This is money that is already yours and mostly goes unclaimed. Incentives, credits and public programmes exist because somebody wanted businesses to do a thing you may already be doing, and the only reason most small businesses never take them is that nobody tells you and the forms look like they are for larger companies.

It is also one of the few places where an afternoon of admin produces a real number rather than a marginal improvement. A rebate on equipment you were buying anyway, or a credit for a person you already hired, is money with no trade-off attached.

Know that almost all of these are time-limited in one of two ways: a programme window that opens and closes, or a claim period that only reaches back so far. Something you qualified for two years ago and never claimed is usually gone, and something you qualify for today usually will not wait.

Have your numbers to hand. Most of these turn on headcount, payroll, equipment purchases or energy use, and the questions are easier when the figures are in front of you.