Every number. Every formula. Every source.

SortedUK's decode-v2 tool reads UK letters from HMRC, DWP, local councils, courts, DVLA, NHS and other official organisations. It identifies the sender, explains what the letter means in plain English, highlights important deadlines, shows what may happen if you take no action, recommends your next step and assigns a colour-coded risk badge. This includes benefit letters, Universal Credit letters, Pension Credit letters, council tax notices, court claims and other official UK correspondence.

How we identify the sender

• Pattern matching against known UK government letterheads, postcodes, reference number formats (e.g., HMRC UTR is 10 digits, DWP claim references vary by benefit, court claim numbers follow a county-then-number format) and disclaimer footers ("Information is available in large print, audio and Braille…").
• AI classification using the live decoder (when the API key is set) against a UK-letter taxonomy of ~45 sender types. When the key is not set, falls back to the classic rule-based decoder.
• Cross-verification: if the letter mentions a phone number, we check it against a list of ~80 verified UK government and regulator helplines. Mismatch flags a scam.

How we set the risk badge

• 🟢 No action needed — informational letters, confirmations of awards, reminders with no consequence for the reader, courtesy notices.
• 🟡 Action soon — letters with a real deadline more than 14 days away, requests for evidence with consequences that are reversible.
• 🔴 Act now — court summonses, enforcement notices, MR/appeal windows closing within 14 days, benefit suspension threats, eviction notices, bailiff schedules. Any letter whose escalation path includes losing your home, your driving licence, your benefits or your bank account.

The decoder identifies deadlines using: (a) UK date-format and ISO-date pattern matching within the letter, (b) keyword detection around phrases such as "reply by", "deadline", "no later than", and "within X days or weeks", and (c) sender-specific UK rules when no explicit deadline is stated.

This is particularly important for HMRC letters, DWP benefit letters, Universal Credit decisions, Pension Credit correspondence, council notices, parking penalties, court claims and other official UK communications where missing a deadline can affect your rights, appeal options or entitlement.

Default deadlines are based on official UK rules and guidance, not estimates:

• Self Assessment online: 31 January after end of tax year · source: HMRC, gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns/deadlines
• Self Assessment paper: 31 October after end of tax year
• Mandatory Reconsideration: 1 calendar month from decision letter · source: DWP Decision Makers' Guide
• First-tier Tribunal (SSCS): 1 calendar month from MR Notice · source: HMCTS
• Council PCN appeal: 28 days from issue (14 if discount paid) · source: Traffic Penalty Tribunal
• Private parking POPLA: 28 days from rejection letter · source: POPLA terms
• Companies House confirmation statement: 14 days from review date · source: gov.uk/file-your-confirmation-statement-with-companies-house
• Companies House accounts: 9 months after accounting period end (private Ltd) · source: Companies Act 2006 s.442
• FOS escalation: 6 months from firm's final response · source: FOS rules DISP 2.8.2
• Housing Ombudsman: 12 months from landlord's final response · source: HOS Scheme paragraph 26

The Better Off Scan asks seven questions about your household, income, age, employment, home and circumstances, then identifies benefits, financial support, hidden money, savings opportunities and other UK schemes you may be entitled to. Results are grouped into six panels: Money You May Be Owed, Savings You Can Make, Home Opportunities, Business Opportunities, Risks and Recommended Next Steps. Each recommendation includes an estimated annual value based on official UK scheme rates, benefit rates and financial support programmes for 2025/26 and 2026/27.

How a range is calculated

Each opportunity is assigned a realistic low and high annual value using official UK data. For example, Pension Credit calculations use actual award levels, average payments and eligibility rules published by the DWP. Similar methodology is applied to Universal Credit, Council Tax Reduction, household support schemes, discounts, grants and other financial help available through UK government and local authority programmes.

Ranges are shown instead of single estimates because entitlement can vary depending on income, savings, housing costs, employment status and household circumstances.

