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The Getting Ready for Work Calculator: Helping Residents Make Informed Choices

The Getting Ready for Work Calculator: Helping Residents Make Informed Choices

The Getting Ready for Work Calculator: Helping Residents Make Informed Choices

Friday, September 12, 2025

The following blog was written by BHT Sussex

The Frontline Network invited staff from BHT Sussex’s Accommodation for Work Project to give a presentation at this year’s Frontline Network Annual Conference with the following theme “Supporting Hostel Residents into Employment”. This was a great opportunity for us to share the challenges and successes of our work in this area and to showcase our Getting Ready for Work Calculator which helps working residents understand the impact of earnings on benefits. For anyone who missed it, this blog covers the main points.

The Getting Ready for Work Calculator

For people living in homeless hostels/supported accommodation, understanding how earnings impact on benefits is complicated and can act as a disincentive to work. With this in mind, we have created a Getting Ready for Work Calculator, which shows residents looking at employment how much, based on their earnings, they would need to contribute towards rent and how much money they would have left once they have paid both this and any service charge. Residents can then make better informed employment decisions and keep their rent accounts in credit. We strongly believe that residents who want to work should be supported to do so. Work can help people to move forward with their lives.

The Calculator is designed for residents who are claiming Universal Credit (UC), not legacy benefits, and who are claiming Housing Benefit for help with rent. It is easy to use either on a desktop/laptop or on a mobile phone. To use the calculator, a resident needs to input the following information:

A key point to keep in mind is that if a resident receives even 1p of UC, they will receive full Housing Benefit (HB). How much someone can earn before they stop receiving any UC depends on which UC group someone is in. People in the Limited Capability for Work (LCW) and Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) groups are entitled to a Work Allowance, meaning they can earn a certain amount before their UC starts to be reduced. There is a Lower Work Allowance (£411 pcm) and a Higher Work Allowance (£684 pcm). People living in hostel/supported accommodation are entitled to the Higher Work Allowance. Once earnings go above this, someone’s UC is reduced by 55p for every £1 that they earn. For people in the Fit to Work Group, who have no Work Allowance, UC is reduced in this way as soon as they start to earn.  

The table below shows how much people in these groups can earn up to before losing their UC payment and so their entitlement to full HB.

Under 25

Group Earnings HB awarded
Fit to work £576 Full HB
LCW* £1260 Full HB
LCWRA £2029 Full HB

 

25 or over

Group Earnings HB awarded
Fit to work £727 Full HB
LCW* £1411 Full HB
LCWRA £2181 Full HB

As soon as someone earns over the above amounts, Housing Benefit starts to be reduced and can reduce quite dramatically. We call the earning thresholds at which this happens the Cliff Edge. The table below shows what happens when earnings increase by as little as £1 – in this example we have used a rent of £1000 per month, excluding any service charge. (The scenario below is reflective of someone who isn’t in receipt of Personal Independence Payment, PIP. People in receipt of PIP might be entitled to a higher HB award and should check with their local HB department).

 

Under 25

Group Earnings HB awarded Resident pays (excl. service charge)
Fit to work £577 £844.37 £155.63
LCW* £1261 £399.12 £600.88
LCWRA £2030 £0 £1000

 

25 or over

Group Earnings HB awarded Resident pays (excl. service charge)
Fit to work £728 £800.16 £199.84
LCW* £1412 £355.56 £644.44
LCWRA £2182 £0 £1000

*People with an LCW decision before 3/4/17 may find themselves better off than the figures given here.

Case Study

Dave, who had been out of work for some time, has just started work as a gardener. He is offered a part time contract but told that the hours could increase. He is 52, works 11 hours per week initially, earns £600 per month (nett), is in the Fit to Work Group, doesn’t claim PIP, pays rent of £900pcm (including service charge), and has a service charge of £100pcm.

In the table below, you can see his current scenario, then the impact if his wages increase. In the second example, where he earns £730, he hits the Cliff Edge and is worse off than when he earned £600 due the drop in his Housing Benefit.

 

Scenario Wages UC received HB position Net impact
Current £600 £70.14 UC Receives full HB £270 per month better off in work
Cliff edge £730 No UC HB drops – pays £201.14 rent Only £128.72 better off in work
Higher earnings £2000 No UC No HB – pays full rent £900 £699.86 better off in work

 

The ‘cliff edge’ is something that only occurs to people who have to claim HB, rather than the Housing Element of UC, for help with rent. It is both unfair and causes a lot of confusion. See our Make Work Pay for Everyone campaign where we are trying to address this. Despite this, many of our residents want to work, recognising the value of work beyond its financial implication.

To watch BHT Sussex's Supported Accommodation into Work session at the Frontline Network Annual Conference 2025, click here.

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