This 10 minute Martin Lewis MSE tip saved man £6,600 a…

This 10 minute Martin Lewis MSE tip saved man £6,600 a year

A MoneySavingExpert.com reader has told how he's £550 a month better off thanks to an easy 10-minute tip. Millions of households don't claim benefits worth thousands of pounds a year they are eligible for.

On Martin Lewis 's MoneySavingExpert.com there's a calculator to determine if people can get support, the Mirror reports. One reader named Joel wrote into the latest newsletter, and said he's £550 better off a month - or £6,600 a year - after using the calculator.

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He wrote: "In your weekly email, you encouraged people to check if they're eligible for Universal Credit. I didn't think I'd qualify, but thought I'd check - turns out I was eligible for £550 a month! Thanks so much for the advice, I'd never have checked otherwise."

The calculator Joel refers to was built for MSE by benefits specialists EntitledTo. It can be used to find out whether you're eligible to get help from the government and is said to only take 10 minutes.

You can find the calculator here.

Earlier this week, it was reported how a fan of Martin Lewis explained how she has saved £1,200 a year on childcare by following his advice. The parent, known only as Kiran, sent an email to the Money Saving Expert (MSE) website after spotting information about the tax-free childcare scheme in its weekly newsletter.

The tax-free childcare scheme offers parents up to £2,000 a year per child towards childcare costs, including nursery, childminder and wraparound care. It is Government-backed and is designed so that for every 80p you put into your tax-free childcare account, the state will add 20p.

You can get up to £500 tax-free every three months (up to £2,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. This goes up to £1,000 every three months (up to £4,000 a year) if a child is disabled.

However according to MSE, while over one million families are eligible, around 800,000 aren't currently using it. Kiran, who emailed the MSE team in October, said she had “no idea” about the scheme beforehand - but now saves £1,200 a year.

In the email, Kiran wrote: "I had no idea about the tax-free childcare scheme until I received an email highlighting I could pay for after-school care through its website and save 20%. Thanks to Martin and his team, I now save around £100 a month. I am so grateful. Thank you."