Means Test

The means test, often referred to as the eligbility check is undertaken by users after the service has given them an in-scope, non-fast tracked route.

The journey begins when the user selects Check if you qualify financially.

Check Financial Eligbility API

The CFE API is used to check whether a user is financially eligbile as part of the means test.

Check if you can get legal aid sends a request to CLA Backend which returns an eligibility check result when a GET request is sent to the following endpoint: /checker/api/v1/eligibility_check/{reference}/is_eligible/

Check user eligbility

Our service uses app.means_test.api.is_eligible(reference) to return either a YES, NO or UNKNOWN result. This is handled by the EligibilityState constant. The UNKNOWN state is reserved for cases where a decision of eligibility has not been made such as a case in progress.

Means test payload

The payload sent to the backend is handled via the payload logic in app/means_test/payload. The MeansTestPayload uses the update_from_form function to collect the payloads from each page of the means test journey. The payload is then passed to the backend on the dispatch_request.

Updating the means test

Updating the means test is handled by app.means_test.api.update_means_test(payload). The payload provided can be a full payload or partial but needs to return a response.

An example payload json is displayed below:

"about-you": {
    "is_employed": True,
    "is_self_employed": False,
    "has_partner": True,
    "in_dispute": False,
    "partner_is_employed": False,
    "partner_is_self_employed": True,
},
"income": {
    "earnings": {
        "per_interval_value": 250000,
        "per_interval_value_pounds": 2500.00,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "child_tax_credit": {
        "per_interval_value": 30000,
        "per_interval_value_pounds": 300.00,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "working_tax_credit": {
        "per_interval_value": 10000,
        "per_interval_value_pounds": 100.00,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "partner_earnings": {
        "per_interval_value": 200000,
        "per_interval_value_pounds": 2000.00,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "maintenance_received": {
        "per_interval_value": 0,
        "per_interval_value_pounds": 0,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "pension": {
        "per_interval_value": 0,
        "per_interval_value_pounds": 0,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "other_income": {
        "per_interval_value": 1000,
        "per_interval_value_pounds": 0,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "income_tax": {
        "per_interval_value": 2000,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "national_insurance": {
        "per_interval_value": 3000,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "partner_working_tax_credit": {
        "per_interval_value": 50,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "partner_maintenance_received": {
        "per_interval_value": 50,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "partner_pension": {
        "per_interval_value": 0,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "partner_other_income": {
        "per_interval_value": 1000,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "partner_income_tax": {
        "per_interval_value": 2500,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
    "partner_national_insurance": {
        "per_interval_value": 3500,
        "interval_period": "per_month",
    },
},
},