Who this training course is for
This online training course is for advisers who want to learn how to use Lisson Grove’s Quick Benefits Calculator (QBC) effectively and confidently.
This course is appropriate for advisers at all levels from trainees who have never used QBC before, to experienced advisers, and supervisors who want to more confidently understand how QBC works. A general understanding of the welfare benefits system is required to get the most of this course.
How the course is delivered
The course is delivered online, divided into two morning sessions, each lasting 3.5 hours. It is a practical course. Attendees share their screens with the group as they work through calculations together in each session.
What the course covers
The calculations start simple, with each calculation introducing one or two different benefit rules or functions of the calculator.
The first day is focused on claimant’s under the Universal Credit system it includes:
- The amount of the standard allowance, couples, and age-rules
- The children screen, the different rates of the child responsibility element and the two-child limit
- Identifying the appropriate LHA rate
- Identifying when the bedroom tax applies
- Entering earnings and childcare costs the work screen
- Treatment of earned income and the income taper, including the amount of the work allowance (and who gets one)
- Savings/capital, the calculation of tariff income, and capital disregards
- An introduction to the CTR screen, setting the local authority, finding information about your client’s CT band and the rates in your local area
- How to enter the information including applying the council tax discounts
There is a homework exercise which involves comparing QBC to other commonly use benefit calculators. This exercise also demonstrates QBC’s essential functionality with regards to weekly, fortnightly, and four-weekly paid claimants. We also see the benefit cap in action.
The second day builds on the learning from day one, it covers:
- Mixed age couples
- ESA and LCW/LCWRA
- Calculating pension age benefits
- Overlapping benefit rules and underlying entitlement to carers allowance
- Using the print preview function to check the information you’ve entered
- Entering non-dependents, exemptions from non-dependent deductions and how these differ between UC & legacy benefits
- Comparing UC calculations and legacy benefit calculations
Note. previous versions of this course have covered tax credit calculations in detail. However, the need for these calculations is increasingly rare. If you are looking for a course covering tax credits in more detail I can highly recommend CPAG’s excellent “QBC – making the most of your calculator” course.
Pricing
| Number of delegates | Price per delegate |
| 1-3 | £100 |
| 4-6 | £85 |
| 7-9 | £75 |
| 10 or more | £65 |
Course dates
This course is currently scheduled to run six times a year. Additional on-demand courses are available for groups of 7 or more.
| Month | Day 1 | Day 2 |
| January 2026 | Monday 12th January 2026 (9:30-1:00) | Wednesday 14th January 2026 (9:30-1:00) |
| March 2026 | Tuesday 17th March 2026 (9:30-1:00) | Thursday 19th March 2026 (9:30-1:00) |
| May 2026 | Tuesday 12th May 2026 (9:30-1:00) | Wednesday 13th May 2026 (9:30-1:00) |
| July 2026 | Monday 6th July 2026 (9:30-1:00) | Wednesday 8th July 2026 (9:30-1:00) |
| September 2026 | Wednesday 9th September 2026 (9:30-1:00) | Thurs 10th September 2026 (9:30-1:00) |
| November 2026 | Tuesday 17th November 2026 (9:30-1:00) | Wednesday 18th November 2026 (9:30-1:00) |
| January 2027 | Monday 11th January 2027 (9:30-1:00) | Wednesday 13th January 2027 (9:30-1:00) |
Feedback about this course
How would you rate the trainer’s knowledge & expertise?
| Response | No of responses | Percentage of responses |
| 1 – poor | 1 | 1.2% |
| 2 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 3 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 4 | 1 | 1.2% |
| 5 – excellent | 83 | 97.6% |
How would you rate the course overall?
| Response | No of responses | Percentage of responses |
| 1 – poor | 0 | 0.0% |
| 2 | 1 | 1.2% |
| 3 | 1 | 1.2% |
| 4 | 13 | 15.3% |
| 5 – excellent | 70 | 82.4% |
Show comments
In the interests of transparency I have included all comments I have received about this course below. The feedback is presented in reverse chronological order. Some amendments have been made to the course in response to comments towards the bottom of this table.
