Are you getting what you’re entitled to? How to check your benefits
One of the tips we give on the Money Course is to make sure you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to, to ensure that your income is maximised as far as possible. It can sometimes be hard to know exactly what you are eligible for, depending on your individual circumstances, but luckily there are some excellent tools to help you in this area.
Entitledto and Turn2us both have an online benefits checker tool – just answer some simple questions about your situation and the system will calculate your benefit entitlements and give you more details about what you could be eligible for.
Before using the tool, you’ll need to gather together some information as you’ll need to provide details of your:
savings
income, including your partner’s (from payslips, for example)
existing benefits and pensions (including anyone living with you)
outgoings (such as rent, mortgage, childcare payments)
And council tax
...so that you can get an accurate summary of any benefits you are entitled to claim.
You can also visit www.betteroffcalculator.co.uk/login which is another benefits calculator, and allows you to check how your income might be affected by starting work, your salary going up /down, or changing your hours.
If you have more questions about benefit entitlements, you might like to contact your local Citizens’ Advice Bureau who can help further in this area (or use their main website to get further support and information).
