Income Support 

Last updated December 2002

What is it?
Can I get it?
What else should I know?
Studying
How much will I get?
How do I claim?
You can download an Income Support claim form
I am already getting it. What happens if:
I go into hospital or someone I claim for goes into hospital?
I go to live abroad or visit?
I am part of a service family living abroad or visiting?
If I start work but my sickness or disability means I have to stop again?
I start voluntary work?
I go into a residential care or nursing home?
New permitted work rules from 8 April 2002
More information
Other help
Definitions

This benefit is dealt with by Jobcentre Plus. 
Find your local office

• For people under 60 on a low income. People aged 60 or over can claim Minimum Income Guarantee.
• Savings over £8,000 usually mean you cannot get Income Support. If your partner is aged 60 or over, savings over £12,000 usually mean you cannot get Minimum Income Guarantee. If you live in a residential care or nursing home, savings over £16,000 usually mean you cannot get Minimum Income Guarantee.
• If you have to attend your Jobcentre regularly, you cannot get Income Support.

Are you:

• Aged between 16 and 59?
• On a low income?
• Not working or working on average less than 16 hours a week?

If YES to all, claim Income Support.

You will not have to attend the Jobcentre if you are a lone parent, sick or disabled, unable to work because you are caring for someone, or registered blind.

If you have to regularly attend your Jobcentre, you may be able to get Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)

If you have a partner who works an average of 24 hours a week or more you cannot usually get Income Support

If you have a partner who works an average of less than 24 hours a week, their earnings will usually affect the amount of Income Support you can get.

Pregnant women and people with children under five get free milk and vitamins.

Savings over £3,000 usually affect how much Income Support you can get. If your partner is aged 60 or over, savings over £6,000 usually affect how much Minimum Income Guarantee you can get. If you live in a residential care or a nursing home, savings over £10,000 usually affect how much Minimum Income Guarantee you can get.

You may be able to get extra money to help towards certain housing costs.

You can usually get extra money for your family.

You may be able to get Income Support if you or your partner are not working because of parental leave.

You may be able to get Income Support if you are on paternity leave.

If you are a lone parent you will usually have to go to a meeting with a Personal Adviser before you can get Income Support.

If you are sick and not getting Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) you should claim Incapacity Benefit as well as Income Support.

If you get SSP you do not have to claim Incapacity Benefit as well as Income Support.

Check with your social security office to see if you are on a low income for Income Support or Minimum Income Guarantee.

From April 2001, severely disabled people who get the highest rate of Disabled Living Allowance for care will usually be able to get more Income Support. This is part of the new Disability Income Guarantee.

If you are studying, you may be able to get Income Support while you are on your course if you are a lone parent, sick or disabled, or registered blind. Check with your social security office.

If you are studying up to A level or equivalent, you may be able to get Income Support while you are on your course if you are unable to work because you are caring for someone.

If you are still at school you cannot usually get Income Support for yourself.

If you are still at school you may be able to get Income Support if you are:

• Looking after your own child
• An orphan and nobody is looking after you
• Unlikely to be able to get a job because of a severe disability.

If you are still at school you may also be able to get Income Support if you are:

• Not living with your parents or being supported by them
• Not in touch with your parents
• Separated from your parents for reasons that cannot be avoided and nobody is looking after you in their place.

Only use the amounts shown as a guide. The rules for benefits mean that your individual circumstances may affect the amount you can get. This means you will not always be able to work out exactly how much you will get by using these amounts.

Personal allowances, premiums and payments to cover certain housing costs together make up your benefit payment.

Weekly amounts:

Housing costs - deductions for non-dependants

Independent residential care homes and nursing homes
You can claim Income Support under the same rules as when you lived at home. In addition to the normal amounts you may be entitled to what is called a residential allowance.

Claim straight away. If you delay you may lose benefit.

Contact your social security office for a claim form. Find your local office on this site or look for the Benefits Agency display advert in the business numbers section of the phone book.

It is important that we can be sure of your identity when you make a claim. We may need to ask you about your background and look at any official documents you have to support the information you give.

You can download an Income Support claim form in PDF format. This form does not apply in Northern Ireland. 
You must contact your social security office to establish the date of claim. Your claim could be affected if you do not do so.
Please choose a form from the options below.