Total Improvement Estimate

The total annual improvement figure uses the midpoint of each qualifying range rather than the maximum possible amount. This approach is designed to avoid overstating potential entitlement. The figure represents SortedUK's estimate of how much better off you could be each year if all relevant benefits, financial support and savings opportunities apply to your situation, with a full breakdown showing the contribution of each scheme.

The Mortgage Ready Score takes income, deposit, target price, monthly debts, employment status and FTB status, then returns a 0–100 score across 4 weighted factors. This is a self-assessment tool, not an FCA-regulated affordability decision.

Verdict bands

• 80–100 ready: most high-street lenders will offer at requested LTV.
• 60–79 close: probable acceptance with some lenders; specialist broker recommended.
• 40–59 stretch: needs work on deposit, debts, or income evidence.
• 0–39 not yet: focus on the largest single factor first.

Stamp Duty in the result panel

SDLT calculated against current 2025/26 rules — see section 5 for full bands.

The SDLT figures shown on /home-buyer, /mortgage-ready-score and /decide use HMRC's current published bands. England & Northern Ireland only; Wales uses LTT, Scotland uses LBTT.

Standard residential (single property, primary residence)

First-time buyer relief

Additional property (second home, BTL)

The Benefits Checker screens eligibility across around 20 UK benefits, financial support schemes and household support programmes using rule-based eligibility logic. Each benefit is assessed against official DWP, HMRC, NHS and local authority guidance. We reproduce the published eligibility rules as accurately as possible and do not estimate awards beyond what the available information supports. For example, Universal Credit entitlement depends on factors such as earnings, housing costs, deductions and work allowances that cannot be calculated accurately without additional verified information. Where exact calculations are not possible, SortedUK explains the eligibility criteria and directs users to the official claim process.

Examples of eligibility rules used by the checker

• Pension Credit — State Pension age and qualifying income thresholds based on current DWP rates.
• Universal Credit — household circumstances, income, savings and work status assessed against current eligibility requirements.
• Attendance Allowance — State Pension age and long-term personal care or supervision needs.
• Carer's Allowance — providing at least 35 hours of care per week for someone receiving a qualifying disability benefit and meeting earnings rules.
• Marriage Allowance — qualifying married couples or civil partners where one partner earns below the Personal Allowance threshold.
• Healthy Start — pregnancy or children under four with qualifying benefits or low-income support.
• Council Tax Reduction — low-income households and other qualifying circumstances, subject to local council rules and eligibility criteria.

The checker helps users identify benefits, financial support, Council Tax Reduction, disability benefits, household support and other UK schemes they may be entitled to, with links to official guidance and application routes where available.

/biggest-opportunity scores the user against 14 known UK opportunities by combining (a) eligibility match from the 8 quiz answers and (b) £/yr value of the opportunity.

The top-scoring opportunity is shown in the dark hero card. The next four are runners-up. Each card cites the source for the value and the eligibility test. Examples:

• Pension Credit avg award £4,200/yr (DWP National Statistics 2024)
• Attendance Allowance £3,988–£5,959/yr (DWP 2026/27 rates)
• Council Tax Reduction avg £900/yr (Policy in Practice 2025)
• Marriage Allowance £252/yr (HMRC published)
• Disabled Facilities Grant up to £30,000 (one-off, not /yr)

The Discover For Me 10-question wizard returns a single priority action by combining three signals from the answer set:

Four result cards (Money / Risks / Opportunities / Local) are then personalised by the answer set. Each card routes into an existing Sorted hub.

The /outcomes ledger publishes anonymised outcome data, success rates and average £ amounts from opted-in users only. This includes outcomes from benefits claims, financial support applications, Council Tax Reduction cases, complaints, appeals and other UK guidance routes available through SortedUK. The free service stores this in your browser (localStorage); for signed-in users, accounts run on our ICO-registered backend (CA Capital Limited, company no. 10848369; ICO reference C1968991), with two-way case sync being added.

Opt-in protocol

• When a user saves a case to their Passport and later marks it as resolved, they are asked: "Help the next person — share this outcome anonymously?"
• If the user agrees, only the category, outcome status (won, partial, lost or abandoned) and an optional financial amount are added to the anonymised outcomes dataset. No personally identifiable information is stored or published.
• If the user declines, the outcome remains private within their Passport and is never shared.

