Nationwide launches free calculator to help people discover unclaimed benefits: You could be owed £560 extra per month

NATIONWIDE has launched a free calculator to help people discover unclaimed benefits in a move experts have hailed as “great for people who are unaware of what they might be entitled to”.

The bank claims it has helped discover £75 million a year in unclaimed benefits through a free eligibility calculator it launched just seven months ago.

The  ‘Better Off’ calculator, the first to be offered over the telephone as well as online, helps people understand what benefits they may be entitled to. 

The calculator – available to anyone, not just Nationwide customers – was launched in partnership with social policy data experts Policy in Practice, at a time when an estimated £24 billion in benefits goes unclaimed each year.

Since launch last June, over 18,000 people have submitted a calculation, with over 11,000 households discovering they could be entitled to an average of £560 extra per month – totalling £75.3 million annually in potential support.

Kate Underwood, Founder at Southampton-based Kate Underwood HR and Training, said people must claim what they are entitled to.

She added: "Unclaimed benefits aren’t a ‘nice to have’, they’re the difference between a team member coping or crumbling. I’m a big fan of Nationwide’s Better Off calculator. Not because it’s fancy, but because it’s practical. And the phone option matters. The people who need this support most aren’t always sitting at a laptop with the headspace to wrestle forms. 

"In real life, it’s often someone on long-term sick leave, on maternity leave, caring for a loved one, or dealing with a sudden family emergency. Money stress wrecks recovery and performance. A quick eligibility check can be financial first aid, and that’s why we signpost employees to tools like this. 

"People must claim what they’re entitled to. This isn’t a handout. It’s a safety net. When staff can cover basics, they’re more likely to recover, return, and stay. That’s good ethics and good business. Yes, some might try to game it. But calculators don’t approve claims. They point people to the right place and the proper checks still happen."

Debbie Porter, Managing Director at Bakewell-based Destination Digital Marketing, said this tool is “great”.

She continued: "Tools like this are great for people who are unaware of what they might be entitled to, but unable to find out what they might be. I helped my mum with Pension Credit and exemption from Council Tax applications when I discovered she was surviving on only £35 a week a few years ago. 

"As a pensioner who has never been online, who’d spent most of her life as a traditional stay-at-home housewife, but now divorced, she hadn’t got enough NI contributions for her State Pension to calculate any higher. As someone who had never questioned things like this, she'd accepted her fate. 

"I had to step in to advocate for her and find out what her entitlements were but it took effort and a lot of phone calls. A tool like this would’ve been wonderful back then to steer me in the right direction. As this example shows, as an older person with no internet access, my mum still wouldn’t be aware of this tool, so there is still a gap to be plugged in ensuring people who need a service like this can access it."

Michelle Lawson, Director at Fareham-based Lawson Financial, cautioned against the welfare state continuing to grow. 

She added: “This isn't about people getting the benefits that they are 'entitled' to. This should be about people getting the benefits that they 'need'. The welfare state is growing exponentially – we should be encouraging work over welfare every time to maintain a healthy economy.”