IS20 - A guide to Income Support

Who you can claim for

Claiming for children and young people

Any new claim to Income Support awarded from 6 April 2004 will not include child-related elements because support for children will be provided by Child Tax Credit (CTC). Families already on Income Support in April 2004 who have not already claimed CTC will be moved across to CTC in 2005. CTC is paid into the Income Support customer's account on migration.  If you want to have it paid to the main carer, you must contact the Inland Revenue to get it changed.

If you claim CTC before 2005 then it will replace the child-related elements in your Income Support claim. To find more information about how to claim CTC go to Tax Credits.

Children under 16
Children under the age of 16 who are living with you are included in your family if you or your partner are receiving Child Benefit for them. This means that the needs of the child or children will normally be taken into account (see the exceptions) in the calculation of your Income Support payment. You or your partner do not have to be the parents of the children, as long as the children live with you as members of your household.

Young people 16 to 19
The same rules apply to young people aged 16 to 18 and certain 19 year olds who are living with you and who are on a full time non-advanced course of education or approved training, which began before the young persons 19th birthday (see courses of non-advanced education for a definition). You cannot get Income Support for them if they are in one of the groups who can claim Income Support in their own right. If the young persons course of education or approved training ceases or they reach age 20, whichever comes first, any personal allowance for them payable with your benefit will stop. [Legislation (55)]

Income and capital of dependants
Earnings from a dependent child or young person under the age of 19 will not normally affect your benefit unless he or she has left school. If they have been awarded an education maintenance allowance, this will be ignored. If they are getting income in the form of maintenance, see maintenance payments. Any other income they get will be treated as belonging to you and will count against their personal allowance. Income in excess of the young person’s allowance is ignored. If they have more than £3,000 capital, you will not get any personal allowance for them, but you will still get the family premium. For detailed information on this, see ‘Income and Capital’.

Where Child Tax Credit has been awarded any income or earnings, except for Child Support Maintenance, paid to or in respect of a child or young person will not be taken into account and any capital belonging to dependant children will be ignored.

Who is responsible?
Only one person can get an Income Support personal allowance for a child or young person in each benefit week. This is usually the person who has claimed Child Benefit. If more than one person has claimed Child Benefit, only the person who actually gets the Child Benefit will be able to get an Income Support personal allowance for the child. [Legislation (56)]

Personal allowances for a child on a new or repeat claim will not be paid on or after 06/04/04.  If there are children or young people in the family then you must make a claim for Child Tax Credit in order to receive payments for your children.

When you are not responsible for the child or young person
If the child or young person is not living with you, you can only get benefit for him or her in certain situations. You will not be treated as responsible for the child or young person, and therefore cannot get Income Support for them, if: [Legislation (57)]

• they are being fostered by you on behalf of a local authority
• or they are being fostered by you while you wait to adopt
• or they are staying with you to attend school or college and they are not dependent on you.

If the child or young person is temporarily absent from your family, they will not be treated as your dependant if: [Legislation (58)]

• they have been in hospital or certain types of residential accommodation for at least 12 weeks and your family has not been in regular contact
• or they have left your household for at least 52 weeks, unless they have been in hospital for that time and you have been in regular contact
• or they are likely to be absent for at least 52 weeks
• or they are being looked after by the local authority
• or they are in legal custody
• or they are being looked after on a permanent basis by another person, for example, a parent
• or they are boarded out before adoption or while awaiting a decision on adoption
• or they are abroad for more than 4 weeks, or 8 weeks if going abroad for medical treatment.

If the child or young person who is being looked after by a local authority or is in custody, returns home to live with you temporarily, for example, during a holiday or over a weekend, you can only get Income Support for them if:

• your claim was made prior to 6 April 2004, and
• there are other children living with you that are still included in your assessment

Except for the situations above, if they are living away from you and your claim included them and was made prior to 06/04/04, then you should be able to get Income Support for them if you get Child Benefit for them. Where Child Tax Credits have been awarded we will stop paying the child related elements of your Income Support.

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