Benefits for Students in Scotland Handbook 2024/25Part 1: Benefits and tax creditsChapter 4: Employment and support allowance 2. Who is eligible
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2. Who is eligible
As new claims cannot be made for income-related employment and support allowance (ESA), most students getting income-related ESA will be those who were already on this before starting the course, and who are eligible for income-related ESA as a student. If you cannot claim income-related ESA, you may be able to get universal credit instead (see Chapter 10).
To qualify for ESA, you must meet all the basic conditions.1s1 WRA 2007
    •You have limited capability for work (see here).
    •You are aged 16 or over and under pension age.
    •You are in Great Britain (although some absences are allowed – see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook (for subscribers) for more details).
    •You satisfy the rules for contributory ESA (see below) or income-related ESA (see here).
    •You are not working, although some ‘permitted work’ is allowed. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook (for subscribers) for more details.
 
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Contributory employment and support allowance
Contributory ESA is not means tested. To qualify, you must meet the basic conditions above and have paid sufficient national insurance (NI) contributions.1s1 WRA 2007 See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook (for subscribers) for details on this. You can also claim it in order to get NI credits for limited capability for work. There are no special rules for students, so you can claim contributory ESA whether you study full time or part time, including if you are taking time out from your course because of ill health (see here).
 
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Income-related employment and support allowance
Income-related ESA is means tested. You are eligible if you are a part-time student and have limited capability for work (see here). If you are a full-time student, you are only eligible if you get disability living allowance (DLA) or personal independence payment (PIP)/adult disability payment (ADP). The same rules apply if you are taking time out from your course because of ill health (see here).
To qualify for income-related ESA while studying, you must satisfy the basic conditions (see here) and all the following conditions.1Sch 1 para 6 WRA 2007
    •You are either a full-time student (see here) who is entitled to DLA (either component, paid at any rate) or PIP/ADP (either component, paid at any rate - see here), or you are a part-time student.2Reg 18 ESA Regs
    •Your income is less than the set amount the law says you need to live on (known as your ‘applicable amount’ – see here).
    •You have no more than £16,000 capital.
    •Your partner (if you have one) is not working 24 hours or more a week.
    •You are in Great Britain, satisfy the ‘habitual residence’ and the ‘right to reside’ tests, and are not a ‘person subject to immigration control’. These terms are explained in CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook (for subscribers). Further advice is available from UKCISA (see Appendix 2).
 
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Full-time student
You count as a full-time student if you are undertaking a full-time course of study at an educational establishment. There are two definitions of ‘full time’ that apply: the first covers mostly courses of advanced education; the second covers most courses of non-advanced education.1Regs 14-16 ESA Regs
    •Your course is full time if it is classed as full time by the institution. If the institution describes the course as full time, you need convincing evidence to persuade the DWP otherwise, bearing in mind that what matters is the course itself rather than the hours you attend. This definition covers all courses of advanced education and any courses of non-advanced education not funded in whole or in part by the Scottish government at a further education (FE) college.
    •Your course is full time if it involves more than 16 hours a week classroom or workshop learning under the direct guidance of teaching staff, or 16 hours or less if your hours are made up of more than 21 hours a week of structured study hours. What matters is the number of hours specified in a document signed by the college. This is often called a ‘learning agreement’, but your college may refer to it by some other name. This definition applies if you are at an FE college, not undertaking a higher education course, and your course is fully or partly funded by the Scottish government. Courses funded by the Scottish government include school qualifications like National Qualifications from Access level to Advanced Higher, Scottish Vocational Qualifications and National Certificates.
A different definition applies if you are under 20 and a ‘qualifying young person’. Few people under 20 are on income-related ESA. If it is relevant, see the 19th edition of this Handbook.
 
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