Who is eligible for New Style JSA?

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New Style JSA is an individual contribution-based benefit. To be eligible for new-style JSA, you must have worked as an employee and paid Class 1 National Insurance contributions (NICs), in the two full tax years before the year you are claiming in, although National Insurance credits can also count (see page 21). People who were self-employed and only paid Class 2 NICs will not be eligible, unless they were working as a share fisherman or a volunteer development worker.

To qualify for new-style JSA, you must satisfy all the conditions below. You must:

• be unemployed or working less than 16 hours a week on average;

• be available for work and actively seeking employment;

• not have an illness or disability which stops you from working;

• be aged over 18, but under the State Pension age;

• not be in full-time education; and

• live in England, Scotland or Wales — there are different rules for Northern Ireland.