Editorial Policy

1. Our mission

CalcHub.uk exists to help people in the United Kingdom understand the financial rules and rates that affect their money — quickly, accurately and without charge.

We focus on two formats:

• Calculators — interactive tools that turn real UK rules (HMRC income tax bands, NI rates, SDLT slabs, Ofgem caps, NHS BMI categories, DVLA road tax bands, and so on) into a single answer for a single set of inputs.
• Articles — plain-English explanations of how those rules work, what changed and why, and how to apply them in real situations.

We do not sell financial products, take affiliate commission on regulated financial products, or offer personalised financial advice. Where we mention specific providers, it is for context only and we disclose any relationship.

2. How we research

Every figure, rate, threshold and rule on this site is traced to an authoritative primary source — typically a UK government department, regulator or official statistical body.

When writing a new calculator or article, we work in this order:

1. Identify the relevant UK legislation, statutory instrument or HMRC guidance.
2. Retrieve the official figure (rate, threshold, band) directly from the source.
3. Cross-check against at least one secondary authoritative source where possible (e.g. HMRC published example calculations, OBR fiscal outlook).
4. Build or update the calculation logic against worked examples.
5. Write the explanatory copy, citing the primary source inline.
6. Editorial review by a second pair of eyes.
7. Publish, with a visible "last updated" date.

3. Sources we use

Our primary sources, by topic:

• Tax (income tax, NI, VAT, CGT, IHT, SDLT, dividend, corporation): HMRC / gov.uk
• Scotland-specific tax (SIT, LBTT): Revenue Scotland and Scottish Government
• Wales-specific (WRIT, LTT, Council Tax bands): Welsh Revenue Authority, Welsh Government
• Northern Ireland (Domestic Rates): Land & Property Services NI, nidirect
• Pensions, statutory pay, State Pension, benefits: DWP, HMRC
• Energy price cap and tariff structure: Ofgem
• BMI, calorie guidance, alcohol units, NHS health metrics: NHS, NICE
• Road tax (VED), vehicle classifications: DVLA, gov.uk
• Inflation (CPI/RPI), average earnings, regional statistics: ONS
• Bank Rate, monetary policy: Bank of England (MPC statements, MPR)
• NHS pay scales (Agenda for Change): NHS Employers, NHS Scotland, NHS Wales
• Fiscal context and forecasts: HM Treasury Budget documents, OBR fiscal outlooks

When we cite a figure, the source link points to the primary publication on that source's own domain, not to a third-party aggregator.

4. Fact-checking process

Every published piece must pass an internal fact-checking checklist:

• All numerical figures (rates, thresholds, allowances, percentages) traced to a primary source and verified against it.
• Worked examples cross-checked against HMRC's own example calculations where published; otherwise verified by manual computation by a second team member.
• Calculator outputs verified against HMRC's reference calculators (where they exist) to within £1 of accuracy.
• Tax-year dates verified against the actual UK tax year boundary (6 April to 5 April).
• All legal terms used consistently with HMRC/gov.uk usage (e.g. "Self Assessment" as a proper noun, "tax code" not "tax-code", etc.).
• External links checked as live and pointing to primary sources.

Errors found post-publication are corrected following our corrections policy.

5. How we keep content current

UK personal-finance content has a particularly demanding update cycle. We address this in three ways:

Annual tax-year refresh

The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. Every calculator and every article referencing a specific tax year is reviewed in the four-week window around 6 April each year. Rates, thresholds, allowances and tax-code references are updated. The "Last updated" date on each page is set to the date of the review.

Event-triggered updates

When the UK Chancellor delivers a Budget or Autumn Statement, or when the Bank of England MPC changes the base rate, or when Ofgem announces a new price cap, we publish a news article within 24 hours and update relevant evergreen content within 7 days.

Quarterly evergreen review

Every quarter we audit a sample of evergreen pages against current primary sources to catch any drift between our published figures and the latest published rates.

6. Authors and reviewers

Every blog post is published under a named author. The currently active authors are:

• CalcHub Editorial
  Editorial Team

  The CalcHub Editorial team researches, writes and reviews every calculator, guide and article published on CalcHub.uk. Our remit is to translate the rules that govern UK personal finance — income tax bands, National Insurance thresholds, stamp duty slabs, Ofgem price caps, NHS health metrics, DVLA road-tax bands — into tools and explanations that anyone can use in under a minute. Every figure we publish is traced to a primary source: HMRC, Revenue Scotland, the Welsh Revenue Authority, Land & Property Services NI, DWP, Ofgem, the Bank of England, ONS, NHS or DVLA. We cross-check our calculator outputs against HMRC reference calculators to within £1 of accuracy where they exist, and against worked examples in legislation where they do not. The team conducts a full content review every 6 April when the UK tax year turns over, with event-driven updates within 7 days of a Budget, Autumn Statement, MPC base-rate decision or new Ofgem price cap. We do not sell financial products, take affiliate commission on regulated products, or accept payment for editorial placement. Our full editorial standards, sources list and corrections policy are published on the Editorial Policy and Sources pages.

