Skip to main content
Version status: In force | Document consolidation status: Updated to reflect all known changes
Version date: 14 December 2023 - 30 March 2025
Version 19 of 20

141. Entitlement to assistance.

(1) Subject to this Act, a person shall be entitled to jobseeker’s allowance in respect of any week of unemployment where -

(a) the person has attained the age of 18 years and has not attained pensionable age,

(b) the person proves unemployment in the prescribed manner, and

(c) the person's weekly means, subject to subsection (2)(d), do not exceed the amount of jobseeker’s allowance (including any increases of jobseeker’s allowance) that would be payable to the person under this Chapter if that person had no means.

(1A) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1)(b), for the purposes of that subsection a person may prove unemployment and may make a declaration for that purpose, by means of an electronic communication, in the prescribed manner.

(2)

(a) Otherwise than as provided for in regulations, a person shall not be entitled to jobseeker’s allowance in respect of the first 3 days of unemployment in any continuous period of unemployment.

(b) For the purpose of this section, any period before the relevant date of application for jobseeker’s allowance shall not be reckoned as, or as part of, a continuous period of unemployment.