What benefits can I get?

The rules on benefits and young people are complicated. You can get advice on what and how to claim from your local Jobcentre Plus, Citizens Advice Bureau, Connexions centre or Share in Cornwall.

If you are 16 or over and not able to work full-time, you may be entitled to Income Support in your own right if:

• you are a single parent or more than 29 weeks pregnant
• you are in relevant education and you are unable to live with your parents, or
• you are too unwell to work

You can't usually claim Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) until you are 18, but there are exceptions. At age 16 or 17, you may be able to claim income-based JSA:

• if you are one of a couple and you have a child
• if you don't fit into any of the categories of people eligible for JSA, but you would suffer 'severe hardship' without payment of benefit – for instance, not being able to live with your parents or anyone acting as your parents

Both Income Support and JSA are means-tested, so whether you get them depends on your income and savings.

If you have a low income and are liable to pay rent, you may be able to claim Housing Benefit, even if you don't receive either Income Support or JSA. But the amount you get may be restricted by the "single room rent rule".

If you are aged 16 or 17 and were in care up to the age of 16, you are normally excluded from claiming Income Support, income-based JSA and Housing Benefit. But if you are in this situation, your local social services department has to support you financially until you are 18. This includes paying for your accommodation. The local authority will agree with you what financial support you need. You should get no less than you would have got in benefits.

However, this rule does not apply if you are in one of the following groups who can claim Income Support (but not Housing Benefit):

• Lone parents
• Single foster parents
• People incapable of work or appealing an incapacity for work decision
• Disabled workers
• Disabled or deaf students
• Blind people
• Young people in relevant education who are lone parents or severely disabled and unlikely to get employment within the next 12 months

You are not excluded from Income Support, income based JSA or Housing Benefit if you have been in a family placement for at least six months and:

• you are still in local authority care in Wales or
• you have left local authority care in England or Wales (unless in England only the placement has broken down)

At 16 and 17, you are entitled to certain non-means-tested benefits if you satisfy the normal conditions, e.g. child benefit if you have a dependent child living with you.

There are other benefits you may be entitled to if you are on low earnings, disabled, sick or have a family.