Feeling out of control when it comes to money can be worrying, especially if you don’t know whether you’ve got enough to live on. Getting a single monthly Universal Credit payment might be making it even harder to keep your head above water. The best way to manage your money is to make a household budget.
Why budget – why now?
In Scotland, you might be offered some choices about how your Universal Credit is paid. Read our guide to Universal Credit in Scotland
Living in Northern Ireland or Scotland?
In Northern Ireland, Universal Credit works differently. Find out more nidirect
Drawing up a budget of all your household income and outgoings is a must if you want to make sure you can pay all your bills and manage until the end of the month.
Even if you’re already budgeting, changes to the benefit system will probably mean you need to make some changes to the way you go about it.
Be aware that the following benefits are being phased out for people of working age, and replaced with Universal Credit:
- Income Support
- Child Tax Credit
- Housing Benefit
- Working Tax Credit
- income-based Jobseekers Allowance
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance.
In England and Wales, Universal Credit will be paid in a single monthly payment to each household.
So if you currently work out your budget weekly or fortnightly, you’ll have to start looking at your incomings and outgoings across the whole month.
And if you’re using different benefit payments to cover set expenses, you’ll need to get used to having a single payment to cover everything.
Find out more in our guide Universal Credit explained
Get an estimate of how much Universal Credit you’ll be entitled to – including how much better off you’ll be in work – with the calculator at Policy in PracticeOpens in a new window
Making your budget – where to start
Despite how daunting it might sound, a budget is just two lists:
- Money you have coming in, such as your benefit payments and your salary if you’re working.
- Payments you make, such as your rent or mortgage, heating bills and insurance, as well as living expenses and regular and irregular spending.
How to work out your income
Benefits
Look at the paperwork relating to any benefits and tax credits you get. Jot down the amounts you get. Make sure you make a note of whether these payments are weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly or monthly.
Wages
If you’re employed, check your payslips and jot down your salary – after tax and other deductions.
Other income
If you have any other income coming in, write down the amounts and how often you get them. For example, from a pension, child maintenance from your ex-partner, or self-employment income.
Find out more in our guide Universal Credit if you're self-employed
Don’t worry if the money you have coming in changes from time to time.
When you’ve made a budget, you can just adjust it without you having to start from scratch every time.
Find out more in our guide How to budget for an irregular and fluctuating income
How to work out your outgoings
Household bills
Gather together all the bills you pay so you can see the exact amounts. If your rent is currently being paid for you, be prepared to start including this in your budget soon.
Living costs
The more exact you can be here, the better. For things like grocery shopping, it’s probably enough to look at how much you spend across a few weeks and work out an average. But for things like school uniform and other one-off costs, you’ll need to look at what you spend across the whole year and divide by 12 to get an average monthly amount.
Insurance and loan repayments
Track down anything you pay on a regular basis such as home insurance, catalogue ‘buy now pay later’ payments and credit card payments and make a note of them.
Children and pets
This includes things like childcare, after-school clubs, and school trips. Some of these costs will be regular and others will be occasional so you’ll need to work out an average. If you have pets, add up everything you spend on their food, vets’ bills, etc.
Travel
If you have a car, make sure you include all the costs (including some like car tax – commonly known as road tax – that you only pay yearly or six monthly). If you use public transport, you’ll either need to include the cost of your season ticket or work out how much you spend on average per week or month.
Join our Facebook group
Join our private Budgeting and Saving Facebook group for money-saving tips and support from a community of savers.
Leisure
If you’re living on a low income, this probably feels like the most squeezed part of your budget, but remember to include one-off events like Christmas and birthdays so these are budgeted for too.
Budget Planner
Now you’ve gathered together all the paperwork and figures you need, the easiest thing to do is to put it all into our online budget planner.
It will take at least half an hour to fill it in. But it’s worth the time:
- You can put in figures for weekly or annual payments, for example, and it works out the monthly amounts for you.
- Even if you don’t manage to get it all done in one sitting, you can save it and come back to it later.
- If things change, for example you get an extra shift at work or your gas bill goes up, you can go back in and make changes without having to start it again.
- As soon as you find out how much Universal Credit you’re going to get, you can put your monthly payment in and see how that affects your budget.
- All the figures you put in are confidential – we won’t be able to see them or share them with anyone. And we’ve no way of knowing who you are, even if you register with us.
What if your budget doesn’t balance?
If you’re spending more each month than you have coming in, the next step is to look more closely at where your money is going and where you can cut back.
You might be able to get a cheaper deal on your phone or TV package.
Or you might find you’re paying more than you need to for your gas and electricity.
One of the advantages of moving onto a monthly budget is you can often sign up for cheaper tariffs if you pay monthly by Direct Debit.
Tips for staying on track
Making a household budget is only the start.
Now you have to stick to it. This is easier said than done when prices are going up all the time and a one-off expense like a new pair of school shoes can threaten to derail it.
To help you find ways to make your money go further each month, read our guide Living on a budget
The important thing is you’ve taken the first step towards being in control of your money.
Now you know exactly where you stand. And even if things come along you haven’t budgeted for, you can go back into your budget, adjust it and work out a way to deal with it.