FinanceCore Editorial Policy
This policy sets out how FinanceCore researches its calculators and guides, where its figures come from, how they're kept up to date, and what to do if you spot something wrong.
How guides are researched
Every calculator and article starts from official published guidance rather than secondary commentary. Before a tool goes live, the underlying rates, thresholds and formulas are checked against the relevant government source, and the worked examples are recalculated by hand to confirm the maths matches the stated rules. Where a topic involves genuine judgement — for example, whether to overpay a mortgage or maximise a pension — the content explains the trade-offs rather than telling you what to do.
Source preference order
When figures conflict or a source is ambiguous, FinanceCore follows a fixed order of preference:
- GOV.UK — the primary source for tax, benefits and employment rules.
- HMRC guidance and manuals — for the mechanics of tax and payroll calculations.
- The Student Loans Company — for student loan repayment plans and thresholds.
- The Scottish Government — for Scottish Income Tax bands and rates.
- MoneyHelper — for general money guidance where there is no single statutory figure, such as mortgage or savings concepts.
Commercial comparison sites, forums and news articles are never used as a source for a rate or threshold, even if they're quoting the same underlying figure.
How rates are reviewed
UK tax and benefit rates typically change twice a year: once at a fiscal event (the Spring Budget or Autumn Statement) and once at the start of a new tax year on 6 April. FinanceCore reviews every rate it publishes at both points, and checks the relevant GOV.UK and HMRC pages for interim changes in between. Every set of figures on the site carries a "rates last verified" date so you can see how current the underlying data is — see Data Sources.
Corrections process
If a figure turns out to be wrong — whether because a source changed, was misread, or a calculation contained an error — it's corrected as soon as it's confirmed, and the change is reflected immediately across every calculator that used it, because rates are held in one place rather than duplicated. FinanceCore doesn't publish a public changelog of every correction, but it does not quietly leave known errors live.
General guidance vs regulated financial advice
Everything on FinanceCore is general guidance: it shows you what the published rules produce for the numbers you enter. It is not regulated financial advice, tax advice or legal advice, and it doesn't take account of your full personal circumstances. Regulated financial advice is a specific, defined activity carried out by authorised professionals who take responsibility for a recommendation suited to you personally — FinanceCore does not do this, and nothing on the site should be read as a recommendation to take a particular financial decision.
No invented data
FinanceCore does not fabricate statistics, quotes, case studies or testimonials, and does not claim credentials, awards or affiliations it does not have. Where a figure cannot be sourced from an official publication, it is either left out or clearly flagged as an estimate or example rather than presented as an official rate.
How to report an error
If you think a rate, threshold or calculation is wrong, please email privacy@financecore.uk with the calculator name, the figures you used, and a link to the official source you believe is correct. Reports are checked against the source material and, where an error is confirmed, corrected as described above.