Income Support

What is it?

Income Support provides financial help for people between 16 and 60 who are on a low income who are not in full-time paid work and who are in one of the groups of people who can claim Income Support. It can help you with day-to-day living expenses.

It is not paid to unemployed people who have to be available for and actively seeking work (they may be able to get Jobseeker's Allowance instead).

You may not have to go to the Jobcentre Plus office regularly if you are:

• a lone parent
• sick or disabled
• unable to work because you are caring for someone, or
• registered blind.

If you have a partner who works an average of at least 24 hours a week, you cannot usually get Income Support. People aged 60 and over may be able to claim Pension Credit.

What are the benefit rates?

Income Support is a benefit payment made up of three different parts: personal allowances, premiums and payments to cover certain housing costs.

Personal allowances

Single people:

Aged 16-17: £35.65

or in specific circumstances: £46.85

Aged 18-24: £46.85

Aged 25 or over: £59.15

Couple:

Both aged 18 and over: £92.80

Where one or both partners are aged under 18, their personal allowance will be calculated based on their specific circumstances.

Lone parents:

Aged 16-17: £35.65

or depending on their circumstances: £46.85

Aged 18 and over: £59.15

Dependent children:

From birth to day before 20th birthday: £47.45

Most families in receipt of Income Support receive support for their children through Child Tax Credit. A decision will be made on transferring the remaining cases in due course. To find out more about Child Tax Credit.

What do I need to do next?

Call 0800 055 6688 (8am - 6pm Monday to Friday). A textphone service is available if you have a speech or hearing impairment 0800 023 4888.

You can download Income Support forms

To make sure you do not miss out on any benefit due to you, you should contact us to find out if you need to fill in this form. If you download a form you should contact us to establish the date of your claim. Find out how to contact us.

You can download Income Support claim forms and associated forms in a PDF format. These forms do not apply in Northern Ireland.

Please choose a form from the options below.

Get help with PDFs

 You should read the notes before filling in the following forms

 If you want to fill in the Income Support form on screen (720k)

 If you want to fill in the Housing Council Tax Benefit form on screen 

 If you are self employed and want to fill in the self employed form on screen

We have introduced a special feature that lets you save this form as you fill it in. This feature only works in Adobe Acrobat reader 5.1 and above. This means that you no longer have to complete the form in one session.

We recommend that you save this file to your computer hard disk, floppy disk or a CD 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 cannot 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

 You should read the notes before filling in the following forms

 If you want to print out the Income Support form to fill in with a pen (299k)

 If you want to print out the Housing Council Tax Benefit form to fill in with a pen

 If you are self employed and want to print off the self employed form to fill in with a pen

Claim Online

You can claim Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance or Incapacity Benefit online