If you take a part-time job and keep claiming JSA you will be very little better off financially (see Part-time earnings, below), but you may still consider it worthwhile as, for example, the job may lead to something better or provide useful experience. Also, under a scheme designed to encourage part-time working, you might qualify for a Back to Work Bonus cash payment if you later move into full-time work (see page *).

If you move into full-time work you will lose entitlement to JSA but may be eligible for other social security benefits for people in low paid work such as Family Credit if you have dependent children (Working Families Tax Credit from October 1999), Disability Working Allowance if you have a disability (Disabled Person’s Tax Credit from October 1999) or Earnings Top-Up (if you live in a pilot area): see In-work benefits, page *. You may also still qualify for some Housing Benefit (only if you rent your home) and Council Tax Benefit, and if you have been unemployed for over 6 months you will be eligible to continue getting these benefits at your current rate for the first month in work (see page *).

To help you decide what level of earnings you are willing to accept you may want to know which in-work benefits you would receive. You can obtain help to make such a "better-off calculation" from a variety of sources (see page *).

It is possible to claim JSA while working part-time so long as you work for under 16 hours per week. If you are claiming Income-based JSA for yourself and your partner, your partner can work, but only under 24 hours per week. The total household income must also remain below the "applicable amount" that you would receive from Income-based JSA (see page *). If your hours or earnings vary from week to week, see the section below on Variable hours and earnings (page *).

Although you are allowed to claim JSA while working part-time, your JSA will be cut pound for pound for any part-time earnings above £5 per week if you are a single claimant. For example, if you earn £30 (net of Income Tax and National Insurance contributions) a week, your benefit will be reduced by £25 a week. The £5 you can earn before benefit starts to be withdrawn is called the "earnings disregard". The earnings disregard levels are (JSA NJI, ch 3, para 276):

Note that these disregards are not added together: only the highest disregard applies (AOG, vol 5, para 31099).

Although all earnings above your earnings disregard are lost in withdrawn benefit, you may be able to get some of them back if you move into full-time work and are eligible for a Back to Work Bonus (see page *).

Certain payments or payments in kind are ignored in the calculation of earnings for JSA purposes. This means that you can receive these payments without your benefit being affected. For employees, the following do not count as earnings (Hansard WA, col 711, 20/2/97):

• one half of any sum paid by you or your employer as a contribution towards an occupational or personal pension
• payments in kind, e.g. petrol, cigarettes, meals or free accommodation (JSA Regs, reg 98(2)(a))
• expenses "wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of the duties of the employment", e.g. travel costs between work places
• luncheon vouchers (AOG, vol 5, para 31092).

In addition, certain expenses which you incur as a result of working may be disregarded from your earnings whether or not you are reimbursed for them by the employer. These include the costs of (AOG, vol 5, para 31028):

Note that travel expenses incurred between your home and workplace cannot be disregarded. The costs of childcare cannot be disregarded either, although childcare vouchers from your employer are usually treated as payments in kind and therefore are disregarded (AOG, vol 5, paras 31092-93).

JSA claimants who work for less than 16 hours in a particular week can receive a National Insurance credit for the week (JSA NJI, ch 3, para 323). Also, part-time workers who cannot claim JSA because they earn too much, but who earn below the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance credits (£66 in 1999/2000), can still sign on for these credits, so long as they meet the labour market conditions. For more information about signing on for National Insurance credits, see Chapter 3, page *.

If you start part-time work, or know that you will be starting a part-time job soon, you should contact the Jobcentre as soon as possible, and not later than your next fortnightly review. You will be required to fill in form JSA460, giving the employer’s name and address, type of work done and date started (JSA Int, ch 21, para 3b).

If your hours of work vary, then it is your average weekly hours which determine whether or not you are eligible for JSA (JSA Regs, reg 51(2)). This means that you can work for more than 16 hours one week if this is balanced out by working sufficiently less than 16 hours in another week. For example, it is possible to claim JSA if you work for 30 hours every second week, but do no work in the intervening week.

The Back to Work Bonus (BTWB) is designed to "encourage people to make a real effort to keep in touch with, or rejoin the labour market, by working part-time as a springboard to full-time employment" (HMSO 1994, para 2.17).

Any part-time earnings above the "earnings disregard" are clawed back in reduced benefit payments (see page *), but for eligible claimants half of the earnings clawed back will be credited to an individual BTWB account by the Benefits Agency (BA). The accumulated fund can be cashed in if you move off benefit into full-time work. Normally, the maximum bonus that you can receive is £1,000.

