Overview of Job Start Payment

Job Start Payment helps young people on certain benefits with the costs of starting a new job. It is open to:

• people aged 16 to 24
• people aged 16 to 25 if they’re a care leaver

For the purposes of Job Start Payment, the client is a care leaver if they’ve spent time in care but stopped being looked after on, or after, their 16th birthday. This could’ve been in either a foster, residential, secure, or formal kinship care placement.

The payment is a one-off cash sum of:

• £314.45 for those who do not have child responsibility
• £503.10 for those who have child responsibility

Clients can apply for the payment from the date of their job offer if it was made within the last six months.

The payment can be used for:

• travel costs
• clothing
• lunches
• other expenses that need to be met when entering work

Clients can apply for Job Start Payment:

• by phone
• online
• by paper application form

They can apply again, for a different job offer, as long as two years have passed since they last received a payment.

Only applicants who have received a job offer on or after the date Job Start Payment has launched (17 August 2020) will be eligible to receive the payment.

A client can get the payment if they meet certain conditions.

They must:

• be aged 16 to 24 (or aged 16 to 25 for care leavers)
• have been offered a job within the past six months
• have been offered a job which is at least 12 hours per week, averaged over a four-week period
• have been offered a job that is for paid work, not voluntary or unpaid work
• have been out of paid work continuously for six months or more on the day they were offered the job (including if they are self-employed)
• be living in Scotland with a Scottish postcode
• have been getting one of the qualifying benefits for six months or more (unless they are a care leaver)

Clients still qualify if:

• they turn 25 when they start their new job (or 26 if they’re a care leaver), as long as they were aged 16 to 24 (or 16 to 25 if they’re a care leaver) on the day they were offered the job
• they’ve received a Job Start Payment before, as long as they’re now applying for it for a different job and it’s been more than two years since they last received a payment
• they’re a care leaver who has not been out of work for all of the six months before the job offer, as long as they were out of work on the day they were offered the job
• they also do voluntary or unpaid work, as long as their Job Start Payment application is for a paid job offer

Information about the job offer

The client must provide us with:

• the company name
• the name of a contact person
• a phone number
• their employer’s postcode (if the job is within the UK)
• their employer’s address if the job offer is outside the UK

Self-employed clients must have evidence of an offer of work, or a contract for services on a self-employed basis.

The client’s job can be anywhere in the world, but they must have been living in Scotland at the time of their job offer.

Qualifying benefits

The client must have been on one or a combination of:

• Income-based Job Seekers Allowance
• Income-related Employment Support Allowance
• Income Support
• Universal Credit

16 and 17 years olds can be in receipt of one of these qualifying benefits if they:

• are caring for a severely disabled person
• have child responsibility and are the main carer of a child
• are no longer in touch with their parents
• are limited in their ability to work

The client must send us information to support their application.

Job Offer

To confirm this, they can send:

• a letter
• a job contract
• an email
• a signed, hand-written note
• a screenshot of a text message, a Facebook or WhatsApp message
• a screenshot of the job confirmation on a job search website

These can be photocopies, scans or screenshots and either uploaded online to us or posted.

The job offer confirmation should include:

• at least one piece of personal information, like the client’s name, address, email address or phone number
• at least one piece of information about the employer, like the name of the company, the employer’s address, email address or phone number
• the date of the job offer

If a client has child responsibility

Check this by asking whether the client or their partner is getting:

• Child Tax Credit
• Child Benefit
• Universal Credit child element

You can also use the system to check if the client gets any benefits.

If the client does not receive any of the child-related benefits, we’ll accept a legal order (a legal document which clearly shows the client's responsibility of a child) or a kinship care agreement with a local authority. If the client has a legal order or a kinship care agreement to look after a child, you can ask for a photocopy of the document.

They can apply:

• online
• by phone
• by paper form

Phone applications

The client can call us free on 0800 182 2222.

On the call, tell the client:

• how long the call will take
• the details they will need to provide
• the conditions for the benefit to make sure they can get Job Start Payment
• that they can call us back when they’re ready to apply

Paper Application

This can be downloaded on the mygov.scot site or clients can call free on 0800 182 2222 to request one.

The client can ask for the form in different formats and languages.

Online Applications

The client can apply online via the mygov.scot website. They will need to complete the form all in one go as there is no ‘save and resume’ option.

Job Start Payment supports young people who are on certain low income benefits and are moving into work after a period of unemployment. Depending on individual circumstances, income from a new job might affect someone’s benefits and tax credits.

Job Start Payment is not taxable, so no Income Tax will have to be paid on it. It will be disregarded for Tax Credits, i.e. Tax Credits will not be affected by Job Start Payment.

Depending on individual circumstances, Job Start Payment might affect other benefits. As the payment is a one-off lump sum, the Department for Work and Pensions will treat it as a capital payment and not as an income payment.

Job Start Payment will not affect claims for Council Tax Reduction.