Checklists
Interactive checklists to help you prepare documents, gather evidence, and make sure you do not miss anything important. Your progress is saved automatically.
Benefits Application Evidence Checklist
Most benefit claims that go wrong go wrong on evidence rather than entitlement. A decision maker can only work from what is in front of them, so a claim submitted with gaps gets decided on incomplete information — and putting that right afterwards through a reconsideration or appeal takes months you did not need to lose. Gathering documents before you start also makes the form itself far quicker to complete. Use this checklist to pull everything together first.
Start checklistComplaint Evidence Checklist
Complaints are decided on the record, not on how strongly you feel about what happened. An ombudsman or adjudicator who has never met either of you will read the paperwork and reach a view, so the organised complaint with a clear chronology beats the angry one almost every time. The evidence you need is also easiest to collect while events are fresh and while you still have access to accounts and apps. Use this checklist before you escalate.
Start checklistTenant Move-In Checklist
Almost every deposit dispute at the end of a tenancy turns on what the property looked like at the start — and by then it is far too late to prove anything. The first day in a new rental is the one chance you get to record the condition, take meter readings and check that your landlord has done what the law requires. It takes an hour and can save you hundreds of pounds and a great deal of argument. Use this checklist before, during and after move-in day.
Start checklistRedundancy Rights Checklist
Redundancy is a process with legal requirements attached, not just an announcement. Your employer has to consult you properly, apply fair selection criteria, consider alternative roles and pay what you are owed — and a failure at any of those stages can turn a redundancy into an unfair dismissal. The difficulty is that everything moves quickly while you are dealing with the shock of it. Use this checklist to keep track of what should be happening and what you should be asking for.
Start checklistHiring Your First Employee Checklist
Taking on your first employee changes what your business is legally required to do. You become responsible for right to work checks, payroll and real time reporting to HMRC, employers' liability insurance, a workplace pension and a safe place to work — and several of those obligations bite before the first payday, not after it. None of it is difficult, but the penalties for getting it wrong are disproportionate to the effort of getting it right. Use this checklist to work through it in order.
Start checklistGrant Application Preparation Checklist
Grant funders turn down far more applications than they accept, and a large share of the rejections have nothing to do with the merit of the project. They are late, incomplete, outside the eligibility rules, or answer a different question from the one that was asked. Almost all of that is avoidable with preparation. The slowest parts — accounts, policies, supporting letters from other people — are also the ones you can start collecting now. Use this checklist before you begin writing.
Start checklistImmigration Application Evidence Checklist
Immigration applications are decided on documents, and missing or incorrect evidence is one of the most common reasons for refusal — often on applications that would otherwise have succeeded. Fees are rarely refunded when an application fails, so a preventable gap can cost thousands as well as months of delay. Several items also depend on other people or on documents that expire, so they need starting well ahead. Use this checklist to assemble everything before you open the application form.
Start checklistCare Planning Checklist
Care planning is rarely done calmly. It usually starts after a fall, a hospital admission or a slow realisation that things are no longer safe, and families find themselves making permanent decisions under time pressure. Working through it as a sequence — assessment first, then funding, then choosing a provider, with the legal paperwork alongside — makes it far more manageable and produces better outcomes. Use this checklist whether you are planning ahead for yourself or responding to a change in a relative's needs.
Start checklistBenefit Appeal Preparation Checklist
Benefit appeals succeed far more often than most people expect, and preparation is the main reason why. A tribunal is an independent panel looking at your case afresh, not a rubber stamp on the original decision — but it can only work from the evidence in front of it and from what you say on the day. Attending in person rather than opting for a paper hearing also makes a substantial difference. Use this checklist to get everything in order before the hearing.
Start checklistComplaint Escalation Checklist
Escalating too early is the most common reason a complaint gets sent straight back. Every ombudsman and dispute resolution scheme expects you to have complained to the organisation first and either received a final response or waited the stated period — usually eight weeks — before it will look at your case. Referring before that point wastes weeks while your real deadline keeps running. Use this checklist to confirm you have done everything the scheme expects before you refer.
Start checklistMoving Out of a Rental Checklist
The end of a tenancy is where deposits are won and lost, and most of what decides the outcome happens in the fortnight before you hand back the keys. Giving notice correctly, cleaning to the standard the property was in when you arrived, recording its condition on the day, and taking final meter readings all take a little planning — and none of them can be done retrospectively. Use this checklist in the weeks before you leave and on the day itself.
