Is an Access to Work grant taxable income for an employee or self-employed person in 2026/27?

Full answer

An Access to Work grant is a payment from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that helps disabled people, or those with a physical or mental health condition, stay in or start work. It typically covers things like special equipment, support workers, a job coach, taxi fares where public transport is not possible, and communication support at interviews. For 2026/27 these grants remain non-taxable: they are not earnings or trading income, so you do not pay Income Tax or National Insurance on them and they are not reported as income on a Self Assessment return or through PAYE. This treatment is the same across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including under the Scottish and Welsh income tax systems, because the grant simply is not income for tax purposes anywhere in the UK. For an employee, the grant is usually paid either to you to reimburse costs you have met, or directly to a provider. It is not pay, so it never enters your gross salary, your tax code, or your take-home calculation. A worker earning, say, £30,000 still has a £12,570 Personal Allowance and pays 20% Income Tax plus 8% employee NI between £12,570 and £50,270 on the salary alone; the Access to Work money sits entirely outside that. For the self-employed, the position is important: because the grant is not taxable income, you must not include it in your turnover. The flip side is that you generally cannot also claim the same disability-related cost as a business expense, since the grant has already covered it. Only any portion you genuinely fund yourself, and that is wholly and exclusively for the business, would be deductible. If you claim the £1,000 trading allowance instead of actual expenses, the grant still stays out of your income figure. Keep records showing what each payment reimbursed.

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