The BTWB can be paid if benefit entitlement ends as a result of someone achieving the "work condition" (see page *), i.e. you or your partner move into full-time work or your earnings increase to a level which automatically ends JSA or IS entitlement.

Payment is not automatic, and you must apply for the bonus within 12 weeks of JSA or IS entitlement ending. If the job you are taking is temporary, you may not wish to claim your BTWB until you find more permanent employment (see Claiming BTWB and payment issues, page *).

You cannot start accruing a BTWB until you have been claiming JSA or IS continuously for 13 weeks – the "waiting period" (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 6). If you move into work, claim your BTWB and then become unemployed again, you need to serve another waiting period (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 2(4)(a)).

• you are not entitled to JSA solely as a result of deductions in respect of a pension paid to you (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 3(2))
• benefit is not payable because a benefit sanction has been imposed (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 3(1)). However, if you are sanctioned for not actively seeking work or not being available for work, or if benefit is delayed due to a dispute over your Jobseeker’s Agreement then the period does not count (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 5(3)(c)(1)) unless the adjudication officer finds in your favour regarding the sanction (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 5(5)).

Any other situations in which you are not in receipt of JSA/IS but are unemployed and signing on for National Insurance credits will not count towards the 13-week period (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 3(3)).

The rules also allow for certain breaks in the waiting period to be discounted, allowing two or more periods of JSA eligibility to be added together to make up the 13 weeks. The following breaks are permitted (BTWB No 2 Regs, regs 2(2), 2(3) & 4(1)):

In exceptional circumstances you are allowed to "adopt" a waiting period (or part of a waiting period) established by your partner. To do so, your partner must have been receiving either Income-based JSA (not Contribution-based JSA) or IS, and (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 3(4),(5)&(6)):

To claim the BTWB, entitlement to the JSA or IS claimed by you and the family must normally cease as a result of employment (i.e. the work condition). You can also be awarded your bonus if you reach retirement age (see page *).

To meet the work condition, entitlement to JSA or IS must end because (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 7(2)):

• you (the claimant) move into full-time work (16 hours or more per week) or
• your partner moves into full-time work (24 hours or more per week) or
• the earnings derived from your employment increase to such an extent that you, or your family’s, entitlement to IS/JSA ends.

There are certain groups who are granted certain flexibilities with the above interpretation of the "work condition". For example, the BTWB can be triggered in certain circumstances where JSA entitlement does not completely cease. This is relevant if you are the partner of someone who is entitled to Contribution-based JSA and who is also claiming Income-based JSA for the rest of the family. If you (the claimant’s partner) move into employment which ends the family entitlement to Income-based JSA, the benefit rules say that this does not affect your partner’s continued entitlement to Contribution-based JSA. However, in these circumstances a BTWB can still be paid out solely on the grounds that entitlement to Income-based JSA has ended (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 7(2)(b)).

You will also be treated as satisfying the work condition if, within 2 weeks of your entitlement to JSA/IS ending, you or your partner moves into full-time work and/or increases your earnings to a level which would have ended your entitlement to JSA or IS if you were still claiming these benefits. In this case you will be eligible to claim the BTWB (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 7).

You can also satisfy the work condition if you leave JSA and within 12 weeks start a Government scheme which pays benefit plus £10 a week. In these circumstances you are eligible to claim a BTWB if within 2 weeks of leaving the programme you take up employment of 16 hours or more per week or any job in which the "weekly earnings equal or exceed the amount of the training allowance [benefit plus £10] payable to [you] in the last week of training". In these circumstances you must claim the BTWB within 12 weeks of your training ending (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 7(4)).

Couples who separate are granted certain flexibilities: see page *.

You can retain your bonus if you meet the conditions for a permitted break between claims. The rules are the same as for a permitted break in your waiting period (see page *). However, you must be claiming JSA or IS again before you are in a position to claim the bonus on moving into work.

If you have been working part-time and accruing a BTWB, the ES should send you a statement every 13 weeks to let you know how much is in your BTWB account. The frequency of statements will be reduced to one a year if the size of your accrued bonus has not changed (JSA PK, ch 15, paras 17-18). At any time the ES should be able to tell you your current BTWB amount, or give you a printed statement (JSA PK, ch 15, para 20).

