Q. What information do I need to use the entitledto benefits calculator?

A. As you go through the benefits calculator, you may need to refer to various documents, such as salary slips, bank statements and bills.

It will be easier for you to work through all the questions if you have gathered this information for you and your partner, if you have one.

• Details of all your income, e.g. earnings, state pension, occupational pension, disability allowance, attendance allowance or other state benefits.
• If you are married, in a civil partnership, or living with someone as a couple, what is your partner’s income, including any benefits? We need to know this as you will be assessed as a couple. If you have anyone else living with you, we need to know about that too – see below.
• How much money do you have in savings, investments and other capital?
• How much is your annual council tax bill and do you get any help with it?
• Do you pay rent or mortgage? How much?
• Do you have anyone else, eg grown-up children, living with you? Are they in employment or on benefits? What is their income?
• Does anyone receive carers’ allowance for looking after you or anyone in your household?

You may be asked to enter your income from benefits. If you don’t know how much you get, your original award letter will tell you. If you are not sure of the name of the benefit you get see 'How to tell which benefits you receive'.

If you don’t have the exact information that you need, it is possible to complete the process using estimations, but please be aware that the calculation may not be correct for you.

Q. How do I use the entitledto benefits calculator?

A. As you work your way through this calculator, you may want to know:

• More about the benefits being discussed
• Why we are asking you a particular question
• Definitions of technical terms

You can often obtain this information by clicking on the blue i next to a question or sometimes words will be underlined and these will take you to pages that give more information.

Some of the questions have multiple choice options displayed in boxes. If you click on the box with the answer you want to select this means you are answering 'yes' to that option.

If the question is asking you to put in an amount of money, for example 'how much is your rent', there should be a £ sign already in the box. You don’t need to put the £ sign in yourself.

Some of the questions will have a range of answers, for example the different rates of Attendance Allowance. If the answer box has an arrow in it, like this , you can click on that arrow and a 'drop-down box' will appear giving you all the possible answers. Then move your mouse over and click on one of the options. The drop-down box will stay there until you select an answer or click somewhere else on the screen.

Q. What is the difference between the free benefits calculator and the adviser benefits calculator?

A. The free entitledto benefits calculator is designed to provide clear entitlement advice to individuals whereas the adviser calculator has been designed with adviser needs in mind. There are premium features in the adviser calculator that help advisers to provide quick and accurate entitlement advice. For a breakdown of key functionality in the calculators see our free versus adviser comparison document (.pdf download).

Q. What groups of people are not included in the entitledto benefits calculator?

A. The entitledto benefits calculator does not work out eligibility to benefits for some groups of people because special rules apply and the estimates may not be correct.

These are:

• Students
• People aged under 18
• People who are permanently in residential care, a nursing home or hospital.
• Prisoners
• People on strike
• People who are not British or Irish citizens
• UK nationals who live abroad

Q. What benefits does the entitledto benefits calculator check?

A. The benefits calculator will calculate entitlement to contribution based benefits and means-tested benefits and eligibility to some associated benefits. 

Q. How do changes to the benefits system affect me? 

A. The benefits system is always changing. As it does, we update the calculator with the latest rules and regulations. You can carry out a new calculation to see if these changes have affected your entitlements. You can also check if a change of personal circumstances means your entitlements have changed as a result. 

Q. How do I get more advice about applying for benefits?

A. We are very sorry but we can't answer questions about your individual benefit entitlements. The More advice help page lists a range of voluntary and statutory organisations that may be able to help you.