Compliance costs capture time, financial and psychological costs for individuals in fulfilling requirements placed on them by the law and statutory authorities. This research will explore how to apply this concept, used for many taxes, to social security benefits and income-related tax credits. Although government departments must estimate the impact of regulations on employers and public/voluntary sector bodies, there is no obligation to do so for individuals. But knowledge of the scale and distribution of compliance costs is needed for accurate cost-benefit analyses of changes to the structure of benefits/tax credits.