How accurate are the various Benefits Calculators ?

JellyBellyHaHa

Hi folks, hope you can help please !
It's really hard to find advice about how much Housing Benefit my 71 year old friend will be entitled to if he moves into sheltered accomodation, as no one dares give him a figure ! 

And he has to make a decision within the next  couple of days.

 He is 71 and has a very low income from his  state pension plus a tiny work pension (despite being a working man all his life). He's in good health but not getting any younger..

  He will hopefully move from his horrid damp cold private place (with no security as his landlord could chuck him out at short notice) into a proper sheltered accomodation flat - but it ALL depends on how much housing benefit he'll receive.

When we asked the local Council for advice, they just sent us to the calculator' Entitled-to'. It is impossible to get a real person to advise us.

My questions are, How accurate ARE the calculators 'Entitled-to' and 'Turn2Us', both of which are government recommended ?

 I also separately used the 'Entitled-to' calculator which MSE provides (which appears far superior to the same one supplied by the government, because the MSE version supplies a useful breakdown of how the final benefits figures are arrived at).

BUT I still don't know how trustworthy those calculators are.

 It doesn't help that I made multiple calculations on both those calculators/engines, when I input the same data, yet I get slightly different results every time.

   Can some expert folk out there, or more expert than ignorant me, advise please ? 
It's urgent for us; he has to make a decision this weekend.

THANK YOU in advance so much ! 

JellyBellyHaHa

Hi folks, hope you can help please !  
It's really hard to find advice about how much Housing Benefit my 71 year old friend will be entitled to if he moves into sheltered accomodation, as no one dares give him a figure ! 

And he has to make a decision within the next  couple of days.

 He is 71 and has a very low income from his  state pension plus a tiny work pension (despite being a working man all his life). He's in good health but not getting any younger..

  He will hopefully move from his horrid damp cold private place (with no security as his landlord could chuck him out at short notice) into a proper sheltered accomodation flat - but it ALL depends on how much housing benefit he'll receive.

When we asked the local Council for advice, they just sent us to the calculator' Entitled-to'. It is impossible to get a real person to advise us.

My questions are, How accurate ARE the calculators 'Entitled-to' and 'Turn2Us', both of which are government recommended ?

 I also separately used the 'Entitled-to' calculator which MSE provides (which appears far superior to the same one supplied by the government, because the MSE version supplies a useful breakdown of how the final benefits figures are arrived at).

BUT I still don't know how trustworthy those calculators are.

 It doesn't help that I made multiple calculations on both those calculators/engines, when I input the same data, yet I get slightly different results every time.

   Can some expert folk out there, or more expert than ignorant me, advise please ? 
It's urgent for us; he has to make a decision this weekend.

THANK YOU in advance so much ! 

Ref44

Depending on when you did the calculations, you might get slightly different results as benefit rates increased on Monday 7th. I know Entitled To hadn't been updated last Friday

JellyBellyHaHa

Hi thanks Ref44, Thanks a lot for replying.

 I did the several calculations within a time period of less than 2 hours yesterday. BUT I'm not really bothered about different results each time (within Entitled to, and also within Turn2Us), as there were only minor differences in the results - BUT of course it is not a good sign / doesn't make me more confident in the calculators.

But my question is not about those slightly varying results.

My question is about the general reliability of Entitled to (and of Turn2Us). Can I trust those figures, more or less ? It is recommended by the government so I'd hope so. But I can't afford to screw up with my friend's future, so am I right to trust Entitled to, please ? 

What is your opinion and experience please ? (and everyone else here on the Forum please - do tell me)

Thanks !

born_again

They are as accurate as they can be. But data in = Answer 👍

Spoonie_Turtle

As long as you answer the questions correctly they are usually reliable to within a couple of pounds.

There is also a site where you can see the LHA rate for the area where the sheltered housing is, he'd be entitled to the 1 room rate - BUT I don't know if it applies to sheltered housing or if it's classed as social housing (in which case the LHA would not not apply).

Actually the AgeUK benefits calculator could be useful as it's tailored towards people over pension age https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/benefits-calculator/

Ref44

Comparison last Friday between Turn 2 Us and QBC which is a commercial product; the only difference was that QBC had been updated for the new rates from the 7th; otherwise the same answer.

Spoonie_Turtle

Ref44 said:

Comparison last Friday between Turn 2 Us and QBC which is a commercial product; the only difference was that QBC had been updated for the new rates from the 7th; otherwise the same answer.

What's QBC, please?

Edit: never mind, a quick Google threw up more relevant results than anticipated - it's Quick Benefits Calculator, I presume.

Murphybear

Spoonie_Turtle said:

As long as you answer the questions correctly they are usually reliable to within a couple of pounds.

There is also a site where you can see the LHA rate for the area where the sheltered housing is, he'd be entitled to the 1 room rate - BUT I don't know if it applies to sheltered housing or if it's classed as social housing (in which case the LHA would not not apply).

Actually the AgeUK benefits calculator could be useful as it's tailored towards people over pension age https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/benefits-calculator/

Sheltered housing is classed as social housing.  I live in it and get all my rent paid.  

@ JellyBelly + I have sent you a PM (private message)

JellyBellyHaHa

Thanks ever so much everyone, really useful thanks lots.  Plus thanks to the lady who PM'd me and mentioned different tenancy agreements as I hadn't even thought to enquire into that at my friend's proposed new place. Great. This forum is fantastic. Cheers !