What this generator works out
This tool builds a stripped-back budget for a period when income has stopped or dropped. It totals your essential monthly costs, estimates how many months your savings would cover them, and produces a list of things to pause.
It is designed to be used quickly, at a point when the useful thing is a clear order of priority rather than a detailed analysis.
Build an emergency budget
Optional spending to pause
Before you use it
- Include only genuine essentials: housing, utilities, food basics, essential transport and priority insurances.
- Enter savings you can actually reach within days. Money in investments or fixed-term accounts may not qualify.
- Tick everything you could pause, even temporarily. You are building a list of options, not committing to them.
- Contact your lenders, landlord or mortgage provider early rather than waiting until a payment is missed.
Not all bills are equal. Rent, mortgage, council tax, energy and court fines are priority debts — the consequences of non-payment include losing your home, disconnection or enforcement. Credit cards and personal loans are non-priority: serious, but they cannot take your home. Pay priority debts first, always.
How this calculator works
Two figures and a list:
Essential monthly costs = housing + utilities + food + transport + fixed bills
Savings runway = available savings ÷ essential monthly costs
Pause list = the optional items you tickThe runway assumes no income at all. If you expect any income during the period — benefits, part-time work, a partner's contribution — the Redundancy Survival Planner subtracts it and gives a longer and more realistic figure.
Worked example: essentials of £1,670
Using the default figures — £900 housing, £250 utilities, £300 food, £120 transport and £100 of fixed bills, against £2,500 of savings:
- Essential monthly costs: £1,670
- Savings runway: £2,500 ÷ £1,670 = about 1.5 months
A month and a half is short, and knowing that immediately changes what should happen next. Rather than economising gradually, the priorities become: check benefit entitlement today, contact the mortgage provider or landlord before a payment is missed, and pause every optional cost at once rather than one at a time. Acting in week one extends the runway far more than the same actions taken in week six.
Common mistakes
- Treating all bills as equally urgent. Priority debts must be paid first.
- Waiting to contact lenders. Support is far easier to arrange before a payment is missed.
- Assuming no benefit entitlement. Many people are entitled to help they never claim.
- Cutting essentials before optional costs. Food and heating are not where to economise first.
- Using credit to maintain normal spending. This converts a temporary problem into a lasting one.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do first if my income stops?
Three things in the first week. Check your benefit entitlement — Universal Credit and New Style Jobseeker's Allowance may both apply, and the latter is contribution-based rather than means-tested against savings. Contact your mortgage provider or landlord and any lenders before payments are missed. And pause every optional cost at once. Free advice from Citizens Advice is available throughout and costs nothing.
Which bills count as priority debts?
Rent and mortgage, council tax, gas and electricity, court fines, child maintenance, TV licence and any debt secured on your home. Non-payment of these has consequences that other debts do not carry. Credit cards, personal loans, overdrafts and catalogue debts are non-priority — they still matter, but they come second.
Should I use a credit card to bridge the gap?
As a last resort and with a clear plan, not as a default. Borrowing to maintain normal spending during a drop in income tends to turn a temporary problem into a long-term one. Benefits, a payment holiday agreed with your lender, or reduced essential spending are all better first moves.
Can I pause my mortgage payments?
Sometimes. Lenders are required to treat customers in financial difficulty fairly and may offer a payment deferral, a temporary switch to interest-only or a term extension. These arrangements have consequences for what you owe later and may be recorded, so ask what the effect will be. The key point is that they are available on request and far easier to arrange before arrears build.
Is what I enter stored?
No. Your spending and savings figures are processed entirely in your browser and are never transmitted or retained.
Related tools
References
- MoneyHelper — free guidance on managing a drop in income and routes to debt advice
- GOV.UK — Universal Credit, Jobseeker's Allowance and help with housing costs
Sources are checked at publication and can change — how I choose and check references.