Benefits for Students in Scotland Handbook 2025/26Part 1: Benefits Chapter 7: New-style jobseeker's allowance
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Chapter 7: New-style jobseeker’s allowance
Basic facts
    •New-style jobseeker’s allowance provides financial support for people who are expected to ‘sign on’ for work.
    •Full-time students are not normally eligible.
    •Part-time students are eligible if they are available for work.
    •You need to have paid national insurance contributions to qualify.
    •The amount is not affected by any loan, grant or other income you may have.
1. What is new-style jobseeker’s allowance
New-style jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) provides financial support for people of working age who are not working full time and who are expected to ‘sign on’ as available for work. It can be paid for up to six months.
Full-time students are normally excluded from JSA, but there are exceptions. Part-time students are eligible if they are available for work.
You must have paid sufficient national insurance contributions.
2. Who is eligible
To qualify for new-style jobseeker’s allowance (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.
You cannot usually get new-style 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.1Reg 45(6) JSA Regs 2013
You are in relevant education if you are:2Reg 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.
If you are studying but do not come within any of the relevant education definitions above, you can get JSA (as long as you meet the basic rules, below).
 
1     Reg 45(6) JSA Regs 2013 »
2     Reg 45 JSA Regs 2013 »
3. Basic rules
As well as being a student who is eligible for jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), you must satisfy all of the basic rules.1s1 JSA 1995
    •You must accept a claimant commitment. This sets out, for instance, the hours you have agreed to work, the type of work you are looking for and any restrictions on travel and pay. You must be available for work, searching for work (usually for at least 35 hours a week), and willing and able to take up work immediately (although some people are allowed notice).2Reg 9 JSA Regs 2013
    •People with caring responsibilities and disabled people can restrict themselves to fewer than 35 hours.3Reg 9 JSA Regs 2013
    •If you are doing any work, it is for less than 16 hours a week.
    •You are capable of work (although you can continue to get JSA for up to 13 weeks while sick).
    •You are under pension age (currently, age 66).
    •You are in Great Britain, although JSA can be paid in other countries in limited circumstances. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.
    •You have paid sufficient national insurance contributions. You must have paid class 1 contributions on earnings of at least the lower earnings limit in 26 weeks, which need not be consecutive, in one of the two complete tax years (6 April to 5 April) before the start of the benefit year (which runs from the first Sunday in January) in which you claim. You also must have paid or been credited with class 1 contributions on earnings of 50 times the lower earnings limit in these years. For example, you qualify if you claim JSA in 2025 and you paid contributions on earnings of £6,150 in each of the tax years April 2022 to April 2023 and April 2023 to April 2024, earning in each year £123 a week or more, for at least 26 weeks.
 
1     s1 JSA 1995 »
2     Reg 9 JSA Regs 2013 »
3     Reg 9 JSA Regs 2013 »
4. Amount of benefit
Jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) is payable after seven ‘waiting days’. The amount of new-style JSA depends on your age.
Weekly rate from April 2025
Circumstance
Amount
Under 25
£72.90
25 or over
£92.05
You may get less than this if you have part-time earnings or an occupational or personal pension, but the amount is not affected by a student loan or grant. New-style JSA is only paid for up to 26 weeks.
5. Claiming jobseeker’s allowance
You start your claim for new-style jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) online (see gov.uk/jobseekers-allowance/apply-new-style-jsa).
You are usually given an appointment for an interview. Claim as soon as you can, as JSA can only be backdated in limited circumstances.
6. Challenging a decision
If you think a decision about your jobseeker’s allowance is wrong, you can ask the DWP to look at it again. This process is known as a ‘mandatory reconsideration’. Provided you ask within the time limit (usually one month), the DWP notifies you of the decision in a ‘mandatory reconsideration notice’. If you are still not happy when you get this notice, you can appeal to the independent First-tier Tribunal. If it was not possible to ask the DWP to reconsider the decision within a month, you can ask for a late revision (within 13 months), explaining why it is late. You can also ask the DWP to look at a decision again at any time if certain grounds are met – eg, if there has been an official error.
7. Other benefits
If you get new-style jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), you can claim universal credit as well.
New-style JSA overlaps with certain other benefits, so you cannot, for example, get new-style JSA and maternity allowance at the same time. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.
New-style JSA is taken into account when calculating whether the benefit cap applies (see here and here).