Teenage parents and benefits

The normal rules for claiming benefit apply. However, your benefit will be paid at a lower rate until you reach 25. For further information please send an SAE and ask for a copy of their free factsheet Money for Mothers and Babies.

What's available
A summary of benefits referred to in this factsheet
Free NHS dental treatment and prescriptionsYou will qualify for free NHS dental treatment and prescriptions if you are under 16 or you are receiving Income Support or income-based Job Seekers Allowance, or you are pregnant or have given birth within the last year.
Child Benefit You will get Child Benefit, whatever your age, for each child you are responsible for, for as long as that child is under 16 (or under 19 and still at school). It is £16.50 a week for the oldest child and £11.05 a week for other children.
Income Support (IS) You may be entitled to IS if you are 16 or over and you are not able to work full time. You are eligible for IS if, for example:

• you are a single parent
• you are more than 29 weeks pregnant
• you are going to school and are estranged from your parents
• you are a carer of someone who is disabled, or
• you are too unwell to work.

You will be entitled to the higher rate if you are living apart from your parents and you can show 'good cause' for not being able to live with them.