The maximum amount normally payable under the BTWB is £1,000 (but see Single claimants who become couples, below) and it is not taxable. Any bonus of less than £5 shall not be payable (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 8(6)&(9)).

If you receive a bonus it is treated as capital in the assessment of other benefits, or if you return to JSA or IS (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 21), but it will be disregarded for a year in the assessment of Family Credit, Disability Working Allowance, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (JSA PK, ch 15, para 28). This rule is also likely to be applied to the new benefits Working Families Tax Credit and Disabled Person’s Tax Allowance which are to be introduced in October 1999. You should get advice or check in Working Brief for the latest information (details on page *).

You must claim the BTWB within 12 weeks of your entitlement to IS/JSA coming to an end, unless an adjudication officer decides that you had good cause for the delay in claiming (JSA PK, ch 15, paras 24-26). Claim using form BTWB1, available from Jobcentres or BA offices.

There are certain circumstances in which you may decide not to claim your BTWB on moving off JSA even though you are eligible to do so. This is because after you have claimed a BTWB you cannot start to accrue another one until you have served another waiting period, even if you return to JSA within 12 weeks (JSA PK, ch 15, para 36). On the other hand, if you don’t claim the bonus and you return to JSA within 12 weeks you can continue to add to your BTWB account immediately (JSA PK, ch 15, para 37).

Whether or not to claim a bonus for which you are eligible can be a difficult decision. Firstly, obviously you should claim the bonus if you are in financial difficulty and need the money. Secondly, consider the size of the bonus: you can get a printout of your bonus entitlement from the ES (JSA PK, ch 15, para 20). If you have accrued a large bonus you may want to claim it at the earliest possible opportunity, because your circumstances could change in such a way that you are no longer eligible for JSA and may not be able to work for a long time (e.g. if you become seriously ill or have an accident).

In most cases single claimants who become couples combine any BTWB entitlements they may have, and the combined entitlement effectively passes to whichever partner makes the claim for JSA for the couple (BTWB No 2 Regs, regs 13-14). If one partner has served all or part of a "waiting period" (see above), the couple are treated as both having done so (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 14(1)(a)).

If one member of the couple then fulfils the condition to trigger the BTWB, the claimant will be awarded the combined amount. Even if this combined total is more than £1,000, he or she will still be awarded this amount (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 13). Note, however, that in the case of the combined accrued bonus being over £1,000, this combined bonus entitlement cannot be increased by further part-time work. The couple must fulfil the "work condition" (see above), claim the bonus, and serve another waiting period before they are allowed to accrue any further bonus entitlement.

However, in the above circumstances "where both members of the couple are entitled to Contribution-based JSA, bonuses accrued to each of them, whether or not the bonuses accrued before they became a couple shall not be aggregated" (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 13(5)).

In the event of a couple separating where one has been claiming Income-based JSA or IS on behalf of the couple, any "waiting period" (see above) the claimant has served will also be transferred to the other partner for purposes of eligibility towards starting a BTWB if s/he claims JSA or IS within 12 weeks of the separation. If either partner then starts claiming as a couple with another person within 12 weeks of the date of the separation, then this "new" partner can be counted as having served the same waiting period (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 10(1)&(2)).

If a couple separate and they have both been generating BTWB credits towards a joint bonus, then the accrued bonus is split between them on the basis of the amount their individual part-time earnings contributed to the bonus (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 11). The partner of the claimant can benefit from this individual bonus only if s/he becomes eligible for JSA or IS within 12 weeks of the separation. Presuming s/he does so, s/he can continue to add to the bonus immediately without serving another waiting period.

This gives some protection to separated partners of claimants whose part-time earnings have contributed to a joint BTWB, but these partners will lose out if the work condition had been satisfied before the couple split up but they did not make a claim until after splitting up. In these circumstances "the bonus shall be payable to the person entitled to the qualifying benefit [i.e. the claimant] before those conditions were fulfilled and no part of it shall be payable to the separated partner" (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 11(6)).

If you reach pensionable age and move off JSA, or you are in receipt of IS and become 60, you will be eligible to receive your full BTWB without having to fulfil the normal condition of moving into full-time work (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 17). You must claim the BTWB within 12 weeks of your 60th birthday, or your pensionable age if you ceased to be entitled to JSA (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 17).

