This article was published on Wed 08 Feb 2023. At the time of publishing, this article was true and accurate, however, over time this may have changed. Some links may no longer work. If you have any concerns about this please contact us

Are you struggling to manage your money? Do you wonder where it all goes each month? Then having a budget could help. If you’re not sure where to start don’t worry, we have some helpful information on budgeting right here for you!

It’s estimated that around 34% of Police Officers and Staff in the UK have below average levels of financial awareness*. To help, we think the below guide on budgeting could be a great way to start when trying to stay on top of your finances.

By keeping track of how much money you have coming in (your income) and how much money you have going out (your spending) you can get a clear picture of your finances and take control of your money.

Please remember, if you are struggling with debt then no matter how big you feel the problem is there is help at hand. We have provided some resources at the end of this article which we believe could be helpful. Our friendly Financial Wellbeing Consultants also frequently visit local stations up and down the UK so take advantage and speak to them!

Why budget?

Budgeting can help you:

• See exactly where your money goes
• Spot overspending or when you’re paying for things you no longer need or use
• Live within your means – you can adjust your spending when necessary
• Work out what you can afford
• Plan for big expenses such as Christmas, holidays and annual bills
• Save when you can for the future

Drawing up a budget

You can create a budget using pen and paper, a spreadsheet or with the help of an online budget planner. We also have our own budget calculator to help you with drawing up your budget following the steps below!

Budgeting can be harder if you or the person you live with has an income that varies – for example, on a zero-hours contract, are self-employed or on certain benefits. Get tips on how to budget if your income goes up and down.

Gather together useful information: Include details of any income you receive (salary, pension, benefit payments and income from savings and investments), as well as household bills, food bills, credit card statements, insurance costs and so on.

Identify all your income: This is money you regularly receive. Work out your total income after tax to see how much you have to spend. If you receive any irregular or unpredictable income such as over-time or gifts from family, think carefully before including it in your budget as you cannot always rely on it. It may be better to put this to one side.

Work out your spending: Make a list of everything you spend. As well as regular spending, this can include occasional spending such as for Christmas, holidays and meals or days out. Work out how much you spend on average and then calculate how much you need to set aside for each relevant occasion. This can vary so you might only set aside a certain amount and stick to this!

Take your spending away from your income: This may result in you having a surplus each month which is great. If not, and your spending is higher than your income, then you should look to take action where possible. 

Ways to increase your income

There are various ways you may be able to boost your income but we understand all these are not options to many of you in the Police, but they may be helpful and appropriate for your family.

• If you’re working, you may be able to increase your hours or pick up some overtime where it suits your schedule. If you’re not working, you may be able to get a part-time job that suits your needs and gives you an income.
• Check you’re claiming any benefits or other financial help you’re entitled to. If you’re on a low income you may be entitled to some form of income support or help with your housing costs. If you care for someone, are in poor health or your household changes (e.g., someone moves out or dies) you may be entitled to other benefits. To find out more about benefits and check your benefit entitlements use one of the government’s benefits calculators.
• If you have a spare room in your home, you may be able to rent this out. You can earn up to £7,500 in rent before you have to pay tax on this money. Find more about the government’s rent a room scheme.

Ways to cut your spending

If you can’t increase your income, you may be able to cut your spending.

• Check your budget for any over or unnecessary spending.
• Divide up your spending into needs and wants. Needs are things you have to pay for such as rent and food, wants are things you could do without at a push. Once you’ve worked out your essential spending (your needs) you can then see how much cash you have left for other things (your wants).

If your circumstances change

It’s a good idea to regularly review your budget as your income and spending patterns can change. You may also find that prices go up which affects how much you are spending in total and what money you have left over.

Your circumstances might change if someone moves in or out of your household, you cut your working hours or stop work altogether, your health deteriorates, you start to receive extra income such as the State Pension or a private pension.

Money saving tips

Here are some tips for saving money on household bills.

• Take advantage of supermarket offers, money-saving vouchers and retail discounts. Find out more on MoneySavingExpert.com.
• If you need help with energy bills visit the energy regulator’s website at ofgem.gov.uk. To find ways to save energy in your home visit gov.uk for details.
• Not everyone has savings but if you do, ensure your savings are earning the best rates of interest by a using price comparison website. For a useful guide on using price comparison websites, see the MoneyHelper.

Useful Resources

• Energy Saving Trust – Tips to save energy
• MoneyHelper – Advice on budgeting
• Which? – Best ways to save money

Support with debt:

• PayPlan^ – Managing Debt
• StepChange – Debt Support
• Citizens Advice – Debt and money

You can find more on budgeting at:

• MoneyHelper
• Money Saving Expert
• Which?

