Income Support



Income Support helps people who do not have enough to live on and who:


• are between age 16 and Pension Credit qualifying age; and 



• have no income or a low income; and 



• work less than 16 hours a week (and any partner is working less than 24 hours a week); and 


• are not in full-time study (there are some exceptions); and 



• do not qualify Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance (Universal Credit is gradually replacing Income Support, Jobseekers’ Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance — see Chapter 1) ; and 



• do not have savings above £16,000; and 



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



To get Income Support, you must be all five of the following:



• between 16 and Pension Credit qualifying age; 



• pregnant, or a carer, or a lone parent with a child under five or, in some cases, unable to work because you’re sick or disabled;



• you have no income or a low income and no more than £16,000 in savings (any partner’s income and savings will be taken into account);



• working less than 16 hours a week (and any partner works less than 24 hours a week); and



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



If you are too sick or ill to work, and are not entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP - see page 44), you should claim income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) instead of Income Support. The government phased out Income Support for sickness and disability and claimants were reassessed to see if they instead qualified for ESA (see Chapter 4).



You may be able to get Income Support if you are working less than 16 hours a week and your income still falls below a certain amount. There are also some jobs you can do where you’re allowed to work for more than 16 hours, for example, if you are working at home as a childminder.



You can claim Income Support for yourself and a partner who lives with you. If you have a partner, they must work less than 24 hours a week. If you have savings of over £16,000 you will not be able to get Income Support.