2. The rules about your age
You cannot usually qualify for:
•income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) until you are 18;
•joint-claim JSA unless you and your partner are both 18. If only one of you is 18 or over, the other must satisfy the conditions for income-based JSA in their own right as a 16/17 year old.
1s3A(1)(d) and (e) JSA 1995; regs 3A and 58 JSA Regs If both of you are under 18, you do not count as a joint-claim couple.
You cannot qualify for any type of JSA if you are pension age or over (see
here). It is your age as the claimant that is relevant, not the age of your partner.
Note: there are special rules that may help you qualify for income-based or joint-claim JSA if you are 16 or 17. Because no one can now make a new claim for income-based JSA, these rules are not described in detail here. See pp250–55 of the 2019/20 edition of this Handbook for further information.