You can find budget planners at:

• MoneyHelper
• StepChange
• Money Saving Expert

*Source: Experian Data and Police Mutual Database – January 2023

^ PayPlan is a trading name of Totemic Limited. Totemic Limited is a limited company registered in England, Company Number: 2789854. Registered Office: Kempton House, Dysart Road, PO Box 9562, Grantham, NG31 0EA. Totemic Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Conduct Authority Number: 681263

This article was published on Mon 31 Oct 2022. At the time of publishing, this article was true and accurate, however, over time this may have changed. Some links may no longer work. If you have any concerns about this please contact us

With rising prices in almost every aspect of life, many people are struggling to cope as pressure on household finances continue.

In September 2022 Royal London carried out research, amongst 4,000 UK adults, to explore the changes people have already made to help with the cost of living and how they are coping with the current pressures on their finances.

Key Research Findings

• Approximately a third of adults are already spending money they don’t have, by going either overdrawn (often or occasionally) or borrowing to meet everyday expenses.
• Over 9 in 10 adults (93%) said they are worried about energy bills and almost the same number (89%) are worried about the cost of food.
• Approximately one in six people (16%) said they have already taken on an additional job to help pay for the cost of living crisis*.

For more research findings click here.

Top 10 Tips That Could Help

You may already be making changes to feel more in control of your money, but if not, here are some tips to help you get on top of your finances.

1. Find out where your money’s going

Start by finding out where your money’s being spent. It sounds obvious, but many of us don’t realise exactly how much we’re spending each month – and what we’re spending on – until it’s laid out in front of us.

Keep a spending diary for a month where you write down everything you spend, or track your spending using your phone. Many banks now have features on their mobile apps that you can use to track spending. Monitoring your money can help you build a picture of exactly where it’s going.

2. Go through your statements

Grab your last three bank statements and credit card bills and spend some time going through them, highlighting any areas where you think you’re spending money unnecessarily or spending too much. This could be on anything from a top of the range broadband package that you don’t need, to a mobile phone contract where you’re paying for data you don’t use.

3. Cancel old subscriptions

A number of households are spending £265 a year on subscriptions for goods and services they don’t even use, according to research by Compare The Market**.

This can include gym memberships, phone contracts and video streaming plans like Netflix or Amazon Prime. Even magazine subscriptions of a few pounds a month are money down the drain if you don’t have time to read the magazine! Take a few minutes and cancel any subscriptions you don’t really use to save yourself a bit of cash.

4. Save money on your bills

Switching your energy supplier used to be a good way of saving money on your household bills, but with energy prices soaring, you may be better off staying on the standard tariff with your existing supplier once your fixed rate tariff comes to an end.

You may also be able to save money on your water bills by having a meter if you don’t already have one. It will depend on the size of your home and how much water you use.

5. Break any bad habits

Take a look at your spending and see if there are areas where you’ve fallen into bad money habits, such as buying a coffee or lunch every day. Cutting that takeaway coffee to once or twice a week, or preparing more of your meals at home, will add up to meaningful savings over a year.

6. Draw up a budget

Drawing up a weekly or monthly budget will help you get your finances under control. There are plenty of templates online to get you started, like the MoneyHelper budget planner.

Alternatively, you can also use budgeting apps to plan what you want to spend and keep track of it. There are plenty available, including Money Dashboard and Moneyhub.

We have our own handy budget calculator which you can use to get an idea of your current monthly expenditure. Take a look here.

7. See if you can pay less interest

If you owe money on an expensive credit card, it may be worth considering whether you can transfer the balance to a credit card charging 0% interest. Although these cards are interest free, you will normally be charged a balance transfer fee of up to 3% of the amount you transfer. Because you won’t be charged interest on your balance, more of your money can go to repaying what you owe.

These cards aren’t right for everyone, and it’s important to make sure you can pay off your balance by the time the 0% interest deal runs out. It may also affect your credit score, especially if you do it multiple times.

8. Get help with unmanageable debts

If you are struggling to pay for the essentials, you are using one credit card to pay off another, or your debts are causing you worry, then contact a debt advice charity, such as StepChange. They will be able to give you help with your debts, free of charge. They may also be able to tell you whether you are able to claim any state benefits.

We’ve teamed up with PayPlan, one of the UK’s leading free debt advice providers, who offer free and confidential advice to anyone in serious financial difficulties.

