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Basic facts

  • Women having a baby can claim statutory maternity pay (SMP) if they have an employer or maternity allowance if they have recently worked.
  • The mother’s partner can claim statutory paternity pay (SPP).
  • Parents adopting a child can claim statutory adoption pay (SAP) and SPP – one partner can claim SAP and the other SPP.
  • Either partner in a couple can claim statutory shared parental pay instead of SMP, SPP or SAP.
  • If a child is in neonatal care, dies, or is stillborn, parents may be eligible for statutory neonatal care pay or statutory parental bereavement pay.
  • Part-time and full-time students are eligible for these benefits.

1. What are maternity, paternity and other parental benefits

Statutory maternity pay

You can get statutory maternity pay (SMP) for 39 weeks if you are pregnant or have just had a baby, have an employer and earn at least £129 a week (April 2026 rate).

Maternity allowance

If you cannot get SMP but you have recently worked, either employed or self-employed, you may be able to get maternity allowance (MA) for 39 weeks. You may also qualify if you have helped your partner with their self-employment. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.

Statutory paternity pay

You can get statutory paternity pay (SPP) for two weeks if your partner is having a baby and you are taking leave from work to care for her or for the child. You can also get statutory shared parental pay (SSPP) in some circumstances. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details. Unmarried partners, including same-sex partners, can claim SPP.

Statutory adoption pay

You can get statutory adoption pay (SAP) for 39 weeks if you are adopting a child and are earning at least £129 a week from employment (April 2026 rate). If a couple (including same-sex couples) are adopting a child, one can claim SAP and the other can claim SPP for two weeks (or SSPP, in some circumstances).

Statutory shared parental pay

You or your partner can get SSPP instead of SMP, MA or SAP in certain circumstances.

Statutory parental bereavement pay

You can get statutory parental bereavement pay for up to two weeks if a child dies or is stillborn and you are earning at least £129 a week from employment (April 2026 rate).

Statutory neonatal care pay

You can get statutory neonatal care pay if a child born on or after 6 April 2025 is, or has been, in neonatal care for more than a week. You must earn at least £129 a week from employment (April 2026 rate).

2. Who is eligible

Students are eligible for maternity, paternity, adoption, parental bereavement and neonatal care benefits if they pass the basic rules for these. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details. What follows is a brief outline of the qualifying conditions.

Statutory maternity pay

You can get statutory maternity pay (SMP) if:

  • you are pregnant or have recently had a baby; and
  • you have worked for the same employer for 26 weeks ending with the 15th week before your expected week of birth; and
  • your average gross earnings are at least £129 a week (April 2026 rate); and
  • you give your employer the correct notice.

Maternity allowance

You can get maternity allowance (MA) if you cannot get SMP and:

  • you are pregnant or have recently had a baby; and
  • you have worked, either as an employee or self-employed, for at least 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the expected week of birth; and
  • your average earnings are at least £30 a week.

Statutory paternity pay

You can get statutory paternity pay (SPP) if:

  • you are the child’s father or partner of the child’s mother and you will be caring for the child or supporting the mother; and
  • you have worked for the same employer for 41 weeks before the baby is born; and
  • your average gross earnings are at least £129 a week (April 2026 rate); and
  • you give your employer the correct notice.

You can also get SPP if you are adopting a child – you cannot get SPP for adoption and statutory adoption pay (SAP) at the same time, although one member of a couple can claim SAP while the other claims SPP (for adoption).

Statutory adoption pay

You can get SAP if:

  • you are adopting a child; and
  • you have worked for the same employer for 26 weeks ending with the week in which you are told you have been matched with a child for adoption; and
  • your average gross earnings are at least £129 a week (April 2026 rate); and
  • you give your employer the correct notice.

Statutory shared parental pay

You can get statutory shared parental pay if you are caring for a child and:

  • you are the mother of the child or have adopted the child, and you have reduced your MA, SMP or SAP period; or
  • you are the father of the child or the partner of the mother/adopter and your partner has reduced their MA, SMP or SAP period.

Your partner must also meet employment and earnings tests. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for more details.

Statutory parental bereavement pay

You can get statutory parental bereavement pay if:

  • your child (under 18) died or was stillborn (after 24 weeks of pregnancy); and
  • you have worked for the same employer for 26 weeks ending with the week before your child died and you still work for them on the day your child died; and
  • your average gross earnings are at least £129 a week (April 2026 rate); and
  • you give your employer the correct notice.

