Applying for benefits if you are self-employed

If you're self-employed can claim Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit or Second Adult Rebate. You can apply online, see:

What you'll need to provide:

  • When you complete the online application form you will be asked to provide information about your income, expenses and pension contributions from your self-employment.
  • You will need to provide evidence of your income, expenses and pension contributions. Ideally this would be your audited accounts from the most recent financial year. 
  • If you've been trading for less than a year you can give us an estimate of your income and expenses. We will ask you for actual figures once your claim has been assessed.
  • We may need extra evidence like receipts for expenses and invoices, if so we will contact you and ask for this. 
  • We cannot use the figures on your tax return as certain expenses taken into account for tax purposes are not allowed for Housing Benefit or Council Tax support purposes. 

How we assess your self employed income:

  • We will work out your self-employed income from your business, after deducting:
    • any allowable expenses
    • tax and national insurance contributions 
    • half of any private pension contributions that you pay
  • If you are in a business partnership we will split the profit equally between the partners, unless evidence is provided that a different percentage should be used.

If you are a childminder:

  • The income of self-employed childminders is assessed in a specific way. We don't take into account any business expenses for self-employed childminders and you do not need to provide evidence of your expenses. 
  • If you are a childminder we work out your self-employed earnings by deducting tax, national insurance contributions and half of your pension contributions from one third of your gross income.

Expenses that can be deducted:

We will only deduct expenses that are purely for business purposes. We will adjust any amounts that include personal expenses (for example internet or vehicle running costs). The expenses that are allowable will depend on the type of business you have, but may include:

  • Accountancy
  • Bad debt costs
  • Bank charges
  • Business rent and rates (including gas, electricity and water)
  • Hire and leasing costs
  • Interest on loan payments
  • Repairs
  • Staff expenses (such as wages)
  • Stationary
  • Stock
  • VAT
  • Vehicle running costs

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Page last updated: 18 July 2024

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