Key facts
•Income support (IS) is a benefit for people on a low income who are in one of the specific groups of people who can claim.
•IS is a means-tested benefit.
•You do not have to have paid national insurance contributions to qualify.
•You cannot qualify for IS if you (or your partner) are in full-time paid work.
•IS is administered and paid by the DWP.
•If you disagree with an IS decision, you can apply for a revision or a supersession (see Chapter
56), or appeal against it (see Chapter
57). You must apply for a mandatory reconsideration before you can appeal.
Future changes
The government says that from November 2020 (July 2019 for some claimants), the DWP will begin to transfer existing IS claims to universal credit (UC). When this happens, your IS claim ends and you will be invited to claim UC. See
here for further information, and CPAG’s online service and
Welfare Rights Bulletin for updates.