Means-Tested Benefit
A welfare benefit where entitlement, and the amount paid, depends on the claimant's income and capital. Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit are means-tested; Attendance Allowance and PIP are not.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
A means-tested benefit is one where the state looks at a claimant's income and savings before deciding whether — and how much — to pay. GOV.UK guidance makes the concept clear by contrast: describing Attendance Allowance, it states that 'Attendance Allowance is not means-tested - what you earn or how much you have in savings will not affect what you get'. That formulation captures the defining feature of a means-tested benefit — that earnings and savings do affect what a claimant gets.
Older government guidance uses the same terminology to identify particular benefits as means-tested. In identifying 'vulnerable households' for the Decent Homes standard, guidance defines them by reference to households 'in receipt of at least one of the principal means tested or' disability-related benefits, going on to list income support, housing benefit, council tax benefit and income-based jobseeker's allowance among the benefits taken into account. Universal Credit, which has replaced several of those legacy benefits, is likewise a means-tested benefit.
Related terms
Official sources
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