If you want to fill in the form on screen

A1 notes and claim form (2,991k).  B16 self-employed, a subcontractor or a company director (803k). You can download documents marked with a using Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free of charge. We recommend that you save this file to your computer hard disk or a floppy disk before completing it. To save a copy of the file to disk right click with your mouse on the link above and choose the 'Save Target As' option. You can not save the form once you have opened it in an internet browser. After you have completed the form on screen, you will have to print and sign it. If you want to print out a form to fill in with a pen A1 notes and claim form (367k) B16 self-employed, a subcontractor, or a company director (92k)

PDF             PDF

The form comes with notes that will help you fill in the form and tell you where to send the completed form.

If you are having technical difficulties:

• downloading the form
• navigating around the form
• moving from page to page, or
• printing a hard copy

Please contact the eService Helpdesk.

	I go into hospital or someone I claim for goes into hospital? You must tell your social security office as soon as you go into or come out of hospital. You must also tell them if someone you get benefit for goes into or comes out of hospital. As soon as you go into hospital If you go into hospital from a local council residential care home, your Income Support will usually  reduce to £15.10. After 4 weeks If you are in hospital and have a partner, any Severe Disability Premium you get will usually reduce to £42.55 a week. If you are single, your Severe Disability Premium will stop. After 6 weeks You will still get any help with housing costs you are entitled to and any money paid because you have dependent children. This includes the Family Premium. If you are single or a lone parent, Income Support paid for you will reduce to £18.90. If you have a partner and one of you is in hospital, your Income Support will reduce by £15.10. If you and your partner are both in hospital, your Income Support will reduce to £37.80. After 12 weeks If you get extra money for a dependant who is in hospital, the extra money will  reduce to £15.10. If you get help with housing costs, we will look at them to see if they should continue. We will do this every 12 weeks if you are still in hospital. After 52 weeks If you are single or a lone parent who is no longer treated as responsible for your children, your Income Support will reduce to £15.10. Your Income Support may be reduced by more if the people looking after you do not think you can make full use of this money each week. Any extra money you get for housing costs will stop. If you are a lone parent and you are still responsible for your children even though you are in hospital, your Income Support will not change. If you or your partner are in hospital, you will both need to make a separate claim for Income Support. Your partner's claim will be worked out separately.
	I go to live abroad or visit? Let us know as soon as you can that you are going abroad. You can usually do this by contacting your social security office. If you are going abroad permanently you cannot get Income Support. If your stay abroad is temporary, you may be able to get Income Support for the first 4 weeks you are abroad. You can only do this if you are unlikely to be abroad for more than 52 weeks, would still qualify for Income Support if you had stayed in the United Kingdom, and one of the following applies to you: you are incapable of work because of sickness or disability and you have gone abroad only for treatment for that sickness or disability you have been incapable of work for 364 days when you go abroad, you get a pensioner premium or disability premium for a partner who is going abroad with you. You may be able to get Income Support for the first 8 weeks if: you, or you and a member of your family, are going abroad only to help a dependant who is going abroad for medical treatment from a qualified person,  and you are unlikely to be abroad for more than 52 weeks, and you would still qualify for Income Support if you had stayed in the UK. Most benefits are affected if you are going abroad. You can get "more information  about certain countries through this site.
	I am part of a service family living abroad or visiting? The rules for going abroad are the same as for anyone else going abroad. See above.
	If I start work but my sickness or disability means I have to stop again? If you start work but have to stop within 52 weeks because of your sickness or disability, you may be able to go back onto Income Support at the same amount you got before you started working. To be able to do this: you must have been sick for at least 28 weeks and you must have started work or training within 7 days of getting Income Support and your other circumstances must still be the same. You must let your social security office know you have started work or training within one month of the date you start. You cannot get protection if your benefit stopped because of a medical test.
	I start voluntary work? You can do as much voluntary work as you like. Your Income Support will not be affected as long as you do not receive any pay other than to pay for expenses like fares or special clothing you need for the voluntary work. Your Income Support will not be affected if it is reasonable for the person or organisation you are doing the voluntary work for not to pay you. If it is unreasonable not to pay you, we will reduce your Income Support by an amount you could expect to be paid for the work you are doing, even though you are not being paid. You must tell your social security office if you do any voluntary work. You must also tell us if you are paid in any way. This includes things that are sometimes called payment in kind. This could be something like meal vouchers.
	I go into a residential care or nursing home? If you go into local council residential care Your Income Support is paid at the same rate as basic Retirement Pension. It does not matter how old you are. If the NHS has arranged your nursing home care The care will be free, but your benefits will be affected in the same way as if you are in hospital. If you go into independent or privately run residential or nursing care You may still be able to get Income Support even if you get help from your social services department, but they will count it when they work out how much you need to pay towards the fees. Permanent stays in a home If you are living in a home permanently and your partner does not live there with you, your Income Support will usually be looked at separately. Your partner may have to pay towards the cost of you living in the home. This will depend on your partner's savings and income. Savings over £10,000 affect how much Income Support you can get. If your savings include the value of your former home, this amount can sometimes be ignored: Your former home will be ignored if your partner, a relative who is aged 60 or over, or a relative who is sick or disabled lives there If you are trying to sell your former home, we will ignore it for up to 6 months, sometimes longer. You will not have to pay back benefit you received during this time. Temporary stays in a home If your stay in a home is temporary, we will usually work out Income Support for you and your partner together. If you get Income Support together, your partner must be working an average of less than 24 hours a week or not working. Your partner's income and savings will affect how much Income Support you can get together. Savings of £3,000 (if you and your partner are aged less than 60) or £12,000 (if you or your partner are aged 60 or over) affect how much Income Support you can get. We will ignore the value of your home. If you went into an independent residential care or nursing home before 1 April 1993 We will use different rules to work out your Income Support. These rules mean that you will get more Income Support, up to a fixed limit. The amount will depend on whether you live in a residential care or a nursing home, and will be higher if the home is in London. If your Income Support does not cover the home's charges and you get help with the cost from friends, relatives or a charity, we will not usually count these contributions when we work out your income. If these rules apply to you, they will usually continue to apply if you move to a different home. The amount you get may change if it is a different kind of home. If you want more information about these different rules, get leaflet IS20 A guide to Income Support from your social security office.

