How we calculate benefits.

The principles

• Transparent. Every rate we use is listed below, with the source. Every formula is in plain JavaScript you can read by viewing the page source.
• Conservative on borderline cases. If a rate is bounded by local rules (e.g. Council Tax Reduction varies by council), we estimate a generic figure and clearly flag it as indicative.
• Updated annually. UK benefit rates are uprated in April. We update the calculator at the start of each tax year and publish the date of last review on every page.
• Honest about limits. A real entitlement decision is made by DWP, HMRC or your local council after a full assessment. Our number is a starting point — we tell users this on every result.

Source of truth

Our primary source for every rate is the DWP publication Benefit and pension rates, refreshed each March/April:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-and-pension-rates

For HMRC-administered benefits (Child Benefit, the High Income Child Benefit Charge) we cross-reference HMRC's tax-year manuals. For Local Housing Allowance rates we use the Valuation Office Agency publication. For Council Tax Reduction we estimate a generic scheme because each English local authority operates its own — for the exact figure, users must apply to their council.

Universal Credit

The Universal Credit calculation is the most complex part of our engine. We compute:

1. Maximum amount = Standard allowance + Child element(s) + Disabled child element(s) + Carer element + Housing element.
2. Earnings deduction = (net earnings − work allowance, if applicable) × 0.55.
3. Tariff income = £4.35/month per £250 of savings above £6,000 (zero above £16,000, where UC stops entirely).
4. Other income deducted £1-for-£1.
5. UC award = max(0, Maximum amount − Earnings deduction − Tariff income − Other income).

Rates we use (2025/26 monthly):

• Standard allowance: £316.98 (single under 25), £400.14 (single 25+), £497.55 (couple both under 25), £628.10 (couple 25+).
• Child element: £339.00 (first child born before 6 April 2017), £292.81 (other children, subject to two-child limit).
• Disabled child: £158.76 (lower) / £495.87 (higher).
• Carer element: £201.68.
• Work allowance: £411 (with housing) / £684 (without housing).
• Taper rate: 55%.

Known limitations

• We assume net earnings ≈ 88% of gross — a rough proxy that holds for low-to-middle earners. High earners will see UC tapered slightly faster than our estimate.
• The childcare element of UC is not yet handled — we recommend running the calculator without childcare for a baseline, then adjusting up by up to 85% of your registered childcare costs (capped at £1,031.88/month for one child or £1,768.94/month for two or more).
• Two-child limit exemptions (non-consensual conception, kinship care, multiple births, etc.) are not applied automatically; the calculator caps the child element at two even where an exemption may apply.
• The Minimum Income Floor for self-employed claimants is not modelled — self-employed users should run a worst-case estimate using the equivalent of the National Living Wage × their expected hours.
• The LCWRA element (£423.27/month) is partially modelled: ticking the "limited capability for work" checkbox enables the work allowance but does not currently add the LCWRA element to the maximum amount. We're fixing this in the next release.

Child Benefit and HICBC

Child Benefit is paid at £26.05/week for the first child and £17.25/week for each additional child. The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) starts at £60,000 and tapers Child Benefit out completely at £80,000 (1% per £200).

We apply HICBC based on the higher of the two adult incomes in the household. We use the headline annual gross income as a proxy for adjusted net income (ANI). Pension contributions, Gift Aid and trading losses reduce ANI in real life — users on the cusp of the threshold should manually subtract those amounts from their declared income before entering it, or read our HICBC guide for the detail.

Housing Benefit

The calculator computes the UC housing element for working-age claimants in mainstream housing. We cap the eligible rent at:

• £2,400/month for London postcodes (heuristic-based on outcode).
• £1,500/month for non-London postcodes.

These are deliberately conservative ballparks. Actual LHA rates by Broad Rental Market Area vary widely (from ~£500 for a 1-bed in lower-cost areas to ~£2,000+ for a 4-bed in inner London). For the exact rate, look up your BRMA at gov.uk/government/collections/local-housing-allowance-lha-rates.

We do not currently model the social rent "bedroom tax" deduction. We also do not handle Discretionary Housing Payments — those are budget-limited council top-ups outside our scope.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

PIP cannot be calculated from numbers — it depends on a points-based functional assessment. Our calculator can only flag likely eligibility when the user indicates they have a disability. We then show the standard daily living rate (£73.90/week) as an indicative figure, with a clear note that the actual rate depends on assessment.

In Scotland, Adult Disability Payment (ADP) replaces PIP. The rates and points-based criteria are very similar; the assessment process is meant to be less adversarial.

Pension Credit

We compute Guarantee Pension Credit as the difference between the user's weekly income (annual gross / 52 + other income) and the weekly threshold (£227.10 single, £346.60 couple). Savings Credit (closed cohort, pre-April 2016 reachers) is not modelled — it pays at most £19.36/week and is shrinking each year.

Council Tax Reduction

Council Tax Reduction is a discount on the council tax bill, set by each local authority. There is no single national scheme for working-age claimants in England. We provide an indicative estimate based on income bands and household composition, with bumps for disability, pensioner age and single-parent status. The actual figure can only come from the user's local council.

Carer's Allowance

£83.30/week, subject to the £196/week net earnings limit. We apply the limit by computing the user's declared annual earnings / 52 × 0.88 (a net proxy). Realistically a 10–15% margin either way is normal — anyone within £20/week of the limit should double-check with our Carer's Allowance calculator using their actual payslip figures.

Benefit Cap

We apply the 2025/26 annual caps: £25,323 (couples/families, Greater London), £22,020 (couples/families, rest of UK), £16,967 (single, London), £14,753 (single, rest of UK).

Cap exemptions are applied where the household includes someone receiving PIP, Carer's Allowance or DLA, or where any adult is working 16+ hours/week (a rough proxy for the formal earnings exemption).

What we deliberately don't do

• Store anything. No cookies, no localStorage, no server-side log of any answer you give. Every calculation is a one-shot, in-memory event in your browser.
• Promise a definitive entitlement. Real entitlement is decided by DWP, HMRC or your council. Our output is always described as "indicative."
• Pretend to be the government. We use clear "Independent" and "Not affiliated with HMRC/DWP/GOV.UK" disclaimers on every page.

When we update

Each March/April, when DWP publishes the new tax-year rates. Smaller corrections happen continuously — see the "Last updated" date on each page. If a rate changes mid-year (rare but it happens for HICBC-style policy adjustments), we update within a week and publish a note.

How to report a mistake

Email [email protected] with the page URL and what should be different. We treat factual corrections as the highest-priority work on the site.