Benefits for Students in Scotland Handbook 2024/25Part 1: Benefits and tax creditsChapter 8: Jobseeker's allowance 2. Who is eligible
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2. Who is eligible
As new claims cannot be made for income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), students getting income-based JSA are those who were already on this before starting the course, and who are eligible for income-based JSA as a student (which mainly applies to part-time students). If you cannot claim income-based JSA, you may be able to get universal credit instead (see Chapter 10).
To qualify for 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.
Contribution-based jobseeker’s allowance
This is sometimes called ‘new-style’ JSA by the DWP. You cannot usually get ‘new-style’ contribution-based 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.
You are in relevant education if you are:1Reg 45 JSA Regs 2013
    •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 which is not compatible with your work-related requirements.
 
1     Reg 45 JSA Regs 2013  »
Income-based jobseeker’s allowance
You cannot usually get JSA as a full-time student, whether in advanced or non-advanced education, at any time during your ‘period of study’.1Reg 15(1)(a) JSA Regs
Period of study
Your ‘period of study’ is the whole of your course from the first day you attend or undertake the course to the last day - ie, the last day of the final academic year, including short and long vacations.2Regs 4 and 130 JSA Regs It includes a period of study in connection with the course after you have stopped doing the course itself. It does not include freshers’ week unless your course actually starts that week.3Vol 6, para 30221 DMG
You are not a student in between courses. For example, you can get JSA in the summer between completing an undergraduate degree and starting a postgraduate course.
Postgraduates writing up their thesis at the end of a course may be regarded by the DWP as being in ‘a period of study undertaken by the student in connection with the course’. However, guidance for decision makers says someone is ‘not a full-time student during the period after the end of the course when they are expected to complete any course work’.4Vol 6, para 30238 DMG To get JSA, you must show that you are available for and actively looking for work. If you say you are not prepared to fit your thesis writing around a job, should one come up, the DWP will decide that you are not available for work.
 
1     Reg 15(1)(a) JSA Regs »
2     Regs 4 and 130 JSA Regs »
3     Vol 6, para 30221 DMG »
4     Vol 6, para 30238 DMG  »
What counts as full time
In most cases, the college or university defines whether the course is full or part time. However, for some further education (FE) students, there is a 16/21-hour study rule. The JSA rules are the same as those for income support (IS) (see here).
Who can get jobseeker’s allowance
You can get JSA in the following circumstances. Note: you cannot make a new claim for income-based JSA (see here).
    •Your course must be regarded by your work coach at the Jobcentre Plus office as a qualifying course. You must be aged 25 or over and have been getting JSA for at least two years before the course starts. During term time you are not expected to sign on or look for work, although you may be required to provide evidence of your attendance and progress on the course. During vacations, you are expected to look for casual work.1Regs 17A and 21A JSA Regs
    •You are on a full-time employment-related course approved by your work coach at the Jobcentre Plus office. You can get JSA for just two weeks.2Reg 14(1)(a) JSA Regs
 
1     Regs 17A and 21A JSA Regs »
2     Reg 14(1)(a) JSA Regs »
Studying part time
You can get JSA while studying part time. You must continue to pass all the basic rules for JSA, including being available for work and actively looking for work.
What counts as part time
Generally, your college or university determines whether you count as a part-time or full-time student, rather than the number of hours you study or attend lectures.1Reg 1(b)(i), definition of ‘full-time student’, JSA Regs The rules are the same as for IS (see here).
If you are aged 19 or over at an FE college but not on a higher education course, there is a 16/21-hour rule for courses funded, or partly funded, by the Scottish government. A part-time course is:2Reg 1(b)(iii), definition of ‘full-time student’, JSA Regs
    •up to 16 hours a week classroom or workshop-guided learning, under the direct guidance of teaching staff; or
    •up to 21 hours when hours of structured learning are added on, provided classes are no more than 16 hours a week.
This is set out in a learning agreement provided by your college.
Examples
Shona is 27 and attending an FE college, studying for National Qualifications at higher level. She has 10 hours a week of classes and 10 hours a week of timetabled independent study. She is classed as a part-time student.
Gwyneth is 24 and at an FE college on a National Certificate course. She has classes for 18 hours a week and three hours of timetabled study. She is classed as a full-time student.
Saleem is 35 and studying for a degree. He has 15 hours of lectures a week. The university regards his course as full time. He is classed as a full-time student for JSA.
 
1     Reg 1(b)(i), definition of ‘full-time student’, JSA Regs »
2     Reg 1(b)(iii), definition of ‘full-time student’, JSA Regs »
Studying and availability for work
If you are getting JSA, you may have agreed which hours of the day and which days of the week you are available for work. This ‘pattern of availability’ is set out in your ‘claimant commitment’. You are allowed to do this provided the hours you choose still give you a reasonable chance of getting work and do not considerably reduce your prospects of getting work.
If the hours you study are completely different to the hours you have agreed to be available for work, you should have no problem. If, however, there is some overlap, or if you have agreed to be available for work at any time of day and on any day of the week, the DWP must be satisfied that you are available for work despite your course. It expects you to:
    •rearrange the hours of your course to fit round a job or be prepared to give up the course if a job comes up; and
    •be ready to take time off the course to attend a job interview; and
    •be ready to start work immediately.
Guidance tells DWP decision makers to look at various factors when deciding whether you are genuinely available for work, such as:1Vol 4, para 21242 DMG
    •what you are doing to look for work;
    •whether your course will help you get work. Bear in mind that if you say the course is necessary to get the kind of job you want, the DWP may assume you are not prepared to give it up to do another kind of job and, therefore, decide you are not available for work;
    •whether you can be contacted about a possible job if you are studying away from home;
    •whether you gave up work or training to do the course;
    •your hours of attendance on the course;
    •whether it is possible to change the hours if necessary;
    •whether you could still complete the course if you missed some classes;
    •how much you paid for the course and whether any fees could be refunded if you gave up the course. The DWP is likely to assume that you are not prepared to give up the course to take a job if you have paid a significant amount in course fees;
    •whether any grant would need to be repaid if you gave up your course.
However, the DWP does not need to know about any of the above factors if you got JSA, employment and support allowance, or were on a ‘No-one left behind’ course or similar training:
    •during the last three months before the start of the course; or
    •for three out of the last six months before the course if you were working the rest of the time.
If this applies to you and your course hours overlap with your pattern of availability but you are willing and able to rearrange them in order to take up employment, no other questions about your course are relevant to your availability for work.2Reg 11 JSA Regs You need only complete Part 1 of the student questionnaire and sign Part 3.
Once you have qualified for JSA, you must continue to be available for work and actively look for work. When you ‘sign on’, you must show what steps you have taken to look for work – eg, checked job adverts or applied for jobs. If you do not look for work each week, or you turn down a job or interview, you could be given a sanction and lose some or all of your JSA, which could be for up to 26 weeks. If this happens, you can appeal. You might be able to reduce the amount of the sanction or have it overturned. Get advice about this and ask for a hardship payment in the meantime.
Open University students can attend a residential course for up to a week and keep their JSA. You are not expected to be available for, or to look for, work during that week.3Regs 14(1)(f) and 19(1)(f) JSA Regs
 
1     Vol 4, para 21242 DMG »
2     Reg 11 JSA Regs »
3     Regs 14(1)(f) and 19(1)(f) JSA Regs »