UPDATES: Benefit and Budgeting Calculator

Update: The benefit cap 'grace period'

Claims for Universal Credit are exempt from the benefit cap if a claimant has earned the amount that would be received through working 16 hours per week at the minimum wage for 50 weeks of the preceding year. The calculator now asks users if this exemption applies to them. A detailed explanation of the conditions for exemptions is also included in the tooltip.

The calculator will continue to apply exemptions based on caring or disability even if this new question is set to No.

Update: Minimum Income Floor section for advisors

After discussions with some of our calculator users, we have added back the Minimum Income Floor (MIF) section to the calculator. Due to COVID-19, the MIF has been temporarily suspended but is likely to be re-introduced into Universal Credit next year. By adding this section back in, you can now work out what the future impact of the MIF on self-employed households will be.

If you or your organisation would like this section to be hidden whilst the MIF is suspended, just get in touch and we can update your accounts.

Coming soon: Surplus earnings and irregular earnings

We're currently amending the calculator to allow users to enter irregular earnings and to estimate these for up to 12 months. The impact of irregular earnings and the interaction with regular income will be shown through the calendar functionality. This will help you to provide advice to people with seasonal work and zero-hours contracts, as well as people who are self-employed, and those receiving one-off larger payments (such as the Coronavirus Self Employed Income Support Scheme grant).

This new feature will also help you explain the impact of the complex surplus earnings rules to clients without the need for manual calculations. You will also be able to advise clients on re-starting their UC claim, and how much they are likely to receive once Surplus Earnings are used up.

Coming soon: Upgraded log in with multi-factor authentication and single sign-on

We’re upgrading our login system in the next few weeks. Once we launch:

You’ll be able to add multi-factor authentication (known as MFA or 2FA) to your password-based login to protect against theft of your login details. This will be optional unless your organisation makes it mandatory.
You’ll be able to log in using your Google or Microsoft account to verify your identity, instead of using a password. For organisations, we’ll be able to implement Single Sign-On via your own internal identity systems for seamless calculator usage.
You’ll still be able to log in using your email address and password. We may ask you to pick a new password the next time you use the calculator, otherwise it will work the same.

Free support page on Your income and Coronavirus (COVID-19)

We have created a welfare support page Your income and Coronavirus (COVID-19) to clearly show what support you might get if your income is affected by Coronavirus. We are updating this page with each announcement by the Government. Please feel free to link to it on your own websites and other communication channels to help your residents understand what support they are eligible for if they or their businesses are impacted by Coronavirus.

View our Coronavirus welfare support page

We are also hosting a free webinar on Benefits and Coronavirus (COVID-19) next week on Wed 6 May at 10:30. You can find out more and register by clicking here .