| The course leader created very relaxed and interactive sessions that assisted learning. There was a ‘hands on approach’ that allowed everyone to contribute. There was plenty of opportunity for questions. The pace and clarity of the presenter was remarkable. I enjoyed the 2 sessions very much. |
| The most useful thing was hands-on approach. Being able to apply concepts directly through examples. it made the learning experience engaging and showed me how the skills can be used in real situations. |
| I can appreciate that much of what was discussed regarding welfare benefits was with a view to explaining how to properly include it in quickben. In that regard the course was honestly very well designed to get one feeling confident on how to reflect a client’s circumstances on the software. That being said, what I found by far to be the most interesting aspects of the course – though not necessarily ‘practical'(!) – were when the development and history of a benefit was discussed. As somebody very new to understanding benefit advice, I sometimes feel like I lack the knowledge of other advisers who have lived and worked during the enormous overhaul of benefits over the past two decades. Even being given a very brief idea of how benefit adminstration has been ‘devolved’ (such as with CTR) allows me to feel a lot more confident in thinking that I ‘understand’ the benefit on a deeper level than simply how to apply for it. I can appreciate this sort of ‘learning gain’ is perhaps less relevant to those older than me (who may have this knowledge by mere fact of being around and aware when these changes were happening), and is perhaps beyond what is intended for a course on using quickben, but they were certainly the most interesting moments in the course (at least for me). |
| Thank You James, i am no longer a QBC phobic |
| Very useful course, much easier to follow in a smaller group with individual approach to everyone. |
| Practical nature of course very helpful. Layout of Quickben could be improved. |
| The course was very useful – I learnt more about the pension box and how to calculate the amount, the CT liability and about the non dependent student calculation |
| I found the course extremely helpful. I particularly valued his practical experience which he used to great effect explaining various elements of the application. Also the tools that he has provided will be very helpful in using the tool in the future. The course was excellent and it has given me at least some confidence in tackling benefit calculations in the future, whereas it was a complete mystery before the course. |
| Practical exercises are most helpful part, it’s just a shame that not everyone is adept at sharing their screen. Maybe one or two of the exercises can be done alone? |
| Great that we got to practice doing the calculations. Very helpful. |
| Practising examples really helped. |
| I feel a lot more confident using the QBC, and understanding how it works and the correct way to input information into the QBC. |
| Yes. I liked the use of different case scenarios and that all the participants had a chance to practice and also the exercise using different benefit calculators. |
| The course was great and so were the tools and guide that were provided. Practice part was very useful and it covered different scenarios. |
| excellent trainer, very calm |
| Combining the knowledge of the benefits system with the QBC app |
| It was great and the break out groups were fantastic to help firm up the knowledge. Best training course I’ve been on for a long while- so well done!!! |
| Was good to try different scenarios, would prefer to have done more practical work to get used to using the calculator and how each scenario fits in. Perhaps some time with practical work with support from the trainer 1:1 could be helpful for a novice like me. Just a thought |
| the course materials are excellent and very helpful. The practical nature of the course was good, splitting into groups. I think our group cod have managed one more case study on day two |
| Without this level of practical completion I would have lost interest and probably let those more familiar make all the running |
| The scenarios were really useful. Also the way that James walked us through calculations on the screen made it feel like we were doing the training in person. |
| really helpful and clear scenario based training. |
| Fab course really help me to understand, and feel so much more confident! |
| Most useful – opportunity to practice and learn within group situation. Practical nature helpful would have like at least one opportunity to practice on own screen and then bring the group back together to compare answers. Different levels of experience of QBC within the group can mean that some people dominate/move forward at a quicker pace whilst others get left behind. Perhaps giving at least one opportunity to practice on own might mitigate this? |
| the training method and participation was excellent |
| The participation method of presenting was very effective |
| Thank you . You delivered this course with great clarity. You also provided links and information that will be very useful in the future. |
| Using QBC repeatedly but increasing the complexity of the cases each time was definitely useful. Having access to your resources from the website will be so useful in the future too. Thanks for them! |
| Most useful was getting a better understanding of how QBC worked. Being encouraged to participate in break out rooms helped to recognise all the elements needed to input |
| I think the course was very useful and practical |
| It is helpful and useful to do practical scenarios during the course so we can practice QBC software and ask questions as they arise. |
| yes a good approach |
| James was very knowledgeable and explained in depth the benefit of using QBC. |
| James is an excellent trainer. |
| great session |
| Found it much more interesting than expected – helped to consolidate knowledge of overall benefits jigsaw. |
| The practical nature of the course was very helpful and everyone got a chance to practice QBC. James is an excellent trainer and very knowledgeable on QBC and benefit rules. The explanations behind the policy rules made the content more understandable. |
| It might be nice to have the “model” answers to the questions so if we want to practise afterwards we can see how we are doing. Course was excellent. I enjoyed the small groups as well as the large. Small groups gave us all a chance to have a chat and ponder the answer which I think promotes learning whereas large group felt more like James telling us the answer which is useful for more complex Q but I think means you will retain less. I assume we did this as its quicker in a big group which is I can see makes it necessary on day two. |
