Choose your nation and life circumstances to get a short, nation-correct list of benefits worth checking. This tool does not calculate awards or decide eligibility.
Your selections stay in this browser tab. No data leaves your device and nothing is saved.
This is a free guide, not benefits advice. It shows benefits that may be worth checking for your situation — it does NOT tell you whether you'll get anything or how much. What you can claim depends on your income, savings, immigration status, partner and more, and amounts change every April. Always confirm with an official calculator (above) or a free adviser. finrato.com is independent and not affiliated with the DWP, HMRC, Social Security Scotland or any government body.
The shortlist updates whenever you change an answer.
This is a free guide, not benefits advice. It shows benefits that may be worth checking for your situation — it does NOT tell you whether you'll get anything or how much. What you can claim depends on your income, savings, immigration status, partner and more, and amounts change every April. Always confirm with an official calculator (above) or a free adviser. finrato.com is independent and not affiliated with the DWP, HMRC, Social Security Scotland or any government body.
No. It signposts benefits that may be worth checking from the circumstances you select. An official calculator or adviser must assess your full situation.
Some benefits have different names and delivery systems in Scotland, so choosing your nation keeps the shortlist relevant.
No. The checker keeps every relevant signpost visible and adds a warning beside the means-tested benefits commonly affected by the savings limit.
Billions of pounds in UK benefits go unclaimed every year, mostly because people assume they won't qualify or don't know a benefit exists. This checker doesn't tell you whether you'll get anything or how much — that depends on your income, savings, partner and circumstances, and the figures change every April. What it does is faster and, for most people, more useful: it takes your situation and points you to the specific benefits worth checking, so nothing gets missed before you use an official calculator.
Means-tested benefits (Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Council Tax Reduction) depend on your income and savings; as a rule of thumb, savings over £16,000 usually rule out the main ones. Non-means-tested benefits are based on your circumstances rather than your bank balance — PIP (or Adult Disability Payment in Scotland), Child Benefit, Carer's Allowance and the contribution-based ESA and JSA can be claimed regardless of savings. Many people wrongly assume that having some savings, a job or a partner disqualifies them from everything. It doesn't — the non-means-tested benefits don't care about savings at all.
A few benefits unlock others. Pension Credit is the classic example: even a small award can passport you to Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, a free TV licence over 75, help with health costs and the Warm Home Discount — which is why it's worth claiming even if the amount looks tiny. Qualifying for a disability benefit can likewise increase the amount of Universal Credit or Pension Credit you receive. That's why checking the full shortlist matters, rather than stopping at the first obvious one.
If you live in Scotland, several benefits have different names and are run by Social Security Scotland, not the DWP: Adult Disability Payment replaces PIP, Child Disability Payment replaces DLA for children, Pension Age Disability Payment replaces Attendance Allowance, and Carer Support Payment replaces Carer's Allowance. Scotland also has extras with no English equivalent, such as the Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant. Selecting your nation in the tool swaps to the correct list — being shown “PIP” in Scotland would simply be wrong.
Once you know what to check, use a free, independent benefits calculator for the numbers: the gov.uk hub, Turn2us or entitledto; in Scotland, mygov.scot. These do a full means test in a few minutes and are the safe place to see amounts. This checker is a free guide, not benefits advice, and finrato.com is independent and not affiliated with the DWP, HMRC or Social Security Scotland.
Yes. Savings over £16,000 usually rule out the main means-tested benefits, but they have no effect on non-means-tested ones like PIP/Adult Disability Payment, Child Benefit or Carer's Allowance. Many people with savings still qualify for these.
Not necessarily. Universal Credit is designed to top up low earnings and tapers as you earn more, and disability and carer benefits don't depend on being out of work. Being employed rules out fewer benefits than most people think — check rather than assume.
Because an honest amount needs a full means test — income, savings, housing costs, partner, other benefits — and the rates are re-set every April. A number here would be out of date within months and could be badly wrong. We point you to the official calculators that do it properly and safely.