Care and support

Benefits and offenders

These pages tell you what benefits can be claimed by offenders. It is important to be aware of the different rules to ensure that prisoners and their families receive their entitlement during any transition and the risk of overpayments is minimised.

Means-tested benefits

For means-tested benefits, a prisoner is defined as someone who is detained in custody following a sentence of imprisonment, detained on remand awaiting trial or sentence or released on temporary licence. This does not include claimants who are released on licence or parole, on bail or in a bail or probation hostel or released and electronically tagged.

Non means-tested benefits

Non-means-tested benefits have a different definition of prisoner. For these benefits, this is defined as someone in prison or detained in legal custody in connection with criminal proceedings. This does not include those released on temporary licence or imprisoned for a civil offence.

These pages explain what benefits may be claimed, or which may be affected or even stop, if someone is in prison, on remand or in custody. They are divided into sections on:

• benefits available while on remand
• benefits available while in custody
• benefits available on release from prison