Income Support for people with caring responsibilities:

• You are looking after your partner, or a child who is under the age of 19 (for whom you claim Child Benefit for) who is temporarily ill, or;



• You receive Carer’s Allowance, or the person for whom you care receives the Attendance Allowance or the highest or middle rate care component of the Disability Living Allowance, or;



• The person for whom you care has claimed the Attendance Allowance (AA)or the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) – however, you will only qualify for a maximum of 26 weeks or until a decision on the AA or DLA claim is made (whichever comes first!)

Income Support for people who are ill or disabled:

• You are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay;



• You are incapable of work (decided in the same way as Incapacity Benefit). If you are turned down because the Jobcentre Plus office think that you are capable of work and you submit and appeal, you are entitled to claim some Income Support (20% less) whilst you wait for a decision;



• You are mentally or physically disabled or you are blind and because of this your earnings or your hours of work are restricted to less than that for a person without your disability in the same job, or;



• You work while living in a care home.

Income Support for people who are bereaved:

• You were aged 55-60 on 9 April 2001 and widowed on or after that date.



• You are claiming Income Support as a single person and not remarried or living with a partner

Income Support for people who have children or are expecting children:

• You are a lone parent who is responsible for a child under the age of 16 who lives in your household, or;



• You are taking your statutory entitlement to ‘parental leave’ from work and you are not entitled to any Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay from your employer (but you only qualify if on the day before your leave begins, you are entitled to Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit), or;



• You are fostering a child under the age of 16 through a Local Authority (Council) or voluntary organisation and you are a single person, or;



• You are looking after a child under the age of 16 because their parent or person who usually looks after them is temporarily away or ill, or;



• You are responsible for a child under the age of 16 who lives in your household and your partner is temporarily out of the UK, or;



• You are pregnant and you are expecting the baby within 11 weeks or less, or;



• You are pregnant and you are incapable of work because of your pregnancy (you only have to show that you are incapable of work, not that there is a serious risk to your health or that of the baby), or;



• You have given birth within the last 15 weeks, or;



• You are looking after a child under the age of 19 (for whom you claim Child Benefit) who is temporarily ill.

Income Support for students and young people on training courses:

• You are a full-time student aged between 16 and 19 in ‘non-advanced’ education (e.g. anything up to and including A-level), and you are severely disabled, an orphan with no-one acting as your parent or guardian, your relationship with your parents is so poor that you cannot live with them (e.g. you have been ‘estranged’), you would be in danger if you lived with your parents (or anyone acting in their place), or if you live apart from your parents because they are too ill or disabled to support you, or if they are barred from entering the country as immigrants or they are in prison, or;



• You are aged between 16 and 24 and on a training course being provided by the Learning and Skills Council (England), the National Council for Education and Training (Wales), or by a Local Enterprise centre (Scotland). However, if you receive a training allowance while on your course, you should check whether this will mean your income is too high to qualify you for Income Support – seek advice. Also, you will not qualify if you are employed, but you may then be eligible for Working Tax Credit, or;



• You are a full-time student in ‘advanced’ education (i.e. beyond A-level, such as a degree, HND, etc) and you are a single parent living with a child under the age of 16 for whom you are responsible, you are a student from abroad who is temporarily without funds, or you are disabled or ill and you qualify for a disability premium.

• You would be eligible for Income Support even if you weren’t a student (e.g. as a carer, widow or widower, lone parent, etc), and



• You have a partner who is also a full-time student and you are looking after a child or children (e.g. one of you receives Child Benefit).