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Means-tested
A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for government benefits, assistance or welfare, based upon whether the individual or family possesses the means to do with less or none of that help. Means testing is in opposition to universal coverage, which extends benefits to everyone. Canada In Canada, means tests are used for student finance (for post-secondary education), legal aid, and "welfare" (direct transfer payments to individuals to combat poverty). They are not generally used for primary and secondary education which are tax-funded. Means tests for public health insurance were once common but are now illegal, as the Canada Health Act of 1984 requires that all the provinces provide universal healthcare coverage to be eligible for subsidies from the federal government. Means tests are also not used for pensions and seniors' benefits, but there is a clawback of Old Age Security payments for people making over $69,562 (in 2012). The La ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welfare Spending
Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance programs which provide support only to those who have previously contributed (e.g. pensions), as opposed to ''social assistance'' programs which provide support on the basis of need alone (e.g. most disability benefits). The International Labour Organization defines social security as covering support for those in old age, support for the maintenance of children, medical treatment, parental and sick leave, unemployment and disability benefits, and support for sufferers of occupational injury. More broadly, welfare may also encompass efforts to provide a basic level of well-being through subsidized ''social services'' such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, vocational training, and public housing.''The New Fontana Diction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Credit
Universal Credit is a United Kingdom based Welfare state in the United Kingdom, social security payment. It is Means test, means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits, for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), and Income Support; Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Working Tax Credit (WTC); and Housing Benefit. An award of UC is made up of different elements, which become payable to the claimant if relevant criteria apply: a standard allowance for singles or couples, child elements and disabled child elements for children in the household, housing cost element, childcare costs element, as well as elements for being a carer or for having limited capability to work-related activities, due to illness or disability. The new policy was announced in 2010 at the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party annual party conference, conference by the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Housing Benefit
Housing Benefit is a means-tested social security benefit in the United Kingdom that is intended to help meet housing costs for rented accommodation. It is the second biggest item in the Department for Work and Pensions' budget after the state pension, totalling £23.8 billion in 2013–14. The primary legislation governing Housing Benefit is the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992. Operationally, the governing regulations are statutory instruments arising from that Act. It is governed by one of two sets of regulations. For working age claimants it is governed by the "Housing Benefit Regulations 2006", but for those who have reached the qualifying age for Pension Credit (regardless of whether it has been claimed) it is governed by the "Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006". It is normally administered by the local authority in whose area the property being rented lies. In some circumstance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Assistance
National Assistance was the main means-tested benefit in the United Kingdom from 1948 to 1966. It was established by the National Assistance Act 1948 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 29) and abolished by the Ministry of Social Security Act 1966, which established the Supplementary Benefit in its place. It replaced earlier provisions under the Poor Law. The Beveridge Report of 1942 proposed a system of contributory benefits which would leave only a residual role for means-tested benefits. "Assistance will be available to meet all needs which are not covered by insurance. It must meet those needs adequately up to subsistence level, but it must be felt to be something less desirable than insurance benefit; otherwise the insured persons get nothing for their contributions." The National Assistance Board was established to direct the scheme, taking over from the Unemployment Assistance Board The Unemployment Assistance Board was a body created in Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cohabitation In The United Kingdom
Cohabitation in the United Kingdom, according to social security law would typically relate to a couple being treated as living together as a married couple even if not married or in a civil partnership. This has the effect that for means-tested benefits their resources are treated as held in common. There are also effects on benefits which depend on the claimant not having a partner. History The Victorian era of the late 19th century is famous for the Victorian standards of personal morality. Historians generally agree that the middle classes held high personal moral standards and rejected cohabitation. They have debated whether the working classes followed suit. Moralists in the late 19th century such as Henry Mayhew decried high levels of cohabitation without marriage and illegitimate births in London slums. However new research using computerized matching of data files shows that the rates of cohabitation were quite low—under 5% – for the working class and the urban poor. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legal Aid
Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This article describes the development of legal aid and its principles, primarily as known in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and in the United States. Legal aid is essential to guaranteeing equal access to justice for all, as provided for by Article 6.3 of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding criminal law cases and Article 6.1 of the same Convention both for civil and criminal cases. Especially for citizens who do not have sufficient financial means, the provision of legal aid to clients by governments increases the likelihood, within court proceedings, of being assisted by legal professionals for free or at a lower cost, or of receiving financial aid. A number of delivery mod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prescription Charges