Start checklistGetting Your Deposit Back Checklist
Your landlord must return your deposit within 10 days of agreeing the final amount, or within 10 days of the tenancy ending where no deductions are proposed. Plenty do not, and the answer is almost never a longer argument by email. Your money sits in a government-approved scheme that runs a free adjudication service, and the burden of justifying any deduction falls on the landlord rather than on you. Use this checklist to work through it in the right order.
Start checklistUnfair Dismissal Response Checklist
If you believe your dismissal was unfair, the order in which you act matters as much as what you do. There is a strict time limit for starting a tribunal claim, it does not pause while you pursue an internal appeal, and evidence becomes harder to obtain once you no longer have access to work systems. Acting in the first few days protects options you cannot recover later. Use this checklist to make sure you do not miss a step or a deadline while you are still absorbing the news.
Start checklistMaternity Leave Preparation Checklist
Maternity leave runs on deadlines that fall much earlier than most people expect, and missing one can push back your start date or cost you statutory pay altogether. Alongside the notification requirements there is a set of rights that exist from the moment you tell your employer — paid time off for antenatal appointments, a risk assessment of your role, and protection from detriment. Use this checklist from around week 20 of pregnancy so nothing is left until the last few weeks.
Start checklistBusiness Startup Compliance Checklist
Starting a business means taking on a set of legal and compliance obligations, and several of them have deadlines that begin running from the day you start trading rather than from the day you get round to them. Choosing a structure, registering with HMRC, setting up records, sorting insurance and handling customer data properly are all straightforward individually — the problems come from doing them late. Use this checklist to cover the essentials in the right order before you trade.
Start checklistSponsor Licence Application Checklist
A sponsor licence is what allows your business to employ workers from outside the UK on the Skilled Worker route, and it is granted on the strength of your systems as much as your paperwork. The Home Office assesses whether you can meet ongoing compliance duties — right to work checks, record keeping, reporting changes — and can visit before or after granting it. Preparing properly matters, because a refused application usually brings a cooling-off period. Use this checklist before you apply.
Start checklistFamily Visa Document Checklist
Family visa applications turn on documents more than almost any other route, and missing or incorrectly formatted evidence is one of the most common reasons for refusal. The financial requirement in particular has prescriptive rules about which documents are acceptable and what period they must cover, and a bank statement that falls a week short is treated as absent rather than nearly right. Fees are rarely refunded. Use this checklist to make sure the application is complete before you submit it.
Start checklistDebt Advice Appointment Checklist
A debt adviser can only recommend the right option once they can see the whole picture, and the whole picture means every debt, every source of income and every essential outgoing. Turning up with part of it usually means a second appointment and weeks of delay you may not have. Gathering the paperwork also has a side benefit: people frequently find the total is smaller, or the options wider, than they feared. Use this checklist before your appointment.
Start checklistDivorce Application Checklist
The divorce application itself is straightforward under the no-fault system and can be completed online without a solicitor. What is not straightforward, and what the application does not touch, is the money. A divorce ends the marriage but does nothing to divide assets or close off future financial claims — that needs a separate court order. Arrangements for children are separate again. Use this checklist to gather what you need before you start, and to keep the parts that matter in view.
Start checklistCICA Application Checklist
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority runs a government-funded scheme that pays victims of violent crime without them having to sue anyone. It is free to apply, there is no hearing, and no conviction is needed — but the scheme has specific evidence requirements and one of the shortest time limits in this area, running from the incident rather than from the end of any criminal case. Missing information is a common reason for delay and refusal. Use this checklist before you apply.
Start checklistProbate Application Checklist
A grant of probate — or letters of administration where there is no valid will — gives you the legal authority to deal with someone's estate. Applying is the last step rather than the first, because you need date-of-death valuations for everything they owned and owed before you can complete it, and inheritance tax generally has to be dealt with before a grant is issued. Gathering all of that in advance makes the process considerably smoother. Use this checklist to work through it.
Start checklistLasting Power of Attorney Registration Checklist
Registering a Lasting Power of Attorney is mostly an exercise in getting the details right first time. The forms must be signed and witnessed in a specific order — donor, then certificate provider, then attorneys — and a document signed out of sequence is rejected after you have already waited weeks and paid the fee. Registration takes months even when everything is correct, so there is no margin for a second attempt. Use this checklist to get it right the first time.
Start checklistRenters' Rights Act 2025: Landlord Compliance Checklist
The main provisions of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force on 1 May 2026, and they apply to existing tenancies as well as new ones. Section 21 is gone, fixed terms have converted to periodic tenancies, and possession now runs entirely through Section 8. Use this checklist to confirm you are operating the new regime correctly and to prepare for mandatory Database registration from late 2026.
