Income
Support, Income based Jobseekers Allowance, Pension Credit and Child Tax Credit are either paid as a
‘top up’ on other benefits or earnings, or can be paid on their own
when someone has no other income from earnings or ‘step one’
earnings replacement benefits.
e.g.
Peter gets Severe Disablement Allowance, but the rate at which it is
paid is lower than the amount the Government says he needs to live
on under Income Support rules. He is paid some Income Support as a
‘top up’ on his SDA.
Nicola
claimed Incapacity Benefit but found that she didn’t have the
National Insurance contributions to qualify, so needs to claim
Income Support instead.
Working
Tax Credit is paid on top of
earnings for people working 16 or more hours a week but earning
below certain levels. They also may get Child Tax Credit.
e.g.
Susan has gone back into work after a long spell of being on the
sick because of her mental health problem. The wage she gets means
that she can get Working Tax Credit as a ‘top up’.
Tony has
had to reduce his hours at work to three days a week because of
stress. He doesn’t want to go down the sickness route to benefits,
but his wages have fallen; he finds he qualifies for Working Tax
Credit. Because he has children he can also qualify for a ‘top up’
payment of Child Tax Credit.
Housing
Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and payments from the Social Fund are
all for specific purposes.
e.g.
Michael’s Incapacity Benefit is paid at levels just above Income
Support, but he still gets almost all his rent and Council Tax paid
through Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.
Dylan’s
cooker has broken down and he’s been under a lot of stress because
he can’t cook hot food any more. He’s afraid if things carry on he
may end up back in hospital. He can claim for help with the cost of
a cooker under the Social Fund.
All the above benefits
have their own quite complex qualifying rules and all are means
tested in SOME way - i.e. depend on your income and/ or capital
being below certain levels. None of them are contributory - i.e. you
don’t have to have paid or been credited with National Insurance
Contributions to get them.
