The UK government provides a lot of funding support to those that are self employed business owners.

A lot of this funding comes from self employed government grants, government loans and various tax breaks and credit options.

As a British small business, you may be entitled to various self employed government grants and other forms of government funding.

How to apply for self employed grant

There are a number of government grants that the British government provides to those self employed.

These government grants vary in terms of what the funds can be used for, which may include grants to help pay for wages, to hire and train staff, to purchase needed machinery, tools and equipment, for capital investments and more. The self employed grants are created to help you as a self employed individual to cover your business startup or expansion costs.

While not everyone that is self employed can benefit from a direct grant, it is worth seeing all that it takes to apply.

To claim for the self employed grant options for your business, you first have to ensure you have a solid business plan.

Your business plan should contain the needed information that forms a business model on paper and can show your growth strategy, your marketing plan, contains your financial forecast and more.

Generally, if you are applying for any government grant, you want to try and see why the grant has been created in the first place.

Knowing the purpose of the available government grant will help you aim your applications towards appealing to those funding needs better.

Once your business plan is in place, using the Funding Database will help you locate all available self employed grant options.

Covid and grants for the self employed

With the pandemic, the UK government unlocked many government funding options – including various self employed govenrment grants extended to assist with those impacted by the covid situation.

As a small business owner, if your business has been impacted by Covid, you may be eligible for various self employed grants.

Take some time to speak to a funding expert and see what may be available to you. You can access the Funding Database directly here and get help, step by step with the grants search.

While the pandemic is still active, many of agencies extended the self employed government grants.

If your small business was not impacted by covid, and you have a new startup business, you may be eligible for various self employed grants.

Is the self employed grant taxable?

Any government funding obtained, is considered taxable income/revenue for the business.

In certain situations, only government loans (if paid off within the year), and various tax credits – are not taxable.

However, if you claim for the self employment grant and obtain a grant for your business, this will have to be reported as income for the business – and will be taxable.

Is there more than one self employed grant in the UK?

There are many funding programmes offered by the UK government to small business owners. This includes those who are just starting our, as well as those looking to expand their existing businesses.

The various funding options come from different levels of the government, including the local, regional and national levels.

These options will include:

Government grants, which are also referred to the self employed grants.

These government grants also come in different forms:

• Direct grants
• Non-repayable government grants
• Partial contribution grants
• One time and renewable grants

To see which grants your business may be eligible for, use the Funding Database.

Government loans, which are not as good as the grants,  but offer a business a way to get funds quickly. Especially if you are not eligible to claim the self employed grants.

The various government loans offered can come as:

• Low interest loans
• No interested government loans
• Partially repayable loans
• Guaranteed government loans

While loans may not be your preferred option in comparison to the self employed grants, it may be the best way to go as an alternative.

In addition to the government grants, the government loans, many small businesses skip over the very valuable tax breaks and credits.

Tax breaks and credits help after the fact – but they are used to reduce your costs and are extremely important as a combination of government funds.