Jobseeker's Allowance - Premiums

Premiums are special additions in the calculation of Jobseeker's Allowance . They recognise that special groups of customers have extra needs.

There are various categories of Premiums.

From 6 April 2004 new claims for income-based Jobseeker's Allowance will not include payments for children. This is because Child Tax Credit will provide money for children.

This premium will be paid if you or your partner are responsible for, and in the same household as, a child or young person under the age of 20. It is also paid if you are a lone parent who gets the Disability Premium or one of the three Pensioner Premiums.

The Family Premium can be awarded in addition to other premiums except Family Premium (Lone Parent).

Up to and including 5 April 1998: If you are responsible for, and in the same household as, a child or young person under the age of 20 and claiming as a single person, you will get this premium in place of the Family Premium.

From 6 April 1998: Existing Lone Parents who do not receive Family Premium (Lone Parent) because they are receiving a more beneficial premium, will retain an underlying entitlement to Family Premium (Lone Parent), which will become payable if they stop receiving the more beneficial premium.

A lone parent will lose underlying entitlement to Family Premium (Lone Parent) if:

If you are responsible for a child or young person under the age of 20, you will get this premium if:

This Disabled Child Premium can be awarded in addition to other premiums.

There will be no entitlement if the child or the young person has capital of more than £3,000.

The Disabled Child Premium can be paid for each child that satisfies the above qualifying conditions.

If you are aged under 60, you may be able to get this premium if you or your partner are:

If blindness ends, you will still get the payment for up to 28 weeks after you cease to be registered blind.

Customers, but not partners, may also get the disability premium if they are accepted as being incapable of employment (including periods when they were receiving Statutory Sick Pay) for at least 364 days (196 days if they are terminally ill). Periods of incapacity separated by 56 days or less can be linked together when calculating the qualifying period.

An enhanced disability premium may be paid to JSA(IB) customers who:

The premium is payable at three rates:

The single rate Enhanced Disability Premium is awarded when the Jobseeker is:

The couple rate Enhanced Disability Premium is awarded when:

The Child Rate Enhanced Disability Premium is awarded for each dependant child who:

The Enhanced Disability Premium can be awarded in addition to other premiums.

If the customer is single they may get the lower rate premium if:

If the customer has a partner they may get the higher rate premium if:

If you have a partner you may get the lower rate premium if no one else lives with you (certain other people are ignored when deciding if a person lives alone e.g. persons aged under 18, or blind, disabled, or a tenant/landlord) and:

In this situation the partner with the Attendance Allowance/Disability Living Allowance must be the customer.

The Severe Disability Premium can be awarded in addition to other premiums (usually Disability Premium or Higher Pensioner Premium) and can be paid to both customer or partner or both.

You may be able to get this premium if you or your partner are getting Carer's Allowance or have claimed Carer's Allowance on or after 1 October 1990, but could not be paid it because the person who claimed already had another higher benefit.

Couples can get a double premium if each partner satisfies one of these conditions.

The carer premium is payable for 8 weeks after a Carer's Allowance award ceases.

The Carer Premium can be awarded in addition to other premiums and can be paid to both you and your partner.

There are three types of premiums applicable to people aged 60 and over, you will automatically get the one which pays the most:

You may get this premium if you or your partner are aged 60 to 74;

You may get this premium if your partner is aged 75 to 79;

You may get this premium if your partner is aged 80 or over.

You may also get Higher Pensioner Premium if you or your partner are aged 60 or over and one or both of you are:

If blindness ends, you will still get the payment for up to 28 weeks after you cease to be registered blind.

If you qualified for a disability premium within 8 weeks of your 60th birthday and you have been continuously entitled to Income Support since that birthday, you may also be able to get the premium. Breaks in entitlement to Income Support of up to 8 weeks are ignored.

In couple cases the couple rate is paid even if only one of you fulfils the qualifying conditions. The couple rate is also paid if both of you qualify.