YouGov is a site which pays its members for filling out surveys on a variety of things. For most surveys you can earn 50 to 250 points (250 is rare) and once you reach 5000 you can exchange for a cheque for £50 (they used to just talk in pounds and pence and I have no idea why they chose to convert to points when they equate to the same thing). There are also surveys where you don't get paid get an entry into a prize draw for various amounts, generally £25, £250 and £1000. It also has very occasional focus groups but they tend to be in their offices in London (they are based near Old Street) and they are in the middle of the day so you have to work near there to go to these really. You can also refer people to the site and if they sign up via your link you earn what they earn in their first 3 months.

The amount of surveys you get invited to do varies a lot. You might get a couple of weeks when you get loads and then a month or so with none.

I have been a member for just over two years and in that time I have received 1 cheque for £50, attended a focus group and earned £20 and my current points total is 2275. I enjoy filling out surveys (yes I am that sad) so it's fine but if you don't then it's not worth doing it solely for the cash.

In my opinion, the thing that makes YouGov stands out from other survey sites and is the best for the following reasons:

They are totally honest about what a survey pays. All other sites I have used tend to ask screening questions first and then tell you that you are not in the correct group which leads to you wasting a lot of time. YouGov does not do this. If you are invited to do a paid survey and you complete it you will always get paid.

You can also leave surveys half way though and come back and finish them (before the survey closes) when you have time.

When you (finally) reach the £50 threshold you receive your cheque within 2 weeks.

On each survey invitation YouGov send an approximate time that it will take to complete. This is usually accurate and is useful in knowing whether or not you want to do it then.

The points don't expire. Once you have earned them they are yours.

In summary I love YouGov but that is because I like doing surveys. It does take a long time to build up to £50 and I have never won a prize draw despite entering pretty much all of them. I think it would be an improvment if you were able to exchange your points at a lower threshold though, perhaps if they followed DooYoo's example and had a lower threshold for Amazon vouchers or something like that.