Citizens Advice Scotland: How frontline advisers used the Better Off Calculator to support people with confidence

As the challenges of the cost-of-living crisis heightens, advisers across the Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) network face growing complexity in calculating entitlements and supporting people in vulnerable circumstances. Many relied on unintuitive, time-consuming legacy tools that required additional manual checks, limiting efficiency and confidence in outcomes.

With demand rising and resources stretched, advisers needed a more holistic and user-friendly way to deliver timely, reliable advice tailored to people’s specific situations.

Funded and distributed by CAS as a pilot for several bureaux, the Better Off Calculator allowed advisers to:

• Quickly generate accurate benefit calculations
• Navigate complex policy changes with greater ease
• Reduce reliance on manual cross-checking
• Improve confidence when advising people needing support

Combining an intuitive, user-friendly interface with real-time updates on national and local benefits, social tariffs, and charitable grants, the Better Off Calculator is a powerful tool that saves advisers time. This allows them to focus on implementing solutions to optimise outcomes, even for the most complex cases.

The use of the calculator increased significantly during the pilot period, becoming embedded in advisers’ day-to-day workflows.

* These percentages represent the frequency at which each element of impact was selected by the respondents; multiple responses allowed

Respondents highlighted its role in simplifying complex cases, improving confidence, and enabling them to spend more time supporting people directly.

Impact on respondents

71 licences distributed across the network
59% of respondents reported regular use of the calculator
23% of respondents reported regular use in April 2025; 6 months later 60% said it was their most used tool
4.17 out of 5 average ease of use rating
4.26 out of 5 average adviser confidence rating
70% of respondents said it improved effectiveness or made their role easier

Impact on communities

£7.2M in benefits identified
£3.6M benefits unclaimed
86% of eligible households were missing out on benefits

The Policy in Practice Better Off calculator has brought significant support to advisers across Scotland, helping them uncover millions in unclaimed benefits for over 5,000 households. The user-friendly and powerful calculator has quickly become a favourite amongst the trialling advisers across the Citizens Advice network, giving them the time and confidence to help people navigate a changing, complex benefits landscape.