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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.1

You are in relevant education if you are:2

• 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 that 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).

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.

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

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.

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.

Housing benefit

Scotland-only payments

Adult disability payment

Bereavement support payment

Carer payments

Child benefit

Child disability payment

New-style employment and support allowance

Guardian’s allowance

£22.95 per month

New-style jobseeker’s allowance

Maternity allowance

Standard rate - £194.32 per month

Retirement pensions

Statutory maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental, parental bereavement and neonatal care pay

Standard rate - £194.32 per month

Statutory sick pay

£123.25 per month

This Handbook is intended for students and those who advise students, or potential students, in Scotland about their entitlement to benefits. It outlines the benefit rules and focuses on issues relevant to students. It covers both further and higher education. For more detailed information on the rules, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook.

This Handbook covers rules affecting students studying in Scotland who are eligible for support through Scottish funding bodies such as the Student Awards Agency Scotland. It does not cover the rules for students getting support from England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or elsewhere outside Scotland.

For more on how to use our online handbooks, including getting started, updating your details and using our citation and bookmarking tools, see our Help page. 

This Handbook was up to date on 1 August 2026 and is intended to be used for the academic year 2026/27. Rates of grants and loans used are those for the 2026/27 academic year. Benefit and rates used are those from April 2026. Note: benefit rates and important changes to benefits are updated each April (but not the benefit rates in the examples).

Most full-time students are excluded from universal credit (UC) and some other benefits. There is one definition of ‘full-time student’ used for UC. Other definitions are used for housing benefit, carer support payment, new-style jobseeker’s allowance and for council tax. Some students, however, can claim benefits despite being classed as full time. If you are excluded from one benefit, do not therefore assume that you are excluded from all of them. Who counts as a ‘full-time student’, or as ‘receiving education’ for UC, is explained in detail in the relevant chapters.

A benefit chart (see here) provides an overview of benefit entitlement for students. You may want to use this as a starting point to check possible entitlement and then use the individual chapters for details.

Part 1 looks at students’ entitlement to benefits. Part 2 gives a glossary of student support in further and higher education, and Part 3 considers how each kind of support affects entitlement to UC, housing benefit and health benefits. Part 4 considers other matters – council tax and benefits if you take time out from your studies.

Chapters have endnotes with references to the legal sources. Where an abbreviation is used in the endnotes or in the text, this is explained in Appendix 3 and on here. If you are appealing against a benefit decision, you may want to refer to the law. Appendix 1 suggests where you can find legislation and caselaw.