Increasing your income - Crosslight’s top tips

 Work

• Consider asking for a payrise – look around for equivalent jobs being advertised and use that as a benchmark to back up your request 

• Can you work overtime, or take on a second or weekend job? 

• Think about monetising your hobbies or talents – could you get paid for teaching a language, a skill, or selling things that you make, bake or create? 

• Explore a site such as Task Rabbit to see all the things you could get paid for on an ad-hoc basis – from office admin or ironing to building flat-pack furniture or cleaning windows – you can even get paid for queuing for someone else! 

• Try a Job Club such as CAP or Re-Work for support with looking for employment and getting ready to (re)enter the workplace 

• Check your tax code is correct if you’re employed - if it’s not, you could be owed a rebate 

• Download the HMRC app to check details of your tax, National Insurance, state pension and benefits etc.

• Thinking about becoming self-employed? Check out Money Helper’s guide for useful information, tips and links. We’ve also put together a blog with some suggestions of support and resources.

• Consider taking free classes or courses to enhance your skills, or learn new ones, which could get you a promotion or a different job, in your existing sector or a different area – try learning a language with DuoLingo, check out a wide range of courses available on OpenLearn (the Open University’s free platform), or get to grips with coding on Code Academy or General Assembly’s intro section. 
  FutureLearn also offers free access to many of their paid-for courses for a short time (e.g. one month), excluding a certificate to prove you’ve done it, if that doesn’t matter to you. 
  There’s also a free 8-week fiction writing course, delivered via podcast, or Digital Garage, by Google, which focuses specifically on digital skills. 

Home

• If you have a spare room, you could consider renting it out to a lodger – find out more on the Citizens’ Advice website 

• Or perhaps you have a parking space or driveway that you could rent out, especially if you live near a town or station – try companies such as Just Park 

• Investigate energy-saving grants for the home if you own your home or have the landlord’s permission (free insulation and boiler grants are available to those on benefits under the government’s new ECO scheme (‘the Great British Insulation Scheme’), and there is up to £6k available for those looking to replace their existing boiler with a heat pump or biomass boiler – details here: https://www.gov.uk/apply-boiler-upgrade-scheme) 

Online

• Consider cashback websites such as Topcashback or Quidco – of course this only works if you actually needed (and had budgeted for) the item you got cash back on! 

• Try online money-making opportunities such as undertaking surveys, taking part in focus groups, watching videos, selling photos and more – Swagbucks is a popular option here. Money Saving Expert has more information on this topic.  

• Check for money in old bank accounts, investments, pensions etc. (both yours or deceased relatives) - start with the institution itself if you know it, but you can also use the following websites to search:  

  • Bank & Building Society accounts: www.mylostaccount.org.uk/search 

  • Pensions: www.gov.uk/find-lost-pension  

  • Premium Bonds: https://www.nsandi.com/files/asset/pdf/tracing-service-request-form.pdf 

  • Child Trust Funds: https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds/find-a-child-trust-fund & https://findctf.sharefound.org/ 

  • Investments: https://www.theia.org/unclaimedassets

  • Insurance policies: https://www.abi.org.uk/data-and-resources/tools-and-resources/tracing-an-insurance-policy/ 

  • Combination of the above: www.gretel.co.uk 

  • Claim on the estate of someone who died intestate: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/unclaimed-estates-list 

Family

• If you have non-dependent children living with you, consider asking them to contribute to household costs if they earn a wage or claim benefits 

Selling

• Sell old electronics such as laptops, mobiles etc. to retailers such as CEX, Sell My Mobile and Music Magpie 

• Try Vinted, Depop, eBay, Nextdoor, Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree to sell unwanted clothes, shoes and household items – some offer local collection and others require items to be posted, so read the small print.  There are also specialist sites for books, DVDs, CDs etc., or try a site like Ziffit which covers books, games, DVDs and CDs. 

• Investigate the possibility of local car boot sales or other second-hand markets offering pitches for rent 

Check your entitlement: benefits & grants

• Try Entitled To or Turn2Us for free, online benefits calculators that ask for some details about your situation and suggest benefits you might be entitled to.   We’ve also written a short blog with more details on checking your benefits eligibility.

• Turn2Us also has a grants search tool for funds that you can apply for (that don’t need to be paid back) depending on your circumstances and background – answer a series of questions and you’ll be shown any grants you are eligible to apply for (or that possibly a professional may need to apply for on your behalf), including hardship & education grants.  More details on what is available and how to apply on our blog.

• Benefits of particular note to check for: 

• Marriage tax allowance – if you’re married or in a civil partnership, and one of you is a basic 20% taxpayer with the other partner not eligible to pay tax, you can claim marriage tax allowance which is worth up to £252 in 2023/4.  It works by allowing partners to transfer tax allowance between themselves (once you’re registered, the scheme rolls forward for future years, and you can backdate for four years). More info here.  

• Pension Credit: this is a ‘gateway benefit’ which gives eligibility for other benefits (including the winter fuel payment, NHS dental treatment and a ocuncil tax reduction, plus a free TV licence for the over 75’s), but is not claimed by many who are eligible. If you're single with total weekly income under approx. £200, or a couple, both of pension age, with weekly income under approx. £300, you should call the Pension Credit Helpline on 0800 99 1234 or check your eligibility online: https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator 

• Council Tax Support: you may be eligible for this if you’re on benefits or a low income, or for other similar schemes if you are disabled, a sole occupier, or live with other students or those who are severely mentally impaired - read more at https://www.themoneycourse.org/money-tip/council-tax 

• Child Benefit is paid for children under 16 following the initial registration of a child for this payment once they are born, but stops when they turn 16, so you need to notify the government that your child is still in approved education to continue receiving the payments (up to the age of 20). More information at https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-16-19 

• Uniform tax rebate: if you wear a uniform or branded items of clothing to work (excluding armed forces), and are required to maintain it yourself, you could be eligible for a tax rebate – even if you were only required to wear it for one day in a year (this can be backdated for up to 5 years). Details here: https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/uniforms-work-clothing-and-tools 

For anyone thinking about claiming Personal Independence Payment, Turn2Us has produced a helpful guide to accompany you through the process and raise your chances of being successfully awarded this benefit