If you are a low income household, you may be wondering which benefits, grants and social tariffs are out there which you could be claiming. There is a wealth of information available related to benefits which can be confusing and overwhelming – that’s why using our benefits calculator can help you find out quickly and easily.
With eight million people missing an average of £16 billion per year in benefits, the benefits calculator is a fantastic tool to help people find extra benefits to deal with the difficult cost of living.
Maximising benefits through using this online tool also means that your household can increase its income, reduce your expenses and improve financial resilience. To find out some more information about this benefits calculator, carry on reading this blog.
What is a benefits calculator?
How it works
A benefits calculator is a confidential online tool which uses your inputted information to tell you what benefits you could be entitled to. This assessment is entirely free of charge, impartial and quick, meaning you start the journey to claiming your benefits in as little as five minutes.
The questions the benefits calculator will ask will relate to your circumstances, your household situation and your finances. After this, the tool will search across all the benefits and grants you can claim, calculate the amount you can get and finally what the next steps are to receive these missed benefits.
The results of the calculator is a guide to potential benefits entitlement, and will always be dependent on how you answer the questions.
What information you will need
To accurately use the benefits calculator, and to allow it to properly calculate your entitlements, you will need the following information:
- Household information (questions about children, your living arrangements, monthly take-home income of household, post code, spousal finances, household savings)
- Your information (your age, personal take-home salary, contributions, disabilities, if you receive legacy benefits)
Depending on your answers of course, you may be asked extra questions which have not been listed here. It is best to have the information ready before-hand to make sure you are giving correct information. This will help the calculator to offer you the most accurate results possible.
Which benefits do we calculate?
We cover a range of different benefits, from means-tested benefits, both contribution and non-contribution benefits, passported benefits as well as benefits for energy bills and social tariffs.
- Means-tested benefits refers to the payments which are available to households whose income and capital are below the amount the UK government estimates that they require to live on. This covers areas like Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Housing Benefits, Child Tax Credit and more.
- Contribution benefits pertain to those who have paid enough national insurance contributions over a certain period of time. This includes contribution benefits such as Jobseekers Allowance and Employment Support Allowance.
- Non-contribution benefits are available for households with special circumstances or to help with extra costs associated with disabilities (whether that be having, or caring for someone with). For example, this could include benefits like the Carer’s Allowance or Child Benefits.
- Passported benefits are a powerful tool to give extra support to groups who are especially vulnerable, like low-income families with children or older adults. Our benefits calculator encompasses passported benefits such as the Help to Save and many more.
- Finally, benefits for energy bills and social tariffs are government-related grants which help vulnerable households pay for energy bills. This can cover schemes like the Warm Home Discount and more.
How will using the benefits calculator help me?
Increase your monthly income
One of the biggest reasons for using the calculator, is to find out how you could be claiming more benefits and therefore increasing your monthly income. Benefits are useful for a number of reasons, whether that be to help make ends meet in difficult circumstances, to help pay off existing loans and debt, as well as to help you contribute to a pension fund for your retirement.
The benefits calculator can help you know your eligibility for multiple types of benefits like Universal Credit, which aids unemployed or low-salary people to boost their income. Though this is dependent on many personal, financial and household arrangements, Universal Credit could be something you are currently missing out on.
To help with the Cost-Of-Living crisis, specific groups like low and middle-income families and disabled people can also get additional benefits which will be noted through the use of the benefits calculator.
Lower your monthly spend
With the knowledge of what benefits you can receive based on your eligibility, you can take the right steps to claim them and subsequently lower your monthly expenses. This could include things like Housing Benefit giving you a reduction in your Council tax bill, or an SMI (Support for Mortgage interest) which requires you to already be getting a qualifying benefit.
However, before you can start saving money, you need to understand which benefits you are currently permitted to have. Once you use our benefits calculator to retrieve this information, you are then on the right track to take full advantage of what the government can offer you.
Start saving for the future
You never know when your savings will come in handy, so it’s very important that you keep contributing to an account for the future. Benefits like the Help to Save scheme if you are a low income household allows you to build up your savings, with up to £1,200 given over four years to start increasing your savings pot. The same can be said to boost your pension pot too, whilst still enjoying most of your take-home income.
Use our benefits calculator today to help tackle debt
At Angel Advance, we want to equip you with the right tools to help you take control of your debt. That’s why we already have our popular free debt advice tool on our site, and we are now introducing the benefits calculator to give you the best chance of tackling your debt.
Try out our benefits calculator today to check your eligibility and see how much you could be entitled to. It’s free, quick and simple to use, so what are you waiting for? As always, our handy team are always available to help, so if you’d like to get in touch, contact us here.
