The following means-tested benefits are affected by how many hours of paid work you and your partner do per week:

• Income Support
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Working Tax Credit
• Employment and Support Allowance

Universal Credit is affected by the amount you earn, but not by the number of hours you work. Read more about the Universal Credit rules.

Reviewed June 2022

Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance

For Income Support (IS) or Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), you are classed as working full time if you do 16 hours or more paid work per week. Your partner is considered to be working full time if they do 24 or more hours paid work per week. You doing 16 hours or your partner doing 24 hours work will mean you cannot get the benefit anymore.

If you are working less than 16 hours per week, and your partner is working less than 24 hours per week, then you may be eligible to claim these benefits but the amount you are entitled to could be affected by any earnings you have. You can use our benefit calculator to check how much your earnings will affect your benefits.

Working Tax Credit

If you or your partner work too many hours to be eligible for IS or JSA you may be eligible to receive Working Tax Credit (WTC) instead. You can't make new claims for Working Tax Credit unless you already get Child Tax Credit. To get Working Tax Credit, you and/or your partner must work at least a certain number of hours per week:

• If you are single and responsible for a child, you must work at least 16 hours per week

• If you qualify for the disability element of WTC, or are over 60 years old, you must work at least 16 hours per week

• If you are a couple and responsible for a child you must, in most cases, work at least 24 hours between you (with one of you working at least 16 hours)

• Otherwise, you must be aged 25 or over and work at least 30 hours a week.

Employment and Support Allowance 

You normally can't do any work while claiming Employment and Support Allowance.  However, you can do what's known as 'permitted work' and remain entitled to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

If you claim income-related ESA, your partner can work less than 24 hours per week doing any type of paid work but their earnings could affect the amount you are entitled to.

if you claim Contributory or New Style Employment and Support Allowance, your partner's work hours will not affect your entitlement to ESA, because it is based on your national insurance contribution record.

Universal Credit

Working hours do not affect Universal Credit. Universal Credit is paid to people in or out of work, and you (or your partner) can work any number of hours and still qualify. 

Reviewed June 2022

How your average hours of work are calculated depends on the type of work you do, whether your hours are fixed or variable, and which benefit you are claiming.

It is important to count all the hours you do; if you do more than one job add them together.

Information is provided in the next few pages about how to calculate your hours of work for Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance or Working Tax Credit. Look at the section that reflects your working situation:

• Calculating work hours: Employees
• Calculating work hours: Self employed people
• Calculating work hours: Maternity Leave
• Calculating work hours: Sick Leave
• Calculating work hours: Fluctuating hours of work
• Calculating work hours: Seasonal workers
• Calculating work hours: Term time workers

Reviewed: June 2022

Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance

If you are employed, the number of hours you actually work are taken into account. This can include overtime if it is done routinely. If you do more than one job you should add your total hours together.

Working Tax Credit

You count the number of hours you would normally work. This means what you regularly, usually or typically do. The number of hours you normally work may not be specified in your contract of employment or may vary from what is specified. It is the hours you actually work that matter. If you routinely do paid overtime you can argue that these are hours you normally work and they should be included.

Reviewed: June 2022

Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance

If you are self-employed, it is the number of hours normally performed for payment or expectation of payment that count.

You should include all the hours needed to run your business. This can include visiting potential clients; typing up estimates; buying stock; bookkeeping etc.

Tip: keep a diary note of all hours you do for your business in case you need to show proof.

Working Tax Credit

If you are self-employed, it is the number of hours normally performed for payment or expectation of payment.

You should count all the hours needed to run your business, including visiting potential clients, typing up estimates, buying stock, bookkeeping etc.

Tip: Keep a diary to record all the hours you do for your business in case you need to show proof.

Reviewed: June 2022

Income Support

You are not treated as being in full time paid work if you are on maternity, adoption or paternity leave - even if you are a full time worker when you are not on leave.

