Please note that benefits guidance and tax legislation been subject to considerable change/reinterpretation since 2019. Any INVOLVE documents referring to the payment of involvement fees may now be out of date and are pending a review during 2020. INVOLVE’s guidance should not be substituted for professional advice, and INVOLVE accepts no liability for decisions or actions taken as a result of its guidance. You are always recommended to take your own tax, finance or legal advice.
Who is the Benefits Advice Service for?
The advice service will offer free, confidential advice on how payments or reimbursement of expenses might affect those receiving state benefits. INVOLVE on behalf of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is making it available to:
How will the Benefits Advice Service help?
Specially trained staff with knowledge of how payment for involvement might affect those in receipt of state benefits will be available to offer free personalised advice.
For members of the public, the service can support individuals:
For staff, the service can provide:
How can I contact the Benefits Advice Service?
If you or a member of the public involved with your NIHR organisation would like to use the service, please:
It is important to allow members of the public with enquiries to contact the benefits advice service directly, rather than raising any enquiries on their behalf. This will avoid misinterpretation or confusion in any advice offered.
If you are not sure whether your organisation qualifies to use this service, please contact INVOLVE on involve@nihr.ac.uk or 02380 595628.
NOTE
The service is not able to give advice on tax or National Insurance enquiries, or on benefit queries relating to payment for participating in research (for example, for taking part as a subject of a clinical trial or research study).
INVOLVE is funding this service on behalf of and for the NIHR. Other partners who are also part of the service are:
Please contact us if you need contact details for one of the other partner organisations.
* In this context, public involvement means the active involvement of patients, potential patients, carers and people who use health and social care services (as well as people from organisations that represent people who use services) in decisions about health or social care research, service design or service delivery.