Income-based jobseeker’s allowance
Income-based JSA is worked out in the same way as income support (IS). The amount you get is made up of:
•personal allowances;
•premiums;
•housing costs – ie, certain service charges.
The total of these is called your ‘applicable amount’. If you have no other income (the student loan and some grants count as income), you are paid your full applicable amount. Otherwise, any income you have is topped up with income-based JSA to the level of your applicable amount. If your weekly income is above your applicable amount, you are not entitled to income-based JSA. See Chapter 17 for how to work out your weekly income. See Chapter 7 for how to work out your applicable amount. The rules are almost the same as for IS, with the following differences. •If you are in a couple and only one of you is under 18, you get the higher £117.40 personal allowance if the younger partner is responsible for a child or is eligible for income-based JSA, severe hardship payments, IS (or would be if not a member of a couple) or income-related employment and support allowance (ESA).
•If you are in a couple and both of you are under 18, you get the higher £89.45 personal allowance if:
◦you or your partner are responsible for a child;
◦both of you would be eligible for income-based JSA, or your partner would be eligible for IS or income-related ESA if you were both single;
◦you are both eligible for severe hardship payments, or one of you is while the other is eligible for income-based JSA, IS or income-related ESA;
◦you are married or civil partners and one of you is registered with Skills Development Scotland, or both of you are eligible for income-based JSA.
•If you are in a ‘joint-claim couple’ (see below), you can get a disability premium (at the couple rate) if one of you has had limited capability for work for 364 days (196 days if terminally ill). You must claim ESA to establish limited capability for work, even if you might not get it.