Social assistance refers to the assistance rendered by society to the poor and needy persons
voluntarily without placing any obligation on them to make any contribution to be entitled to
relief such as workmen’s compensation, maternity benefit, old age pension, etc. Thus, one
may say that a social assistance scheme provides benefits for persons of small means granted as
of right in an amount sufficient to meet a minimum standard of need and financed from taxation.
Social assistance represents the unilateral obligations of the community towards its dependent
group. It is provided by society or the government to the poor and needy individuals.
The principal feature of social assistance are (1) the whole cost of the Programme is met by the State
and local units of Government (2) benefits are paid as legal rights in prescribed categories of
need (3) in assessing need, a person’s other income and resources are taken into account in certain
resources such as a reasonable level of personal savings are disregarded and (4) the benefit grant
is designed to bring a person’s total income up to a community-determined maximum taking into
account other factors such as family size and unavoidable fixed obligations such as rent grants
are not related to the applicant’s previous earnings or customary standard of living.
The difference between social insurance and social assistance are as follows:
a) Social assistance is purely a government affair while social insurance is partly financed by the
State.
b) Social assistance is given gratis while social insurance is granted to those persons who pay a
contribution.
c) Besides, social insurance does not insist upon a means test upon means test, and benefits
are granted without it while social assistance is granted only if certain conditions prescribed by
the Government are fulfilled.