| Scenarios really good and made me think- the one on D2 with non-dep particularly helpful as rules complex. Need to stop one or two people being dominant in the group and the smaller breakouts helped with this. |
| Doing the calculations was demanding but ultimately beneficial. |
| Absolutely amazing training. Thank you James |
| I think the group was mixed in levels, when more experienced people discussed benefits it got confusing as I didn’t understand what they were talking about |
| I liked the real life worked examples. Might it have been an idea to have some of the cases ahead of course, to try ourselves. As a kind of “way in” and allowing us to find out for selves where we hit problems. But not as a sharing online exercise. Thank you for the course James. Good to see you! |
| This course was absolutely very helpful and the instructor, James, was fantastic, explaining things with clarity and providing insights on some of the issues surrounding benefit policies and the automation of UC system as well. I like the practical nature of the course, which gives everyone a chance to try it out on the portal. Small-group time gave us opportunities to discuss but large-group time was also very helpful as James could explain complex details of the benefits concerned as we took turns to try out various scenarios. The design of the scenarios was able to cover a wide range of situations with gradually increased level of complexity. I really enjoyed this course and feel confident in using QBC now. |
| Yes, very useful |
| Very helpful, even that James understands and acknowledged my need of bringing in BSL Interpreters, and allowed leniency for them to be involved so that they can relay all communications to me. |
| I found the practical nature of the course particularly helpful. It ensures that what we have learned can become embedded in our practice. |
| I liked the fact that attendees were not muted as this made asking spontaneous questions easier, although it must have been challenging for you as a trainer at times. I thought you dealt well with a vociferous attendee who displayed a high level of knowledge. The practical nature of the course was excellent and made a refreshing change from other training I have attended. Really good training and I feel a lot more confident now in my use of QBC. |
| Practical nature very helpful. Very successful course, just ensure opportunity to summarise and consolidate learning. |
| Yes, the practical nature was very beneficial. |
| I thought it was an excellent course. Maybe another 1/2 hour each day. You are extremely knowledgeable and it showed. I have gone off with a list of things that I learned and can improve what I can do for clients. |
| I found the first day very helpful and made me More confident with quickben, but I got a little lost on the second day doing the tax bits – but this is more related to my lack of knowledge generally rather than the programme and others seemed to follow it more. Hopefully it’s a matter of practice! |
| It was fantastic! Very informative, comprehensive and plenty of time to ask questions. The practical nature was the most helpful part, feel far more confident and will use QBC as often as I can from now on. |
| Practical Nature of the course was helpful – I would have liked to have done more of the calculations on my own and then have them worked over in the group setting rather than work in groups on the calculations. |
| An excellent course with a very knowledgeable trainer. The chance to do hands-on calculations, and the homework, were both good features. |
| practicals were beneficial |
| I was amazed to find the range of things one could calculate with this software and its potential uses as well as the obvious necessity of it for detailed work with benefits. |
| All of it was useful, the practice homework was extremely useful |
| It was all useful, The Practice was extremely helpful. |
| The worked examples were the best part of the course as they really helped us work it out for ourselves. And then going through them together reinforced the understanding. |
| Practical aspect very helpful. Hopefully it will give everyone more confidence. In my year at CAB I’ve heard very little reference to QuickBen compared with entitled to or turn2us. |
| More practice the better familiarity for smooth use of qbc is imperative |
| Found the course most useful. Shame about the technology. Thus it ever was! |
| Maybe it could have been even more practical, in terms of letting the ‘students’ do more of the work (in smaller groups?). Particularly on the second day, it felt like you were doing most of it and we were just watching/listening. |
| Practicality was very helpful. Most benefit cases I’ve been dealing with since March 2020 have been about UC but very useful to look at other scenarios. |
| Yes, sharing the screen definitely helpful. If anything you were a bit too kind in terms of not making us work! But then if we did it wrong we might have remembered the wrong method. |
| Going through the examples with the group really helped. Working up to the most complex, and also comparing legacy with UC. |
| Although I felt fairly confident with QB before, it was very useful to be able to fill in the gaps in my knowledge, e.g. the best way of calculating specific situations. The Make it Monthly spreadsheet is also very useful. Found the pace of the course was perfect, and managed to meet the needs of more and less experienced participants. |
| Yes. It would’ve been nice to spend longer on some of the later more complex scenarios. Esp re the benefit cap |
| Practical work was invaluable. The course highlighted for me some of the difficulties and small but important points about the benefits system, as well as some useful ways of using QB |
| Yes I liked the practical nature of the course – it also helped me review benefits . I thought the size of the group was good but perhaps wouldnt want to be much bigger. I thought James was a really good trainer and very knowledgeable. Clients had better watch out on Thursday – they will all be quickbenned!! |
| I found the course very good & about the right balance. I liked James’ pleasant manner & delivery & that he was never impatient. Personally, I need to review benefits as it would help. However, I did gain confidence & am very keen to practice & more enthusiastic. |
| I think the course was very good & I liked the delivery. James has a very nice manner & at no time did he appear impatience. However, in my case I realised that I have to review a lot of issues & practice QBs a lot. On the positive, I felt far more encouraged & am quite eager to get going! |