From 8 April 2002 there are new rules if you want to try some paid work while getting Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, National Insurance Credits or Income Support because of illness or disability. The new rules are called the permitted work rules and the work is called permitted work.

If you were already doing therapeutic work when the rules changed, you may be able to carry on doing it until April 2003. After that you can consider doing permitted work straight away under the new rules.

The new arrangements allow you to try some paid work without the need for prior approval from a doctor. You should tell the office that pays your benefit before you start work though.

You can work:

• for earnings of up to and including £20.00 a week for an unlimited period, or
• for less than 16 hours a week, on average, with earnings up to and including £67.50 a week for a 26 week period. The period can be extended for another 26 weeks if a Job Broker, Personal Adviser or Disability Employment Adviser  agrees that it will help you towards work of 16 or more hours a week. There is no limit to the number of times you can do permitted work in this category while you are getting an incapacity benefit; but there must be a gap of at least 52 weeks between periods. These subsequent periods are for 52 weeks and a Job Broker, Personal Adviser or Disability Employment Adviser must support the work from the outset.
• in supported permitted work for earnings of up to and including £67.50 a week for an unlimited period.

Supported permitted work is work done with the ongoing support or supervision from a professional caseworker (employed or engaged by a public body or voluntary organisation). This could be work done in the community or in a sheltered workshop. It also includes work done under medical supervision as part of a hospital treatment programme.

You do not have to undergo a medical test just because you are doing permitted work. However, if a medical test is due it will go ahead as planned.

You can carry on getting Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance while doing permitted work without it affecting your benefit. If you get Income Support, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit your benefit will be reduced if your average earnings are more than your earnings disregard.

You can contact your social security office if you want more information about how these changes could affect you.

You can also read the procedural information for disability organizations.

You can download documents marked with a using Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free of charge.

Permitted work procedural information for disability organizations.

Telling us about paid work you want to do (PW1 10/02)
Replacing therapeutic work with new permitted work rules (PW2 02/02)
Replacing therapeutic work with new permitted work rules (PW3 02/02).

To get more information or leaflets, get in touch with your social security office.

For further, impartial information, on pensions visit www.pensionguide.gov.uk

For information on the Minimum Income Guarantee for pensioners visit www.dwp.gov.uk/mig

Apply for your Pensions Forecast on-line

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