Start checklistTenant Move-In Checklist: Day 1 to Day 30
The first 30 days of a tenancy set the pattern for the whole agreement, and they are the only window in which several things can be done at all. Deposit protection has a statutory deadline. The condition of the property can only be recorded before you have lived in it. Utility accounts opened late leave you arguing about someone else's usage. This checklist makes sure the deposit is safe, your rights are documented, and the inventory reflects what you actually found.
Start checklistDomestic Abuse Emergency Leaving Checklist
Leaving is the most dangerous point in an abusive relationship, and planning matters more here than anywhere else. Practical preparation — documents gathered quietly, a bag somewhere safe, a phone that cannot be tracked, someone who knows the plan — makes the difference between a safe departure and a crisis. Support is available at any hour, and you do not have to be certain before you call. This checklist covers what to take, who to contact, and what to do in the first 72 hours.
Start checklistHospital Discharge Planning Checklist
Hospital discharges go wrong quickly and often, usually because they are arranged in a hurry on a ward under pressure to free the bed. Under the discharge to assess model, longer-term needs are assessed at home rather than in hospital, which works well when the support arrives and badly when it does not. Families are frequently asked to make permanent decisions from a bedside with very little information. Use this checklist to make sure nothing critical is missed before the discharge happens.
Start checklistEHCP Pre-Assessment Checklist
Requests for an education, health and care needs assessment are refused far more often than parents expect, and the quality of the evidence submitted at the start is the biggest factor in whether that happens. A request supported by professional reports, school records and a clear account of what has already been tried is much harder to turn down than a letter describing a child's difficulties. Refusals can be appealed, but that adds months. Use this checklist to prepare before you request.
Start checklistBereavement Checklist: Tell Us Once + Probate
After a death there is a long list of practical and legal tasks arriving at the worst possible moment, and very little of it is urgent in the way it feels. Only registering the death has a firm early deadline. Everything else can be worked through in order, and the Tell Us Once service handles a large part of the government notifications in a single conversation. This checklist organises the tasks by timing — the first week, the first month, and then through probate.
Start checklistSelf-Assessment First-Year Filing Checklist
The first Self Assessment is much harder than every one after it, because before you can file anything you must register, wait for codes to arrive by post, set up an online account and work out which pages of the return apply to you. None of that can be done in the last week of January. The first bill is often larger than expected too, because payments on account start at the same time. This checklist prevents the costly mistakes.
Start checklistRight to Work Check Checklist (for Employers)
Every UK employer must check that an employee has the right to work in the UK before employment begins — not afterwards, because only a check completed beforehand gives you a statutory excuse against a penalty. Get it wrong and you face civil penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal worker, and sponsor licence holders risk losing the licence entirely. Most non-British and non-Irish staff are now checked online rather than on paper. Use this checklist for every new starter.
Start checklistVisa Application Document Checklist
Most visa refusals are not about eligibility. They are about documents — missing, in the wrong format, covering the wrong period, or untranslated. The applicant would have qualified, but the evidence did not meet the specification, and the fee is not refunded when that happens. Several of the documents also depend on other people or on tests that must be booked in advance, so they cannot be produced quickly. Use this checklist to prepare properly before you open the application form.
Start checklistCare Home Choosing Checklist
Choosing a care home is one of the biggest decisions a family makes, and it is almost always made under time pressure — often from a hospital bedside, with a discharge date looming. That combination produces rushed choices that are expensive and difficult to undo. Comparing homes against the same questions, visiting more than once and at different times of day, and reading the contract before signing all make a real difference. Use this checklist to compare systematically.
Start checklistEmployment Tribunal Claim Filing Checklist
An employment tribunal claim runs on strict deadlines and a required sequence, and getting either wrong can end a good claim before anyone looks at its merits. You must notify Acas for early conciliation before you can lodge, and the whole thing must generally start within three months less one day of the event you are complaining about. There are no fees, and you do not need a solicitor. Use this checklist to get the steps and the timing right.
Start checklistOnline Fraud Reporting and Remediation Checklist
Online fraud needs fast action on several fronts at once, and the first hours matter more than anything you do later. Stopping further loss, alerting your bank so payments can be recalled, securing accounts the fraudster may still have access to, and reporting formally all need to happen more or less simultaneously. Recovery is far more likely when the bank hears from you quickly. Use this checklist in the first 48 hours after realising you have been defrauded.
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