Working Tax Credit

If you are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave or within the first 28 weeks of a period of sickness, you continue to be classed as working the same number of hours you were working immediately before the period of leave. If you don't return to work at the end of your leave you will no longer count as being in paid work.

If you are self-employed and off work for reasons of maternity, paternity or adoption, like an employee you can continue to be classed as working the same number of hours you were working immediately before the leave began. If you don't return to your business at the end of your maternity period you will no longer count as being in paid work.

Updated: June 2022

Income Support or Employment and Support Allowance

You are not treated as being in full time paid work - even if you are a full time worker under your employment contract - if you are absent from work because you are sick.

Working Tax Credit

If you are within the first 28 weeks of a period of sick leave from work, and are receiving a sickness benefit such as Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) , you continue to be classed as working the same number of hours you were working immediately before the period of sick leave began.

If you are self-employed and have been off work for less than 28 weeks due to sickness, like an employee you can continue to be classed as working the same number of hours you were working immediately before the leave began.

If you don't return to work at the end of your sick leave, you will no longer count as being in paid work.

Updated: June 2022

Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance

If your hours of work fluctuate, then your hours are averaged over the ‘cycle of work’. For example, if you always work three weeks on and one week off, then an average of hours over a four-week period would be used.

If there is no pattern to your work then your average working hours over the five weeks immediately before you make the benefit claim will be used (or a period that would give a fair average if the previous five weeks were out of the norm).

If there is no pattern of work established yet, for example if you have only just started a new job, then the average number of hours you are expected to work each week is used.

Working Tax Credit

If your hours of work fluctuate, then the hours you 'normally' or 'typically' work in a week, will be used to calculate your Working Tax Credit.  HMRC do not ‘average’ the hours you work in order to work out your 'normal' hours.

If there is no pattern of work established yet, for example if you have only just started a new business, then the average number of hours you are expecting to work is used.

Reviewed: June 2022

Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance

If you are a seasonal worker, you are usually regarded as having a ‘cycle of work’ for that part of the year when you are working and you should not be treated as being in full-time work for the other part of the year.

If you have no recognisable ‘cycle of work’, then the average of hours over the five weeks prior to your claim for benefit is used.

Working Tax Credit

If you are a seasonal worker, your 'cycle of work' might be considered to only cover the period during which you are working, be that Summer or Winter for example.

You may count as unemployed for the periods in the year when you are not working, unlike term time workers.

Reviewed: June 2022

If you have a recognisable cycle of work of one year, which includes periods when you do not work - whether they be school holidays or something similar - then you could count as a ‘term-time worker’.

Income Support or Working Tax Credit

The periods of school holidays (or periods when no work is done) are ignored when assessing hours of work so the number of hours you work during term time applies to you throughout the whole year.

For example, Maria is a single parent who works 20 hours per week during term time, i.e. for 38 weeks of the year, and does not work or get paid for the other 14 weeks of the year. The weeks she does not work are ignored so her average hours for the whole year are 20 per week.

Maria is not eligible for Income Support as she is classed as being in full-time work, even though she does not work during the school holidays. However, she is eligible for Working Tax Credit as she is classed as working over 16 hours per week, even during the school holidays when she is not actually working.

Jobseeker's Allowance

For Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), the periods of school holidays (or periods when no work is done) are included when assessing your hours of work.

For example, Maria’s hours of work are averaged over the whole 52 week period as school holidays are included.

Her total hours of work for the year (38 weeks x 20 hours = 760 hours per year) are divided by 52 and she is classed as working for 14.61 hours per week for the whole year.

Maria could therefore claim Jobseeker's Allowance for the whole year as she is not classed as being in full time work. She would still need to show she is available for, and looking for, at least 16 hours' work per week to meet the Jobseeker's Allowance conditions though.

These rules are complicated, so if you are a term-time worker we recommend that you seek advice from a benefits adviser. You can use our Find an Adviser tool to locate one who can advise you further on your particular circumstances.

Reviewed: June 2022