We believe that, with the right support, most people can find work and build a career. We chose to work with Policy in Practice because their unparalleled expertise in simplifying the welfare system, as well as their software, allows us to deliver innovative services to jobseekers across the entire Southern region.
Our calculator models over 4,000 pieces of legislation across four government departments to show how one individual is affected. Automatically updated on an ongoing basis and tested to be accurate across over one million real cases, Policy in Practice’s Benefit and Budgeting Calculator was built by people who understand the welfare benefit system and shaped by organisations who use it.
The Benefit and Budgeting Calculator has changed the way we work completely across different teams. We have over 100 staff using it and there now tends to be only one conversation with our customers so it’s made it easier for them. It’s speeded up processes in a way that we didn’t really think would happen.
Nadine Burns
Customer Support Team Manager
The customer is going to be £7,000 a year better off. Without the Benefit and Budgeting Calculator I’m not sure that case would have ever made its way to our team because the customer wasn’t in arrears, she was paying and she never had any idea she could claim any benefits.
Nadine Burns
Customer Support Team Manager
We have used the Benefit and Budgeting Calculator for several years. We use it seamlessly across three large departments and it has helped improve our customers’ experience. Customers give us their information once making conversations easier, and it helps us to have all the information we need in order to give support. We have helped lots of customers claim benefits they did not know they are entitled to and have always found Policy in Practice’s support if we have any queries to be impeccable.
Nadine Burns
Customer Support Team Manager
Staff at Elite Supported Employment find the Policy in Practice Calculator an excellent tool to provide information to our participants. The calculator is easy to use and the expert calculator breakdown tool makes the results easy to understand. Being able to print off the graph also gives our participants a visual document to refer to. It’s also great to be able to save a case, we can easily find a calculation and make any adjustments if needed, saving the time of completing a new calculation.
Sue Price, Elite Supported Employment
One of the reasons we have chosen Policy in Practice’s Benefit and Budgeting tool is that it allows you to see, when you put in the postcode, certain things that are available to customers, discounted wifi being one of them.
Kirsty Hunn, Fedcap
Income maximisation is so important, as is building a customer’s confidence and identifying additional money they may be able to claim. This is where we use the Policy in Practice Benefit and Budgeting Calculator.
Deborah Ware, Financial Wellness Group
We really encourage our new customers to use the Benefit and Budgeting Calculator to help them be independent and find out what benefits they’re entitled to. It’s been a big help to our staff, our housing team and our domestic abuse teams in particular, to double-check the advice they are giving to people.
Beverley Hiden, Rooftop Housing
The Benefit and Budgeting Calculator has enabled us to carry out over 4,000 benefit calculations. The ‘what if’ scenarios in the calculator enable us to have a conversation with someone where we can model the ‘in work’ and ‘out of work’ scenarios. It gives our tenants some certainty when they go back into the world of work, move into a new sector or take up employment in another town.
Darren Thomas, Grwp Cynefin
We use the calculator with Reach Out, our vulnerable customer’s arm. The tool is invaluable in the early identification of benefit eligibility and assists with cost savings to our vulnerable customers. It is simple to use and shows a level of detail like nothing else on the market.
Ben Jones, Sigma
Supporting customers to ensure they maximise their income is a vital part of our debt advice process. Close to 50% of customers who we’ve done a benefits assessment for are eligible for more benefits than they’ve been claiming. The tool is quick, intuitive to use and rich in detail – including excellent information on support at local authority level. Another plus is that, as well as alerting customers to additional benefits, it highlights other entitlements such as free prescriptions, free school meals, help with water costs, reduced price WiFi contracts and more.
Sebrina McCullough, Financial Wellness Group
