Editorial policy

Last updated: 13 October 2026

This page sets out the standards PracticalBench's tools and articles are held to: how they're checked, where facts come from, and what happens when we get something wrong. For the technical side of how calculators are built and tested, see our methodology.

Who is responsible

Blog posts are edited and approved by Maria Chambers, PracticalBench's editor, before publication. Tool pages are maintained by the PracticalBench team. Every post carries its author's name and its publication date, plus an "updated" date if it has been changed since.

How tools are checked

• Worked examples are tested against the code. Every worked example on a tool page is checked by an automated test that runs the real calculation, so the page and the calculator can't quietly disagree.
• Edge cases are tested. Calculators are run against zero, minimum and maximum inputs to make sure they never show a broken or nonsensical result.
• Assumptions and limitations are shown. Defaults such as waste allowances or coverage rates are stated and editable where it makes sense; each tool says what it doesn't account for.
• Review dates are honest. A tool's "Last reviewed" date changes only after a real review of its explanation, assumptions or calculation — not when a page is simply rebuilt.

How articles are checked

• Every figure is reproducible. Numbers in a post come from one of our calculators (and are checked by an automated test against that calculator) or from a named, dated public source.
• Prices and rates are dated. Where a post uses a price, tariff or rate, it says whether it's an illustrative example or a real figure, and when the real figure applied.
• Links are checked. Every link in a post to one of our tools or pages is tested before publication.

Sources

We prefer primary sources: official statistics and regulators (for example GOV.UK, Ofgem, the Office for National Statistics, NIST), industry bodies and the organisations that publish the data in question. Comparison and commercial sites may point us to a fact, but we cite the original. Sources are linked on the page with a clear label.

Illustrative stories

Some blog posts follow a character through an everyday problem. These characters are fictional, and every such post says so at the top. They are not customers, testimonials or reviews, and we never present them as real people or attach photos of people to them. The calculations in these stories are real outputs from our tools.

Images

We use our own images or openly licensed images (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA), checked for relevance and credited with the author, licence and source on the page.

Use of AI tools

We use software tools, including AI writing and coding assistants, to help draft text and build tools. Nothing is published on their say-so: calculations are checked by automated tests against the real code, facts are checked against the cited sources, and every blog post is read and approved by a named human editor before it goes live.

Advertising and independence

PracticalBench is free to use and is supported by advertising served by Google AdSense. Advertisers have no say in what we write, which tools we build or what our calculators output. We don't publish sponsored posts or paid placements, and we don't currently use affiliate links; if that ever changes, the affected pages will say so clearly. Ads are not shown on our legal and policy pages.

Corrections

If you think a result, explanation or article is wrong, emailsupport@practicalbench.com with the page address, what you entered or what you think is wrong, and a reference if you have one. Please don't send private or sensitive information.

We investigate reproducible reports. When a correction is confirmed, we fix the page, update its review or "updated" date, and record significant fixes on our What's improved page.