April uprating; COVID-19 support; new look coming soon
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Live now: changes to your Benefit and Budgeting Calculator
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Update: April uprating now live

On Wednesday 1 April your Benefit and Budgeting Calculator was updated for the new financial year. The changes we have made include:

  • Updating LHA rates
  • Updating the National Living Wage
  • Uprating water rates for those covered by Anglian Water
  • Updating council tax reduction rates to reflect changes made to local schemes

We will update your calculator again on Monday 6 April to reflect further policy changes, including the new tax rates, DWP benefit regulations, and additional changes as a result of COVID-19.
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Update: Coronavirus COVID-19 changes

On Wednesday 1 April your Benefit and Budgeting Calculator was also updated to reflect the government’s actions to help people whose income has been affected by Coronavirus (COVID-19). The updates include:

  • Additional tooltip information about COVID-19
  • Updating Alerts to reflect new information about COVID-19
  • Removing the Minimum Income Floor for self-employed people

On Monday 6 April your calculator will reflect the Chancellor's decision to increase Working Tax Credits and Universal Credit by £20 per week.
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Update: Changes to the Universal Credit Calendar clarify when money will be received

The Universal Credit Calendar now displays the start and end date of an assessment period, as well as the date of a claimant’s Universal Credit payment. This should make it easier to understand when money will actually be received.
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New: 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
View our Coronavirus welfare support page
Coming soon: Your Benefit and Budgeting Calculator gets a makeover

The Benefit and Budgeting Calculator is undergoing a minor paint job in the next few weeks as part of our work to ensure the software behind the scenes is up to date. The process for completing a claim will stay the same, as will most of the layout, but we will be making the following improvements:

  • We are combining the navigation tabs at the top of the calculator and the quick summary on the right hand side into one single navigation. The simplified navigation will help you to move between stages of a calculation more easily and show you which stages you’ve already completed more clearly. We’re also introducing backward and forward buttons at the bottom of each section to further improve navigation.
  • We’re incorporating all notifications about a case within the results page to make them easier to review, so that means we can retire the ‘Information about your case’ button.

If you’d like a sneak peek at the new look, please get in touch.
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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 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
  • You’ll be able to add multi-factor authentication (known as MFA or 2FA) to your password-based login to protect against someone stealing 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 a password. For organisations, we’ll be able to implement Single Sign-On via their internal identity systems for seamless calculator usage.
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We run regular, free introductory training webinars for all our customers. Scheduled every second week of the month and lasting 45 minutes, the online sessions go through the main features of the Benefit and Budgeting Calculator. Perfect for introducing new users or refreshing existing users.

Our next online training session is Wednesday 8 April at 12:00 to 12:45.
Register for free training here
Report bugs and suggest improvements

Tell us if you find any bugs or errors in the calculator via the online chat facility or by clicking on the button below. Please also tell us what enhancements or brand new features you'd like to see in your calculator.
Report fixes and suggest new features


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