Who can get it?

To qualify for either contribution-based JSA or income-based JSA, you must satisfy all of the conditions below. You must:

• be unemployed or working less than 16 hours a week on average (unless you are in one of the “excepted groups”, which include certain carers and trainees, volunteers and people living in residential care) — and if you are claiming income-based JSA and you have a partner, s/he must be working no more than 24 hours a week on average;

• be available for work;

• have entered into a Jobseeker’s Agreement;

• be actively seeking employment;

• be capable of work — if you are too ill to work you should claim a sickness or disability benefit instead (see Chapter 3);

• be aged over 18 but under the state pension age — currently 65 for men and rising from 60 to 65 for women between April 2016 and November 2018;

• not be in education (although there are some exceptions for part-time students); and

• live in the UK.

In addition, you must satisfy the specific eligibility conditions for either contribution or income-based JSA.