Here is a result from the Minimum Income Calculator for a single person.



How much is this persons actual income? £

How much more do they need to reach the minimum income? - = £

The income is from three different benefits. Can you fill in the table to calculate what percentage of income comes from each benefit?

Benefit	Amount £	Percentage %
Housing benefit	69.66	(69.66/155) x 100=45%
Council Tax Benefit	14.34	(14.34/[?]) x 100 =[?]%
Income Support/JSA	71	([?]/155) x 100 = [?]%
Total	155	100

Now see if you can calculate the percentages for the different items of expenditure. Do the percentage calculations as you did the last table. Take the expenditure amount, divide by the total expenditure and multiply by 100. Round your answers to 1 decimal place. Some have been done for you.

Expenditure Type	Amount £	Percentage %
Food	48.25	17.8
Alcohol	5.13
Clothing	9.31
Water Rates	[?]
Council Tax	14.34
Household Insurances	1.98
Gas, Electricity etc	20.00	7.4
Other Housing Costs	2.54
Household Goods	11.55	4.3
Household Services	3.61
Childcare	0	0
Personal Goods and Services	11.65	4.3
Travel costs and motoring	22.39
Social and Cultural Activities	44.76	16.5
Rent	69.66
Mortgage	0	0
Total	270.63	100

Note-if you add up all the percentages it only comes to 99.8. Don't worry, you haven't made a mistake. This is what we call a "rounding error". Since we rounded the percentage calculations our total isn't exactly 100, but it does round to 100, so that is fine.

What are the 5 biggest items of expenditure?
1. [?]
2. [?]
3. [?]
4.
5. [?]

Do any of these suprise you? How does it compare to your budget? What do you think is included in "Social and Cultural activities"? If you are working in a class discuss these questions with a friend.

The amount for alcohol is £5.13. If a pint of bitter costs £2.87 how many pints is this a week?
5.13 ÷ 2.87 = [?] pints (round your answer to 1 decimal point)
This means that the budget only allows for between [?] and [?] pints each week.

Find out more about the Minimum Income Standard and work out your own minimum income here.