How our tools work
Our tools take what you tell us about your home and household, and apply official UK advice to it. They don't add anything of their own.
What goes in
- Your household: how many adults, older people, children and babies, any pets, and whether anyone relies on medical equipment, a telecare alarm or has limited mobility.
- Your home: how it's heated, how you cook, where your water comes from, and how your phone and internet work.
What you type stays in your browser. We don't send it anywhere or keep it.
What the tools use
- Official figures, such as water per person per day or days of supplies, each from a named official source with the date we checked it. You'll find them under each result in "Figures used".
- Official explanations, such as which heating stops in a power cut, each linked to the official page they come from.
If an official figure isn't available, the tool leaves that part out rather than guessing. For example, the water calculator won't suggest how often to replace stored water until we've found an official figure for it.
Rounding
Where we count containers or items, we round up, so the count covers the full amount. For example, if your household needs a little over twelve five-litre bottles, the result says thirteen.
What the tools don't do
- They don't give medical advice. They point you to the Priority Services Register, your equipment supplier and your GP.
- They don't size backup power or work out how long a battery would last. Our sister site Ferncharge does that.
- They don't look up live warnings or your postcode. They link you to the official services that do.
- They're a guide based on official advice, not a guarantee.