benefit calculator

I have been asked about what online benefit calculator would be good for communitiies first outreach workers who are not benefit specialists but new project will involve them doing benefit checks.
Being a pen and scrap of paper girl when it comes to benefit calculations myself, does anyone have any recommendations?
Cheers

The benefit calculator on the Age UK website is the Entitled-to version and is quite straightforward to use I think.

A lot of my colleagues use the Turn 2 Us benefits calculator - http://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/AboutYou

It has a couple of useful features - there’s a linked search feature for charitable grants and you can log in as an adviser to save calculations, run comparative tests etc.

Some folks still swear by QBC - http://www.lissongrovebenefits.co.uk/index.html - although there are fees for using that.

I don’t really know how either compares to the Age UK tool as I foolishly tend to insist on pen and paper as well.

A vote for QBC from here. We’ve used it for years and have no complaints.

cheers - i’ve passed these details on

Just a note about Lisson Grove: they produce two programs, the ‘Lisson Grove Benefits Program’ (aimed at generalist advisers), and QBC (aimed at experienced advisers). Neither is “online”, i.e. you need to buy and install a program on a PC, rather than access a website like turn2us through a browser (so, I suspect QBC wouldn’t work on an Ipad or smartphone, say).

The LGBC might be better (more fool-proof) than QBC, for new/generalist workers. I think it’s broadly similar to the turn2us calculator, in that it goes through all the questions step by step, rather than relying on the adviser knowing which are the relevant sections to go in and enter info.

Alternatively, Ferret also sell calculators aimed at different levels:
http://www.ferret.co.uk/solutions/benefits/