Keep the Light On

Beacon finds the support that's already yours. You talk to it about your life, or the life of someone you look after, in your own words and your own language. It shows the UK or US help that's likely yours, with the official rule behind every answer, what it's worth, the order to claim, and what to say on the phone. Why: £24.1bn of benefits and social tariffs goes unclaimed in Great Britain each year (Policy in Practice, Missing Out 2025), and about 1 in 5 Americans who could get the Earned Income Tax Credit never claim it. People miss out because they don't know the help exists, The rules are long, the forms are hard, and asking feels awkward. What it does: - A chat that asks only the questions that can still change an answer, while results light up beside it - 79 schemes in 11 rule packs (51 UK, 28 US), each line with its official source - A claim plan in the right order, notes when one claim affects another, and amounts from 2026/27 rates - Call notes for every result, a reader for council and benefits letters, and voice input - Local help matched to a postcode or ZIP code: 7,165 council pages, 12,231 charities, 13,275 US health centres, 3,774 housing agencies and 1,286 housing counsellors - Seven languages, including Welsh, Polish, Bengali, Urdu and Arabic, and eight comfort presets for dyslexia, low vision, ADHD, anxiety and more - Private by design: it never asks for a name, ID or bank details, answers stay in the browser, and an open-weights model removes personal details before anything reaches a hosted model Built solo during the hackathon. Live at https://beacon-support.vercel.app