If a person who was claiming Income-based JSA (not Contribution-based JSA) or IS dies and leaves behind a partner, the living partner will be allowed to transfer the dead partner’s BTWB or any "waiting period" served to her/his claim as long as s/he claims JSA or IS within 12 weeks of the death occurring (BTWB No 2 Regs, reg 19). S/he will still have to fulfil the work condition (or reach pensionable age) to actually claim the bonus.

There are a number of in-work benefits which are intended to allow unemployed people to take up low paid jobs without being worse off than when they were claiming JSA. These benefits are paid to those in full-time work with earnings below a certain level. At the time of writing, the main in-work benefit is Family Credit (FC), which is available to people with dependent children. Disability Working Allowance (DWA) is a similar benefit for people with a disability, but is not restricted to people with dependent children. In certain pilot areas of the country, people without children are eligible for another in-work benefit – Earnings Top-up (see page *).

For up-to-date information on these credits, see Working Brief (details on page *).

These in-work benefits are supplemented by the eligibility rules for other benefits, such as Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, which enable assistance to be given to applicants on low incomes whether in or out of work (see page *). People who have been out of work for at least 6 months now retain their full entitlement to these benefits for the first 4 weeks of a new job (see page *).

More detailed information about some of these benefits and the problems associated with them can be found in the Child Poverty Action Group National Welfare Benefits Handbook (see page *).

If you are considering taking up low paid work and supplementing your income with in-work benefits, you are strongly advised to obtain a calculation of the total income you are likely to end up with in work (see page *).

• you must have at least one dependent child
• you or your partner must be in paid work of at least 16 hours per week (including self-employment) – you cannot add together your hours of work to make up the 16 hours
• the work must be likely to last at least 5 weeks from the week of claim (FC (Gen) Regs, reg 4(6))
• you (and your partner if applicable) must have less than £8,000 in disposable capital. This is personal capital, not business capital which should be disregarded. Savings of between £3,000 and £8,000 will reduce the amount you receive.

If you receive FC you are automatically entitled to (JSA PK, ch 11, paras 27-28):

DWA is closely modelled on FC but eligibility is not restricted to those with dependent children. To be eligible for DWA you must (AOG, vol 8, paras 50008 & 50702):

DWA is designed to encourage people who are receiving disability benefits to take up low paid employment. If the job does not work out, your entitlement for your previous disability benefit is safeguarded for up to 2 years (SS (C&B) Act 92, sec 42(1), sec 68(10)) so long as you continue to qualify as being incapable of work as assessed by the All Work Test (see Chapter 3, page *).

Full details of how to calculate FC and DWA entitlements can be found in the Child Poverty Action Group National Welfare Benefits Handbook (see page *) or in the Benefit Agency booklets A Guide to Family Credit (NI 261) and A Guide to Disability Working Allowance (HB 4), free from BA offices. Alternatively, ES advisers can estimate FC and DWA entitlement for claimants (see page *).

• to children under 12 who are cared for by a registered childminder (including nurseries and play schemes) (AOG, vol 8, para 51077) and
• where the claimant is a lone parent or a member of a couple where both are working full-time, or where the other partner is incapacitated (AOG, vol 8, para 51074).

Earnings in kind (e.g. food, meals or cigarettes) are disregarded. Accommodation provided as part of the job, however, does count as income, as do tips and any expenses paid by your employer which do not arise directly out of your work (e.g. childminding fees or expenses incurred in getting to work) (FC (Gen) Regs, reg 19; DWA (Gen) Regs, reg 21)).

If you work for at least 30 hours a week, you qualify for a £10.55 a week premium. This premium is disregarded in the calculation of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit so you gain the full £10.55 (JSA PK, ch 11, para 19). This is intended to encourage more people claiming the benefit to work longer hours.

If you earn above a certain amount (which will depend on your circumstances) you will not be eligible for any FC or DWA. However, it can be worth claiming FC or DWA even if you might be eligible only for a small amount, because of the other benefits one gains such as free prescriptions (see above). Also, benefit regulations allow for "immediate up-front lump sum payments" of FC and DWA for people eligible for small weekly payments. This means that "families and disabled people getting £4 a week or less will get an initial payment of up to £104" (DSS, 1993).

Note that the chief executive of the BA has said that if you are in serious "financial difficulty as a result of an outstanding FC claim which cannot be resolved" then "a claim can be made to the Social Fund section at [your] local Benefits Agency office". He added that "crisis loans are available to anyone who needs financial help to meet expenses in an emergency or a disaster, who is facing serious risk or serious damage to their health or safety". An "applicant does not have to be in receipt of any benefit, but any income or capital which he has will be taken into account by the Social Fund officer" (Hansard WA, col 77, 20/2/95).

