Across the UK, local authorities are looking for ways to provide residents with more options for accessing advice and support. Rising demand for benefits advice and employability services mean councils are looking to digital tools to help streamline service delivery and complement existing face-to-face provision.

Scottish local authority Stirling Council was seeing increasing numbers of residents seeking advice and support from both the Advice Services and Learning and Employability teams.

Stirling Council introduced Infoshare+’s BetterOff to provide a wider range of accessible options to help residents check benefit entitlement and access information more quickly and independently.

BetterOff, is a one-stop benefits and employment platform that enables residents to assess their benefit entitlements, access local support information, and explore how moving into work could affect their income. The platform combines accessible self-service with employment-focused tools, integrating the entitledto benefits calculator with locally tailored content and resources.

This meant advisers could continue to remain available for those with more complex needs, and residents could access benefit support information more quickly and independently.

Stirling Council logo

Why did Stirling Council choose BetterOff?

Stirling Council’s Welfare Rights and Money Advice team provides essential support to residents navigating complex benefit systems, debt challenges, and financial insecurity. As a non-statutory service, the team is always looking at ways to deliver advice effectively while ensuring resources are used where they are needed most.

Laura Dunnachie, Senior Money Debt and Benefit Adviser at Stirling Council, explained the thinking behind adopting BetterOff:

“If we have a product like BetterOff that we can direct clients to in the first instance for basic benefit checks and understanding how taking on work will impact their benefits, then it gives us more time and capacity to deal with more complex welfare rights issues or supporting people with in-depth advice.”

BetterOff was chosen as a practical solution because it combines benefit checks with employment-related tools in one platform. Unlike standalone benefits calculators, BetterOff provides locally tailored information about advice services, employment support, and other resources specific to Stirling.

Stirling is also a geographically diverse area that includes both urban and rural communities, with a population of around 94,000, spread across a large area. Residents in more rural parts of the council area can live up to an hour’s drive from the nearest council office. For these residents, online access provides another, more accessible way to check benefit entitlements without the need for a lengthy journey.

“At the time there were no other products on the market that matched the unique approach provided by BetterOff; focusing on users and the issues they face, from beginning to end. Whether it is a much-improved, easy-to-use job-seeking journal, the jargon-free advice and support when filling out forms, or the optimised application forms; BetterOff presented a real opportunity to Stirling Council to deliver a valuable self-service tool to its citizens. BetterOff is also fully responsive and has been designed to be accessible on a wide range of devices, from desktop PCs to tablets and smartphones.”

Diane Connock – Team Leader, Advice Services & Welfare Reform, Stirling Council

How BetterOff Is used at Stirling Council

Stirling Council uses BetterOff to provide residents with an option to check their benefit entitlement online. The Advice Service continues to carry out benefit checks for clients where appropriate and signposts BetterOff as an additional choice. For residents able and willing to use digital tools independently, BetterOff provides a way to get information quickly, with the option to come back to the team if they need further support or have questions about the results.

The platform has also proven particularly useful for the Council’s Learning and Employability colleagues. They can use BetterOff to show clients how taking up work could affect their benefit income. This helps address concerns and supports people to understand both the financial and positive implications of employment.

“There is a general nervousness especially for people with disability benefits, about what’s going to happen to their benefits,” Laura explained.

“Being able to put it in black and white and go through it with them is great. It helps us to say, ‘actually it’s shown you’re still going to be entitled, or you’re going to be comparatively the same, but there’s a lot more benefits to work than just money’. Our employability colleagues use it a lot with their customers when they’re sat down with them.”

The “better off in work” feature allows multiple scenarios to be considered, such as different working hours, helping residents factor in other commitments like childcare. Previously, these conversations would have required a referral to the Welfare Rights team. BetterOff allows the employability team to have these conversations directly with clients and save referrals for only the more complex cases.

The platform is also useful for other council services. Staff in areas such as social work, who are not benefits specialists, can signpost residents to BetterOff when questions about entitlements arise. This gives residents an option to check things independently if they prefer not to be referred to another service, while those who need more support can still access the Welfare Rights team.

Implementation

A project group oversaw the implementation and provided training to council staff and partners, enabling them to support residents in using the platform. BetterOff is signposted through the Council’s website, and a working group ensures the content remains accurate and up to date with welfare reform and policy changes.

The BetterOff platform integrates the entitledto calculator, ensuring that all benefit calculations are accurate and compliant with current legislation. This provides both residents and advisers with confidence in the reliability of the information. The integration means residents can carry out benefit checks within a single platform that also provides local information about advice services, employment support, and other resources they might not otherwise know about.

The Advice Services team manages the platform content and makes the required updates and amendments in line with welfare reform and changes to advice. This ensures that the information provided to residents is clear, accurate, and up to date.

Raising awareness of the initiative with residents

Stirling Council has taken a proactive, multi-channel approach to raising awareness of the BetterOff platform and encouraging engagement amongst their residents.

  • The platform featured on their website and highlighted on the landing pages of local libraries.
  • The Welfare Rights and Money Advice team includes the BetterOff link in their email signatures.
  • The team promotes BetterOff during awareness sessions with partner organisations, including the Health and Social Care Partnership and employability networks.
  • Physical collateral, including leaflets and the Council’s annual benefits guide also signpost residents to the platform. The team produced a recorded BetterOff session as part of the Council’s staff Wellness Programme, distributed quarterly by HR alongside training and wellbeing resources. This helps ensure employees across the organisation are familiar with the platform, both for their own use and to support residents and colleagues who may benefit from it. This resource has been shared widely, both across council services and with partners, as a tool for upskilling on benefit awareness and to enable informed signposting to the platform.

Benefits of the BetterOff platform

Accessible choices for residents: BetterOff gives residents more options for accessing benefits information. Some people prefer to look things up independently in their own time, while others may feel uncomfortable contacting an advice service due to stigma or simply preferring not to share their circumstances with another person. The platform provides a private, pressure-free way to check entitlements at a time that suits them. This is particularly valuable for council employees who may be entitled to benefits but feel uncomfortable seeking advice from what they might see as colleagues.

Supporting employability conversations: The “better off in work” feature is regularly used by the Learning and Employability team when working with clients considering a return to work. This allows straightforward scenarios to be addressed without requiring a separate referral.

Locally tailored information: Unlike standalone benefits calculators, BetterOff includes local information about advice services and support available in Stirling. Residents can discover resources they might not otherwise have known about.

Accessible across devices: The platform is fully responsive and works across desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones, making it accessible for the widest proportion of users.

Accurate and compliant: The integration with entitledto ensures that all benefit calculations are accurate and up to date with current legislation, giving both residents and advisers confidence in the information provided.

Looking Ahead

Overall, BetterOff is a useful online tool that complements Stirling Council’s existing services, giving residents more choice and providing an additional route for those who prefer or need online access.

“It’s a fantastic platform and one we actively promote both internally and externally at events we attend regularly. We want to get the word out there and get more people to engage with it, so we really value the opportunity to share our journey with BetterOff.”

For other local authorities considering BetterOff, Stirling’s experience demonstrates how a digital platform can provide residents with additional options for accessing benefits information and employment advice, while complementing the essential work of frontline advisers.