For those of us self-employed and freelancer types who are 'of a certain generation', I recently spotted an unexpected and rare offer of support from the government: free business travel! (of a sort...)
Based on current age thresholds for when I may be able to start to claim a state pension and when I'll be eligible to apply for a free bus pass, I'll be able to enjoy at least 7 years of travel by bus without cost to get to meetings with clients, venues to deliver workshops in, etc before I have the 'can I afford to stop working now' conversation with myself.
Now, some of you will know that as an unpaid carer, nearly all of the work I deliver is home-based/remote but based on a potential 2 return trips by bus each month, and that fares remain capped at £3 per trip, this could work out to support equivalent to roughly £1,500 over these 7 years. (See below for the sums behind this figure).
That may not sound much, but when you're self-employed and an unpaid carer who isn't eligible for any support as such, every little helps!
the sums:
based on my current working arrangements (which reflect most of my delivering being WFH due to ongoing unpaid caring responsibilities) = x4 bus trips pm, current capped at £3 = £12 x 12 = £144 x 7 = £1,008
Likely current projected inflation over coming 10 years at the time of this blog post (spring 2026), equated to when I'd currently qualify for this magic bus card (and assuming that bus fares caps remains) = 34%, so that £1,008 becomes £1,351.