How Britain affects your household
Describe your household once and every calculator starts from the same figures.
Calculators that use the actual rules rather than a rule of thumb. Where a figure is set in law, such as a tax rate, it is applied exactly and the page shows the band and the source. Where a figure has to be modelled, it says so and shows the assumption, so you can replace it with your own.
Money
- What will I take home? · Income tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan from the statutory rates.
- What does our household keep? · Two earners, pensions and Child Benefit, including the High Income Child Benefit Charge, from the statutory rules.
- Am I better off than I was? · Your pay then and now against the ONS Consumer Prices Index over the same years.
- Where does our income sit? · Your gross household income against the ONS decile boundaries for all UK households.
- What is my own inflation rate? · The twelve CPI category indices weighted by what you spend on each, against the official rate.
Home and area
- How much will energy cost? · Average gas and electricity use for your area, priced at the Ofgem cap; overtype with your own kWh.
- What does it cost to live here? · A Civometry estimate from official averages: survey spending for your household type, your area's rent and council tax.
- Would we be better off somewhere else? · Two areas on the same official measures: rent for your household size, pay, council tax, house prices.
- Can we afford to buy? · Local price and pay, then deposit, loan and repayment arithmetic at a rate you choose.
- How expensive is my area? · Every local authority's official rent, pay, council tax and house price, ranked.
- Should I rent or buy? · Planned: cashflow and equity separated, with every assumption shown.
Family
- How much does a child cost? · The spending gap between households with and without children in the ONS survey, less Child Benefit.
- What support can we get? · Planned: Universal Credit and childcare support from the official rules. Child Benefit is already in the household tax calculator.
- How much will childcare cost? · Planned: separate rules for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Work and business
- What does it cost to employ someone? · Employer National Insurance and pension on top of salary, and the largest salary a budget can carry.
- I am self-employed: what do I keep? · Sole trader income tax and Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance on profit.
- Salary or dividends from my company? · Corporation tax, then income tax, National Insurance and dividend tax on what you take.
Government
- What do my taxes pay for? · Your income tax and National Insurance beside the Treasury's split of all spending, as illustrative shares.
How these differ from the statistics
Most of this site reports figures a government department published. A calculator is different: it applies rules to numbers you supply. Every result is labelled so you know which you are looking at. A rule-based calculation follows the statute exactly. A Civometry estimate is modelled from official averages and will not match any particular household. Neither is advice about your own circumstances.