• Emma Clarke
  UK Tax Writer

  Emma Clarke has been writing about UK personal tax since 2018, with a particular focus on Self Assessment, PAYE coding and the practical mechanics of how HMRC actually applies the rules to ordinary salaries. Her work concentrates on translating the dense language of HMRC manuals and Finance Act schedules into worked examples that show, pound by pound, how income tax and National Insurance reduce a gross salary to the figure that lands in a UK bank account. Emma covers the full PAYE lifecycle: tax codes (1257L, BR, K codes, emergency codes), the Marriage Allowance, the High Income Child Benefit Charge, salary sacrifice arrangements and their effect on pensionable pay, the Apprenticeship Levy, and the differences between the rUK and Scottish income-tax regimes. She is particularly interested in the edge cases that catch PAYE employees out — the £100,000 personal-allowance taper, the 60% effective marginal rate it creates, and the interaction between student-loan plans and pension contributions. Every figure in Emma's articles is verified against the current HMRC rates pages and worked through a Self Assessment calculation by hand before publication. She writes to CalcHub's editorial standards: primary-source citations, plain English, no promotional language, and clear "this is general information, not financial advice" disclaimers where appropriate.

• James Morgan
  Property & Mortgage Writer

  James Morgan has been writing about UK property and mortgages since 2016. He covers the full purchase journey — affordability checks, mortgage product comparison, the deposit and loan-to-value puzzle, stamp duty (SDLT in England and Northern Ireland, LBTT in Scotland, LTT in Wales), first-time buyer reliefs, conveyancing costs, and what to expect at completion. James also writes on the landlord side: buy-to-let mortgages, the 3% additional-property SDLT surcharge, Section 24 finance-cost restriction, rental yield maths, and the practical realities of being a small private landlord in the post-2017 tax regime. He has a particular interest in the remortgage decision — when to switch product, the trade-off between rate and arrangement fee, early repayment charges, and how to read a mortgage offer document. James's mortgage worked examples are built up from the underlying amortisation schedule, not borrowed from comparison sites, and stamp-duty figures are verified band-by-band against the HMRC SDLT calculator. He writes to CalcHub's editorial standards, with primary-source citations to HMRC, Revenue Scotland and the Welsh Revenue Authority, and clear disclosure that CalcHub does not sell mortgages or take affiliate commission on regulated mortgage products.

Calculator code and figures are reviewed by a second team member before publication. Where a topic requires specialist input we have not commissioned, we say so plainly ("this is general information, not financial advice — for your specific situation, speak to a qualified accountant or financial adviser").

7. Corrections policy

When we identify an error in published content, we:

1. Correct the error in the source immediately upon verification.
2. Update the "Last updated" date on the affected page.
3. For material errors that altered a numerical answer, add a visible "Updated [date]: [summary of correction]" note at the top of the article.
4. For errors that may have led readers to act on incorrect information (e.g. a wrong tax threshold), publish a brief correction notice and notify any affected subscribers when we operate a newsletter.

We do not silently edit substantive content. Typographical fixes, link maintenance and minor stylistic edits are not flagged.

To report a suspected error, email hello@calchub.uk with the page URL, the figure or claim you believe is wrong, and (if possible) a link to a primary source supporting the correct version.

8. Disclosure and conflicts of interest

CalcHub.uk's editorial decisions are made independently of any commercial relationship.

• We do not currently carry affiliate links to regulated financial products (banks, mortgage providers, ISA providers, insurance, investment platforms).
• Where we mention specific providers in a comparison context (e.g. example fee ranges for ISA platforms), it is to illustrate market structure, not to endorse.
• If we later add affiliate relationships, they will be disclosed prominently on affected pages and listed at this URL.
• No author, reviewer or owner of CalcHub.uk receives compensation for placing or omitting specific product mentions.
• If sponsored content is ever published, it will be clearly labelled "Sponsored" in the byline and excluded from the news category.

9. YMYL and E-E-A-T standards

UK personal finance is a "Your Money or Your Life" (YMYL) topic in Google's search quality framework. We apply the following standards in line with Google's E-E-A-T guidance (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness):

• Every blog post carries a named author with a public bio and area of expertise.
• Every figure has a primary-source citation.
• The site discloses publisher, contact details, methodology and corrections.
• Content is reviewed annually as a minimum, more often for time-sensitive topics.
• Where appropriate, content includes a "this is not financial advice" disclaimer.
• We do not publish content that promises specific financial outcomes ("get rich quick", "guaranteed savings", etc.).

CalcHub.uk is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not provide regulated financial advice. We provide general information only.

10. Use of AI in our content

We use AI tools to assist with research, drafting, summarisation, formatting and proofreading. Every published piece is written, edited and fact-checked by a human author whose name appears in the byline. The human author takes editorial responsibility for accuracy.

We do not:

• Publish AI-generated copy without human editorial review.
• Use AI to invent statistics, citations or "facts" — every number is traced to a primary source.
• Use AI to generate fake personas or fictional authors.
• Use AI-generated photographs of people without disclosure.

If we ever publish content that is materially AI-generated (rather than AI-assisted), it will be labelled as such at the top of the page.

11. Contact and feedback

For any of the following, email hello@calchub.uk:

• Reporting a calculation error or factual mistake.
• Suggesting a new calculator or article topic.
• Requesting clarification on our sources or methodology.
• Press, syndication or corrections enquiries.

We aim to respond to substantive corrections within 2 working days and other queries within 5 working days.