Statutory neonatal care pay

You can get statutory neonatal care pay if:

  • a child born on or after 6 April 2025 is, or has been, in neonatal care for more than a week; and
  • you are their parent, or have responsibility for their upbringing, and have taken time off work to care for them; and
  • you have worked for the same employer for 26 weeks ending with the 15th week before their expected week of birth (or, if not entitled to SMP, SPP or SAP, the week before they go into neonatal care); and
  • your average gross earnings are at least £129 a week (April 2026 rate).

5. Claiming housing benefit

If you can still make a claim for housing benefit (HB) (see here), you can get a claim form from your local authority HB office. You may also be able to claim online.

Your HB starts from when you make your claim. It can be backdated for up to one month if you are working age and you had continuous ‘good cause’ for not claiming sooner.1 If you have reached pension age (see here) and are not on universal credit, HB can be backdated for up to three months whatever the reason for the delay.

HB is usually paid directly into your rent account if you are a council tenant. Otherwise it is paid either to you or directly to your landlord.

You should be paid within 14 days of the local authority receiving your completed claim form or as soon as possible after that. If this is delayed and you are a private or housing association tenant, ask for a ‘payment on account’ until your claim can be properly assessed. Local authorities are legally obliged to give you an interim payment of a reasonable amount, unless it is obvious that you will not be entitled to HB or you have not supplied information that has been requested.

Reference
References
  • 1

    Reg 83(12) HB Regs; R(S) 2/63(T)

6. Challenging a decision

If you think a decision about your housing benefit is wrong (eg, because the decision maker got the facts or law wrong), there are a number of ways you can try to get the decision changed.

  • You can ask for the decision to be looked at again (known as a ‘revision’ or a ‘supersession’). In some cases, you must show specific grounds. In others, you must apply within a strict time limit, usually one month. For HB, you don’t have to ask for a revision before appealing.
  • You can appeal to the independent First-tier Tribunal. There are strict time limits for appealing - usually one month from the date you are sent the decision. You can make a late appeal in limited circumstances.

If you are considering challenging a decision, get advice as soon as possible.

7. Other benefits

Child benefit is disregarded as income for housing benefit (HB).

Bear in mind that you should tell the local authority about any changes in income when they occur, including benefit changes. Do not assume that the DWP, HMRC or Social Security Scotland passes on the information for you.

The benefit cap

Your HB is reduced if your total income from benefits is over the maximum amount that you or your partner can receive. The amount is £423.46 a week if you are a lone parent or member of a couple and £283.71 if you are a single person.

Most benefits count towards the cap, including new-style jobseeker’s allowance, new-style employment and support allowance (ESA), child benefit and HB. The cap also applies to universal credit (see here).

You are exempt from the cap if you or your partner are disabled, a carer or a war widow(er). You are exempt from the cap because of disability if you or your partner get certain disability benefits, including adult disability payment (ADP) and new-style ESA with a support component. You are also exempt if a child or young person for whom you are responsible gets child disability payment or ADP. You are exempt if you or your partner get carer support payment.

There is protection for nine months before the cap applies if you are no longer working but were working for at least 50 out of the 52 weeks before the last day of work, and in that 50 weeks the person in work was not getting income-related ESA (note: income-related ESA has now been abolished).

If you are affected by the cap, you should apply for a discretionary housing payment (DHP) from your local authority. The Scottish government has agreed to always make up HB reductions due to the benefit cap by way of a DHP.

Passported benefits

Provided you meet any other conditions, getting HB entitles you to:

  • a Best Start grant;
  • Best Start foods;
  • funeral support payment.

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.

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.1

  • 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).2
  • People with caring responsibilities and disabled people can restrict themselves to fewer than 35 hours.3
  • 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 (gradually increasing from 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 2026 and you paid contributions on earnings of £6,150 in each of the tax years April 2023 to April 2024 and April 2024 to April 2025, earning in one of the years £123 a week or more, for at least 26 weeks. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.

Reference
References
  • 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 2026

Age£ per week
Under 25£75.65
25 or over£95.55

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.

Author and acknowledgements

The author, Angela Toal is a welfare rights worker with CPAG in Scotland, working on the Benefits for Students service.

First and foremost, many thanks to Judith Paterson, Head of Advice and Rights at CPAG in Scotland, who wrote the first few editions of this Handbook and continues to provide invaluable checking and advice. Many thanks also to Frances Ryan at CPAG in Scotland for checking this edition.

Grateful thanks are due to staff at the Student Awards Agency Scotland for their time and expertise in checking and advising on this Handbook. Thanks too to all of those on the project advisory group for their support and encouragement throughout the year.

Many thanks go to John Dickie and everyone else at CPAG in Scotland for their invaluable support and practical help.

Thanks to Kathy Proctor for editing this edition, Anne Ketley for compiling the index and Claire Veryard for proofreading the text.

CPAG is grateful for the Scottish government’s financial support towards this Handbook.