What we publish

Outcome statistics are published only when a category reaches at least 30 verified outcomes. Below this threshold, categories are marked as "Early Data" and no success rate is calculated. This helps ensure that benefits, financial support, complaint and appeal outcome statistics are based on meaningful sample sizes rather than limited data.

Every claim on SortedUK is sourced. Our verification protocol:

• Tier A — UK official: GOV.UK, HMRC, DWP, NHS, Companies House, VOA, Ofcom, Ofgem, Ofwat, FCA, ICO, FOS, Housing Ombudsman, ACAS, HSE, Ofsted, DVLA, HM Passport Office, HMCTS, ONS, CAA, CMA, ORR, PHSO. Direct paragraph-level citation where possible.
• Tier B — UK regulated: Citizens Advice, MoneyHelper, StepChange, Shelter, Age UK, Carers UK, Turn2us, Trussell Trust, Samaritans. Registered charities or government-funded services.
• Tier C — Sector data: Policy in Practice, British Business Bank, Innovate UK, Energy Ombudsman annual report, Carers UK State of Caring, UK Pet Food, ABI, Cabinet Office SME data.

We do not cite: third-party blogs, comparison sites, paid claims-management firms, generic Google searches, or "industry experts" without an institutional affiliation.

Every recommendation on SortedUK is tagged with a confidence band so you know how much to trust the number.

• High — the number is published by an official UK body, currently in force, and verified within the last 90 days. Examples: published SDLT bands, State Pension rates, HMRC penalties, NLW.
• Medium — the number depends on an assessment (e.g., PIP daily-living score, Council Tax band reassessment), or is a published average across all UK claimants. Examples: Pension Credit average award, FOS uphold rate.
• Low / Building — the number is from a small sample, early SortedUK opt-in data, or a sector estimate with known caveats. Examples: SortedUK's own per-category outcome rate while <30 outcomes; Truely-style estimates we don't have paid data for yet.

• Tax-year-sensitive numbers (PA, NI thresholds, ISA limits, SDLT, dividend tax, CGT allowance): reviewed at start of every new tax year (6 April) and within 7 days of any in-year change announced at Budget.
• Benefit rates: reviewed at start of every new benefit year (1 April for State Pension & means-tested benefits; 1 April for UC).
• Helpline numbers: reviewed monthly via a sitewide grep of tel: links and verified against the listed body's published contact page.
• Verified-source URLs: reviewed quarterly. Any 404 triggers a corrections row.
• FAQ / Schema.org structured data: reviewed when the underlying answer changes, regardless of cadence.

When SortedUK gets something wrong:

• We fix the page within 7 days of being notified or noticing.
• We publish a correction row at /corrections with the date, the page, what was wrong, why, and what changed.
• We never quietly edit a factual claim and pretend it was always that way.
• The sitewide footer shows the running corrections count so it stays honest.

To flag a correction: corrections@sorteduk.uk

SortedUK is deliberately clear about what it is not:

• SortedUK is not FCA-regulated. We do not give personalised investment, mortgage, insurance or pension advice. Where a regulated decision is involved (mortgage offer, investment product, life insurance), we route the user to an FCA-regulated firm or to MoneyHelper.
• SortedUK is not a UK charity. We are not registered with the Charity Commission. Donations are not tax-deductible.
• SortedUK is not a law firm. We do not give legal advice. Where a solicitor is needed (will, LPA dispute, conveyancing, employment tribunal representation), we route to SRA-regulated firms or to legal aid routes.
• SortedUK is not a tax adviser. We do not file Self Assessment, register companies for tax, or represent against HMRC. Where this is needed, we route to chartered accountants (ICAEW / ACCA / CIOT).
• We do not have government endorsement. References to GOV.UK, HMRC, DWP and NHS are as sources, not as partners. None of those bodies has reviewed or approved SortedUK content.

If you see anything on SortedUK that implies otherwise, that's a bug. Please flag it at corrections@sorteduk.uk and we'll fix it within 7 days.