Wavertree Citizens Advice Bureau - Which Benefit?
Benefits Outline
The following is an outline of the 3 benefits we will be looking at:
1. Contributory benefits
These benefits are to replace earnings. Whether you get the benefit depends on the number of national insurance contributions you (or in some cases your spouse) have paid or been credited with, and at what time. They are not means-tested.
2. Benefits for special circumstances (non-contributory)
For these benefits, you do not need to have paid national insurance contributions and they are not means-tested. They are usually called non-contributory benefits. They are to help with such things as the extra needs of disabled people, or to support carers. Child benefit is also a non-contributory benefit.
3. Means-tested benefits
These benefits form the largest group of benefits that bureau clients will claim and have problems with. They are paid to people who do not have enough money to live on. No national insurance contributions are necessary to claim these benefits.
