About TheBenefitsCalculator.co.uk

Why this exists

The headline figure: around £23 billion of UK benefits go unclaimed every year, according to repeated Policy in Practice studies. People who could be receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Council Tax Reduction or Carer's Allowance don't apply because the system is fragmented, the eligibility rules read like tax law, and the existing tools either demand personal information or take twenty minutes to navigate.

We wanted to make the simplest possible answer to "what might I be entitled to?" — a single form, three minutes, a clear number, and links to where you actually apply. No account. No email. No data captured.

What makes us different

• Privacy by construction. Everything you type stays on your device. The calculator runs as JavaScript in your browser, not on a server. We don't collect your name, address, income, savings or anything else — we can't, because there's nothing for us to receive.
• Calmly written. No "are you missing out on £1,000s?!" doom copy. No fake urgency. Just a clear estimate and what to do next.
• Independent. We're not affiliated with HMRC, DWP, GOV.UK, any charity, or any commercial benefits adviser. We refer you to GOV.UK and Citizens Advice because they're who you actually need.
• Open methodology. Every formula we use is documented on the how we calculate page, with links to the official source for every rate.

Who runs the site

TheBenefitsCalculator.co.uk is operated by an independent UK publisher based in England, United Kingdom. The site is built on static HTML, hosted on Cloudflare Pages, and maintained by a small team of people who care about UK welfare policy.

If you've found an error in our rates or want to suggest a guide, please get in touch — corrections are always prioritised.

How we stay accurate

UK benefit rates are uprated once a year in April, when DWP publishes the new figures in Benefit and pension rates on gov.uk. Our build process pulls the new values into the calculator engine for each tax year, and we publish a changelog summarising what moved. The current rates on this site are for the 2025/26 tax year (6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026).

We don't cover every edge case — local authority Council Tax Reduction schemes, for example, vary by council and we estimate a generic figure. The how we calculate page lists every assumption and known limitation.

What we're not

We are not qualified to give individual benefits advice. We don't know your full situation, and we can't represent you in a tribunal. If you need that — and many people do — please contact:

• Citizens Advice — free, independent, and trained to help with benefit claims, appeals and debt.
• Your local welfare rights office, usually run by the council.
• Shelter for housing-specific issues.
• Macmillan for cancer-related benefit advice.
• Scope for disability-related advice.

How we pay for the site

This site is free to use and will always be free. We don't sell your data — we don't have any to sell. To cover hosting and the time it takes to keep guides up to date, we may display unobtrusive Google AdSense advertisements once we reach the audience threshold for approval. When that happens, we'll update our privacy policy and cookie policy to reflect the change.

Get in touch

Questions, corrections, partnership ideas, or just a thank-you note — we'd genuinely like to hear from you. Contact page →