How we check our figures
Anyone can say their figures are accurate. This page tells you how ours are checked, when they were last checked, and what we have not verified. We publish this because a benefits figure that is confidently wrong is worse than no figure at all — it stops someone claiming.
1. Every figure is tied to the page it came from
We keep a register of every money figure the site quotes — a rate, a threshold, a disregard — together with the official page it came from and the exact wording that must still appear there. Today that is 41 figures: 23 from gov.ie, 15 from gov.uk and 3 from Revenue.
A script fetches each official page and checks the figure is still there. It runs two tests, and the second is the one that catches real problems:
- Is it still true at source? Catches a rate changing under us — Budget day moves dozens at once.
- Is it still on every page of ours that quotes it? Catches the commoner failure: a rate changes, one page gets updated, and three others quietly keep the old number.
That second check is not hypothetical. It is how we found a page titled “Domiciliary Care Allowance 2026: Rate, Dates & How to Apply” that contained no rate at all, and a grants checker still using last year’s Fuel Allowance figure. Both were fixed the day the check first ran.
2. The calculators are tested against official worked examples
A calculator can apply a rule perfectly to the wrong number, or the right number through a wrong rule. So we run 28 known-answer tests against the calculators’ real code — not a copy of it — and the expected answers come from the Department’s own published examples, not from whatever our code currently returns.
For example, the Department’s means-assessment guidelines work through a partner earning €120 gross with €17 of deductions over four days. Their answer is €25.80. Our calculator has to produce €25.80 or the build fails.
3. The eligibility rules are proved consistent
The rules that decide which entitlements you are shown exist in two forms: the original code, and a structured dataset extracted from it. We run 544 synthetic household profiles through both and compare all 5,637 resulting matches. They have to be identical.
What we have not verified
Read this before trusting anything above. The consistency check above proves the two versions of our eligibility rules agree — it does not prove the rules are right. If a rule was wrong when it was first written, both versions are wrong in the same way and the test still passes.
Individually re-verifying all 96 eligibility rules against gov.ie, gov.uk and Revenue is work we have not finished. We are doing it scheme by scheme, highest-value first. Until then, treat the list of things you may qualify for as a prompt to check, not a decision.
Nothing here is a decision on your entitlement. Only the Department of Social Protection, HMRC, DWP or Revenue can decide that.
Why we print the date
Each of our calculators carries a line like “8 figures verified against gov.ie on 3 September 2026”. The count and the sources are generated from the register itself, so the line cannot drift from what is actually checked.
That is deliberate. A date is only worth printing while it is true, which makes keeping the register current a visible obligation rather than a good intention.
What happens to what you type
Nothing you enter leaves your device. The checkers and calculators run entirely in your browser. There is no account, no sign-up, and we do not store, transmit or sell your answers. Saving a result writes it to your own browser storage only, which is why clearing your browser loses it.
Who pays for this
Nobody. There are no adverts, no affiliate links, no sponsorship, and no money from any bank, credit union, insurer, supermarket or government body. The site is built and run by one person. If that ever changes we will say so on this page first.
gov.ie — Department of Social Protection operational guidelines and rates of payment · Revenue tax credits, reliefs and exemptions · gov.uk for Britain and Northern Ireland.
Currently 154 pages and 20 calculators and checkers. Figures last verified 3 September 2026.
Using our tools on your own site or for your members? See Partners. We are happy to walk any organisation through the checks above before they use anything of ours.