9. Check your credit report

Your credit report is a snapshot of the information that’s on your credit file. And this information is used by companies you already have a credit agreement with, and lenders you apply to, to make decisions about how good a risk you are. You have the right – by law – to see a copy of your credit report free of charge. It’s worth doing so you can see the information that lenders you apply to can access. Importantly, if there are any mistakes you can get them corrected.

There are several different credit reference agencies, but the main ones are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

10. Check if you’re entitled to state benefits

Billions of pounds of state benefits go unclaimed each year, and you could be missing out. The national charity Turn2us has a free and confidential benefits calculator on its website which can help you work out which means-tested benefits you’re entitled to. It also has a grant search tool and information on grants you may be able to apply for.

Sources:

* Royal London research – Cost of living report – Royal London

** Compare The Market Source – Compare the Market Research

PayPlan is a trading name of Totemic Limited. Totemic Limited is a limited company registered in England, Company Number: 2789854. Registered Office: Kempton House, Dysart Road, PO Box 9562, Grantham, NG31 0EA. Totemic Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Conduct Authority Number: 681263

This article was published on Mon 31 Oct 2022. At the time of publishing, this article was true and accurate, however, over time this may have changed. Some links may no longer work. If you have any concerns about this please contact us

Price increases and rising inflation continue to put a lot of pressure on household finances. A recent survey by YouGov identified some regular subscriptions and monthly payments that people are looking at cutting back on as part of the cost of living crisis impact[1].

Of the 6 subscription categories, gym memberships were most likely to be stopped completely. 7% of adults surveyed ceased gym subscriptions completely. By comparison, only 1% of adults surveyed stopped their home insurance payments completely.  

In terms of making cutbacks to reduce monthly outgoings, about half of those surveyed didn’t make any cutbacks to their car insurance or home insurance (50% and 56% respectively didn’t make any cutbacks). Only mobile and broadband contracts were higher percentages (64% and 67% of those surveyed didn’t make any cutbacks), where people are likely to be tied into contracts. Only 11% of the adults surveyed didn’t make any cutbacks to their gym membership payments.

Only 4% of respondents made cutbacks through choice not necessity for their car insurance and 3% for home insurance.

When it comes to car and home insurance, only 1% of adults surveyed stopped paying completely for home insurance and only 2% for car insurance. Car insurance is a legal requirement in the UK, but home insurance isn’t. Fortunately, people look to be recognising the extremely high-risk decision of not insuring their home and contents.

Around one in ten adults surveyed looked to reduce their car or home insurance payments by switching (13% for car insurance and 11% for home insurance).

So how do I best review my car and home insurance costs

Firstly, remember that the vast majority of people in this survey made the positive decision to continue with their car insurance and their home insurance. In addition, over half of car and home insurance holders didn’t make any cutbacks to their payments.

If you are looking at making cutbacks, these could be achieved by options such as opting to pay a higher excess in the event of a claim, or not covering home contents for accidental damage.

Some policies allow you to pay monthly instead of a lump sum annual payment for no extra charge. This helps you with your budgeting and can save you money each month if you don’t have to pay any charges to spread your costs over a 12-month period. The Police Mutual Car Insurance and Home Insurance policies allow you to pay monthly for no additional charges.

If you are looking at switching insurance providers or making cutbacks in other ways it is important that you consider your personal needs and the value you want your policy to continue to provide.

Some insurance policies may promote a lower headline cost, but either not include certain elements that you personally would find useful or need, or make you pay extra for elements that you want to make use of.

Examples could include:

• choosing a policy that doesn’t charge to make changes during the policy term (e.g. mileage, address and insured driver changes, provision of duplicate documents, changes to cover levels)
• including a courtesy car so you can remain mobile if your car needs to go in for repairs as a result of a claim
• choosing a policy that includes protection for officers travelling to or from work in their car whilst carrying official kit such as their Police Uniform.

Police Mutual car and home insurance policies don’t charge you to make changes to your policy, whilst car insurance includes courtesy car and Police official kit protection as standard.

So, it pays to look beyond the headline cost and get a policy that works for you and your specific needs.

If you do decide to investigate switching, Police Mutual Insurance policies also allow you to switch from your existing provider to Police Mutual without having to wait until your renewal date.

Check out more about Police Mutual Car Insurance and Home Insurance here.

Car Insurance and Home Insurance is provided by Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Ltd.

PMGI Limited, trading as Police Mutual is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Services Register No. 114942. Registered in England & Wales No.1073408. Registered office: Brookfield Court, Selby Road, Leeds, LS25 1NB. For your security, all telephone calls are recorded and may be monitored.

[1] YouGov – Cost of living cutbacks subscriptions and insurance.pdf