Types of benefits
Your entitlement to benefits will depend on factors such as whether you have paid National Insurance (NI), the amount of money coming into your household each week, the amount of capital that you have, your age and other circumstances.
Means-tested benefits
Means-tested benefits make an assessment of your needs in relation to your income.
If your income is over the set threshold for benefits allocated in this way you will not qualify for the benefit, even if you meet all of the other requirements - each benefit is different with different threshold limits.
Allowances may be made for set circumstances such as if you have dependents or other special situations such as health requirements or caring duties. Examples of means-tested benefits are:
- Income support
- Housing benefit
- Council tax benefit
- Income-based job seekers allowance.
- Income related Employment and Support Allowance
- Pension Credit
Non-means tested benefits
Benefits that are not means-tested are those where the amount of income or capital do not dictate whether someone can receive the benefit or not.
In these cases if you meet the eligibility criteria, it does not matter how much, or how little income, capital or savings you may have. Carer's Allowance is, however, one of the exceptions to this rule.
Non-means tested benefits - those that are available to those who meet the eligibility criteria, are further divided by those that are contributory, and those which are non-contributory.