• Newcastle-upon-Tyne
• Castleford & Pontefract, Wakefield & Dewsbury and Barnsley
• Southend
• Bangor & Caernarfon, Conwy & Colwyn, Denbigh, Dolgellau & Barmouth, Holyhead, Shotton, Flint & Rhyl and Wrexham.

• Sunderland
• Doncaster
• Bournemouth
• Perth & Crieff, Dumbarton and Stirling.

People unemployed for 6 months and lone parents and carers claiming IS may be eligible for extended payments of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit at the same level as they received while out of work for the first 4 weeks of a new job (HB Regs, sch 5A). The job must be expected to last for at least 5 weeks and you are eligible for the extended payments if you, or your partner, moves into a job (including self-employment) which ends your claim to Income-based JSA or IS. The extended payments are also available if your JSA or IS claim ends because you, or your partner, increases the number of hours worked and/or earnings of a job which either of you were undertaking whilst claiming IS. These new circumstances must also be expected to last for at least 5 weeks.

• claiming JSA or
• attending a Government scheme which pays benefit plus £10 or
• claiming IS and claiming either the lone parent premium or the carer premium or
• any combination of the above circumstances during the 6-month period.

Any time you were in receipt of Contribution-based JSA counts toward the qualifying period but you must be claiming Income-based JSA (on its own or in combination with Contribution-based JSA) or IS by the time you leave benefit to qualify for the extended payments. There are no linking period rules. Time signing on for National Insurance credits does not count towards the 6 months (JSA PK, ch 9, para 43).

Once the 4-week extended payment period is over, you may still be eligible for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit if your earnings are low enough. If so, your claim will be given priority over claims from people who did not qualify for extended payments so long as you make your claim for standard Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit within 15 days of the date your JSA stopped (JSA PK, ch 9, para 64). If you intend to apply for Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit because of low earnings, you should apply for them to your local authority Housing Benefit section as soon as you start work as well as applying for extended payments (see below).

Eligible JSA claimants should be informed about extended payments and given a claim form at any advisory interview such as a Restart interview (JSA PK, ch 9 para 41).

You should think carefully about your position before committing yourself to taking a low paid job, because if you take the job and then find that it is unsuitable or you are receiving less money than you expected you will not be able to leave work and claim JSA again without a strong possibility of incurring a benefit sanction for voluntary leaving. This could mean loss of benefit for up to 6 months (unless you satisfy the Employment on Trial conditions (see page *).

If you do want to get a calculation from the Jobcentre, you are strongly advised to ask for a calculation based on a number of different wage levels rather than for a particular vacancy. This will give you an idea of what level of pay you can afford to accept, and will ensure that if you decide not to pursue a particular vacancy (which you yourself have identified) because it does not pay enough, you will not be penalised for this. If you do identify a vacancy yourself and discuss it with an ES adviser it will be considered to have been notified to you by the ES. In such a situation, "provided that [your] suitability for the job has been established, if [you] do not apply for the job, or do not attend for the interview, or refuse the job, the case may be referred to the sector adjudication officer" and you may face a sanction of up to 26 weeks for refusal of employment (Hansard WA, col 338, 27/2/97).

• childcare cost
• travel
• meals at work
• work clothes or tools.

Note that the ES does not accept responsibility for mistakes it makes in these calculations. Any written assessment you are given will contain a disclaimer stating that the calculations are "estimates only" and that "the Department will not accept liability for loss occasioned if reliance is placed on them" (JSA PK, ch 13, para 7).

In any case, it is very important to remember that you will not know for sure whether you will be given an in-work benefit until you have actually accepted a job. There is also likely to be a delay before you receive in-work benefits, particularly Housing Benefit (although this delay may be reduced if you qualify for extended payments of Housing Benefit - see page *).

ES advisers are told always to "encourage jobseekers to take up in-work benefits" (JSA PK, ch 6, para 4). In many cases advisers will want to give you an in-work benefit assessment to influence the level of wages you are looking for and the range of jobs you are prepared to accept. When you first sign on and answer the question in the ES2 form which asks what is the lowest wage you would accept, ES staff are told that "the lowest amount [you are] prepared to work for must be reasonable given the jobs [you are] looking for, the labour market and any in-work benefits [you] are entitled to" (JSA LOA, ch 2, para 287, q16).