19 or over and a full-time student
You cannot usually get JSA as a full-time student aged 19 or over (and not in relevant education - see
above), whether in advanced or
non-advanced education, at any time during your ‘period of study’.
1Reg 15(1)(a) JSA RegsPeriod 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 DMGYou 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.