Jobseekers Act 1995

The Jobseekers Act 1995 (c 18) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, which empowers the government to provide unemployment income insurance, or "Jobseeker's Allowance" while people are looking for work.

Jobseekers Act 1995

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to provide for a jobseeker's allowance and to make other provision to promote the employment of the unemployed and the assistance of persons without a settled way of life.
Citation	1995 c. 18
Dates
Royal assent	28 June 1995
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Jobseekers Act 1995 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

In its current form, jobseeker's allowance is available without any means testing (i.e., inquiry into people's income or assets) for people who have paid into the National Insurance fund in at least the last two years. People can claim this for up to 182 days. After this, one's income and assets are means tested.

If people do not have enough in National Insurance Contributions (e.g., because they have just left school or university), the other kind of Jobseeker's allowance, income-based, is being phased out and replaced by universal credit, started by the Welfare Reform Act 2012. This requires means-testing.^[1]

Contents

Part I, sections 1 to 25 concern the Jobseeker’s Allowance.

Claimants need to be "actively seeking work", which means taking at least three steps each week, rather than completing every action listed in the claimant commitment.^[2]

Part II, sections 26 to 29 concern Back to Work Schemes.

Part III, sections 30 to 41 are Miscellaneous and Supplemental provisions.

See also

• UK labour law
• Unemployment in the United Kingdom
• Universal credit