South Norfolk Council
South Norfolk Council business grant for very early-stage businesses, covering 50% of eligible costs up to a maximum grant of £1,000 (minimum eligible spend £2,000). Continues, from the council's own budget for 2026/27, a support programme previously funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund from 2023 to March 2026. Covers costs such as equipment, rent, consultancy, training, software, website design, signage, professional memberships, and commercial fit-out.
Elmbridge Borough Council
Elmbridge Borough Council's Business Boost grant, part of a wider suite (alongside Start-up Boost, Digital High Street Boost, Green Business Boost, and Skills Boost) that has collectively invested over £1 million in local businesses. Supports independent traders and local businesses with shopfront improvements, bringing empty units back into use, growing online, and adapting to changing customer needs.
Wyre Council
Wyre Council business grant scheme offering up to £5,000 per eligible business from a £50,000 fund running over two years, supporting local start-ups and established businesses to invest in new plant, equipment or machinery, premises improvements and energy efficiency upgrades, training and accreditation, broadband upgrades, and marketing or website development.
Mansfield District Council
Mansfield District Council's business grant programme, now covering two schemes: a Start-Up Grant for pre-start and new businesses trading less than 12 months, and a Growth Grant for established businesses trading more than 12 months seeking to improve productivity, innovation, or sustainable growth. Follows on from a UKSPF-funded programme that awarded 25 local businesses over the prior year; specific grant amounts and match-funding rates are no longer published on the council's page and are instead confirmed case-by-case via a dedicated Business Adviser.
Hyndburn Borough Council
Hyndburn Borough Council grants supporting local entrepreneurs and established businesses to invest, diversify, or grow — up to £2,000 for start-ups and up to £5,000 for existing businesses based in the borough. Runs on a rolling basis, subject to available council funding, following on from a previous UKSPF-supported round.
Burnley Council
Burnley Council grants of up to 20% of eligible capital investment costs, capped at £20,000, for Burnley-based or relocating businesses undertaking a capital project of at least £25,000. Requires an initial discussion with the council's Economy & Growth Team before a formal application, including three quotations, business accounts, a project plan, and a cash-flow forecast.
Hartlepool Borough Council
A Hartlepool Borough Council scheme, in partnership with the Hartlepool Board, offering capital grants of up to £20,000 to businesses on York Road and Raby Road to fund shopfront improvements, signage, reinstatement of traditional building features, security shutters, and other external cosmetic enhancements. Opened for submissions 1 April 2026 and funded by the government's Pride in Place Impact Fund.
Test Valley Borough Council
A flat £750 grant from Test Valley Borough Council to help new business start-ups located in the borough get established, paid once the business has been trading for at least six months. Aimed at owner-operated new start-ups rather than businesses continuing under new management or a new name/structure.