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7. Other benefits

Child benefit is disregarded as income for housing benefit (HB).

Bear in mind that you should tell the local authority about any changes in income when they occur, including benefit changes. Do not assume that the DWP, HMRC or Social Security Scotland passes on the information for you.

The benefit cap

Your HB is reduced if your total income from benefits is over the maximum amount that you or your partner can receive. The amount is £423.46 a week if you are a lone parent or member of a couple and £283.71 if you are a single person.

Most benefits count towards the cap, including new-style jobseeker’s allowance, new-style employment and support allowance (ESA), child benefit and HB. The cap also applies to universal credit (see here).

You are exempt from the cap if you or your partner are disabled, a carer or a war widow(er). You are exempt from the cap because of disability if you or your partner get certain disability benefits, including adult disability payment (ADP) and new-style ESA with a support component. You are also exempt if a child or young person for whom you are responsible gets child disability payment or ADP. You are exempt if you or your partner get carer support payment.

There is protection for nine months before the cap applies if you are no longer working but were working for at least 50 out of the 52 weeks before the last day of work, and in that 50 weeks the person in work was not getting income-related ESA (note: income-related ESA has now been abolished).

If you are affected by the cap, you should apply for a discretionary housing payment (DHP) from your local authority. The Scottish government has agreed to always make up HB reductions due to the benefit cap by way of a DHP.

Passported benefits

Provided you meet any other conditions, getting HB entitles you to:

  • a Best Start grant;
  • Best Start foods;
  • funeral support payment.

1. What is new-style jobseeker’s allowance

New-style jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) provides financial support for people of working age who are not working full time and who are expected to ‘sign on’ as available for work. It can be paid for up to six months.

Full-time students are normally excluded from JSA, but there are exceptions. Part-time students are eligible if they are available for work.

You must have paid sufficient national insurance contributions.

2. Who is eligible

To qualify for new-style jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), you must not be excluded as a student, and you must satisfy the basic rules. See below for details of students who are eligible. The basic rules are covered on here.

You cannot usually get new-style JSA if you are in relevant education. There is an exception if you took time out of your course because of illness or caring responsibilities, you have now recovered or the caring responsibilities have ended, you are not eligible for a student loan or grant, and you are waiting to rejoin your course.1

You are in relevant education if you are:2

  • a qualifying young person (see here); or
  • on a full-time course of advanced education; or
  • on another full-time course for which a loan or grant is provided for your maintenance (or would be available if you applied for it); or
  • on a course that is not compatible with your work-related requirements.

If you are studying but do not come within any of the relevant education definitions above, you can get JSA (as long as you meet the basic rules, below).

Reference
References
  • 1

    Reg 45(6) JSA Regs 2013

  • 2

    Reg 45 JSA Regs 2013

3. Basic rules

As well as being a student who is eligible for jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), you must satisfy all of the basic rules.1

  • You must accept a claimant commitment. This sets out, for instance, the hours you have agreed to work, the type of work you are looking for and any restrictions on travel and pay. You must be available for work, searching for work (usually for at least 35 hours a week), and willing and able to take up work immediately (although some people are allowed notice).2
  • People with caring responsibilities and disabled people can restrict themselves to fewer than 35 hours.3
  • If you are doing any work, it is for less than 16 hours a week.
  • You are capable of work (although you can continue to get JSA for up to 13 weeks while sick).
  • You are under pension age (gradually increasing from age 66).
  • You are in Great Britain, although JSA can be paid in other countries in limited circumstances. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.
  • You have paid sufficient national insurance contributions. You must have paid class 1 contributions on earnings of at least the lower earnings limit in 26 weeks, which need not be consecutive, in one of the two complete tax years (6 April to 5 April) before the start of the benefit year (which runs from the first Sunday in January) in which you claim. You also must have paid or been credited with class 1 contributions on earnings of 50 times the lower earnings limit in these years. For example, you qualify if you claim JSA in 2026 and you paid contributions on earnings of £6,150 in each of the tax years April 2023 to April 2024 and April 2024 to April 2025, earning in one of the years £123 a week or more, for at least 26 weeks. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.

Reference
References
  • 1

    s1 JSA 1995

  • 2

    Reg 9 JSA Regs 2013

  • 3

    Reg 9 JSA Regs 2013

4. Amount of benefit

Jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) is payable after seven ‘waiting days’. The amount of new-style JSA depends on your age.

Weekly rate from April 2026
Under 25£75.65
25 or over£95.55

You may get less than this if you have part-time earnings or an occupational or personal pension, but the amount is not affected by a student loan or grant. New-style JSA is only paid for up to 26 weeks.

6. Challenging a decision

If you think a decision about your jobseeker’s allowance is wrong, you can ask the DWP to look at it again. This process is known as a ‘mandatory reconsideration’. Provided you ask within the time limit (usually one month), the DWP notifies you of the decision in a ‘mandatory reconsideration notice’. If you are still not happy when you get this notice, you can appeal to the independent First-tier Tribunal. If it was not possible to ask the DWP to reconsider the decision within a month, you can ask for a late revision (within 13 months), explaining why it is late. You can also ask the DWP to look at a decision again at any time if certain grounds are met – eg, if there has been an official error.

7. Other benefits

If you get new-style jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), you can claim universal credit as well.

New-style JSA overlaps with certain other benefits, so you cannot, for example, get new-style JSA and maternity allowance at the same time. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.

New-style JSA is taken into account when calculating whether the benefit cap applies (see here and here).

Basic facts

  • Women having a baby can claim statutory maternity pay (SMP) if they have an employer or maternity allowance if they have recently worked.
  • The mother’s partner can claim statutory paternity pay (SPP).
  • Parents adopting a child can claim statutory adoption pay (SAP) and SPP – one partner can claim SAP and the other SPP.
  • Either partner in a couple can claim statutory shared parental pay instead of SMP, SPP or SAP.
  • If a child is in neonatal care, dies, or is stillborn, parents may be eligible for statutory neonatal care pay or statutory parental bereavement pay.
  • Part-time and full-time students are eligible for these benefits.