In the United Kingdom most medicines are supplied via the National Health Service at either no charge, or for a fixed charge for up to three months' worth of any medicine. Charges for prescriptions for medicines and some medical appliances are payable by adults in England under the age of 60, but not by older people or children. However, people may be exempt from charges in various exemption categories. Charges were abolished by NHS Wales in 2007, Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland in 2010 and by NHS Scotland in 2011. In 2010/11, in England, £450million was raised through these charges, some 0.5% of the total NHS budget. the prescription charge is £9.90 per item. Ireland also has a system of fixed charges rather than individually priced medicines, but the details are totally different. History When the National Health Service was established in 1948 all prescriptions were free. The power to make a charge was introduced in the NHS Amendment Act 1949 under pressure fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Working Tax Credit
Working Tax Credit (WTC) was a state benefit in the United Kingdom made to people who worked and received a low income. It was introduced in April 2003 and was a means-tested benefit. Despite the name, the payment was not a tax credit linked to a person's tax bill, but a payment used to top-up low wages. The amount of WTC received could exceed the amount of tax paid. Unlike most other benefits, WTC was paid by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). WTC could be claimed by working individuals, childless couples and working families with dependent children. In addition, some other people were also entitled to Child Tax Credit (CTC) if they were responsible for any children. WTC and CTC were assessed jointly and families remained eligible for CTC even if no adult was working or they had too much income to receive WTC. In 2010, the coalition government announced that the Working Tax Credit would, by 2017, be integrated into and replaced by Universal Credit. However, implementation of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legal Aid
Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This article describes the development of legal aid and its principles, primarily as known in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and in the United States. Legal aid is essential to guaranteeing equal access to justice for all, as provided for by Article 6.3 of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding criminal law cases and Article 6.1 of the same Convention both for civil and criminal cases. Especially for citizens who do not have sufficient financial means, the provision of legal aid to clients by governments increases the likelihood, within court proceedings, of being assisted by legal professionals for free or at a lower cost, or of receiving financial aid. A number of delivery mod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pension Credit
Pension Credit is the principal element of the UK welfare system for people of pension age. It is intended to supplement the UK State Pension, or to replace it (for example, if the claimant did not meet the conditions to claim a State Pension). It was introduced in the UK in 2003 by Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. It has been subject to a number of changes over its existence, but has the core aim of lifting retired people of limited means out of poverty. Eligibility may be estimated on a government website. Core elements The scheme was introduced to replace the ''Minimum Income Guarantee'', which had been introduced in 1997, also by Gordon Brown. This combined the existing ''applicable amount'' (of benefit) in Income Support, together with the ''Pensioner Premium'', which was itself substantially increased; these changes gave the impression of a new, more generous benefit package aimed at pensioners. Pension Credit has two elements: *The first element, Guarantee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beveridge Report
The Beveridge Report, officially entitled ''Social Insurance and Allied Services'' ( Cmd. 6404), is a government report, published in November 1942, influential in the founding of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It was drafted by the Liberal economist William Beveridge – with research and publicity by his future wife, mathematician Janet Philip – who proposed widespread reforms to the system of social welfare to address what he identified as "five giants on the road of reconstruction": "Want… Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness". Published in the midst of World War II, the report promised rewards for everyone's sacrifices. Overwhelmingly popular with the public, it formed the basis for the post-war reforms known as the welfare state, which include the expansion of National Insurance and the creation of the National Health Service. Background In 1940, during the Second World War, the Labour Party entered into a coalition with the Conservative Party. On 10 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Income Support
Income Support is an income-related benefit in the United Kingdom for some people who are on a low income, but have a reason for not actively seeking work. Claimants of Income Support may be entitled to certain other benefits, for example, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Child Benefit, Carer's Allowance, Child Tax Credit and help with health costs. A person with capital over £16,000 cannot get Income Support, and savings over £6,000 affect how much Income Support can be received. Claimants must be between 16 and Pension Credit age, work fewer than 16 hours a week, and have a reason why they are not actively seeking work (caring for a child under 5 years old or someone who receives a specified disability benefit). Lone parents Claimants can receive income support if they are a lone parent and responsible for a child under five who is a member of their household. A claimant is considered responsible for a child in any week if receiving child benefit for the child. How ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
