The job: A letter arrives from a tax office, council, energy supplier or other organisation, full of jargon and reference numbers, and you’re not sure whether it needs action.
What AI actually does here
- Explains the letter in plain English, section by section.
- Pulls out what you’re being asked to do, by when, and what the letter says happens if you don’t.
- Drafts questions to ask the sender, and a short reply if you need one.
Tools to look at
- General assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini), with your personal details removed
- Your phone’s camera text recognition, to turn a paper letter into text you can edit before pasting
Named tools are examples, not endorsements. We have no paid relationships with them at the moment; see our disclosure.
What you need first
- This isn’t legal, tax or financial advice. Act on the letter itself, not the AI’s summary. If you’re unsure, contact the sender using details from their official website, or get free advice from Citizens Advice.
- Remove anything that identifies you first: your name, address, National Insurance number, tax reference and account numbers.
- A scam check. If a letter, email or text pushes you to pay or share details urgently, check it independently. HMRC, for example, publishes a list of its genuine contacts on GOV.UK.
How to tell if it’s working
- Time spent working out what a letter means.
- Deadlines met because you understood the letter in time.
- How the sender’s answers compared with the AI’s explanation, which tells you how far to trust it next time.
Run the numbers in the ROI calculator →
What the evidence says
No statistics cited. AI explanations can be wrong or miss the detail that matters, which is why this playbook treats the summary as a starting point. HMRC says it will only email you about a tax rebate, or ask for personal or payment information, from an address ending in hmrc.gov.uk, and will never send a tax rebate notification by text.
Ready-to-use prompt
Replace the [BRACKETS]. Only paste data you’re allowed to share with the tool you’re using.
View promptExplain this letter to me in plain British English. I've removed my personal details. This is to help me understand it, not legal, tax or financial advice.
Explain this letter to me in plain British English. I've removed my personal details. This is to help me understand it, not legal, tax or financial advice.
"""[paste the letter text]"""
1. In three sentences: who it's from, what it's about and whether it asks me to do anything.
2. List every action, deadline, amount and reference it mentions, quoting the exact wording.
3. Explain any jargon or terms I might not know.
4. List questions I should ask the sender, and what I'd need to have ready when I contact them.
5. Point out anything that looks unusual for a genuine letter (pressure to pay quickly, unusual payment methods, contact details that don't match the organisation's website).
If something isn't clear from the letter, say so. Don't guess.Sources
- GOV.UK (HMRC), "Check a list of genuine HMRC contacts" Government guidance
- GOV.UK (HMRC), "Report suspicious HMRC emails, texts, social media accounts and phone calls" Government guidance
- Citizens Advice Charity guidance
Last updated . Spotted something out of date? Email support@aiforthisjob.com. How we research and check playbooks.