Hospital and benefits - Non-means tested benefits

If you get the following benefits, the amount you get for yourself will not change if you go into hospital. You will carry on getting the benefit. However, if you get any extra money in the benefit for another person, for example for a child or your partner, this will usually stop after you have been in hospital for 52 weeks:

• Basic State Pension
• New State Pension
• Bereavement Support Payment
• Widowed Parent's Allowance
• Industrial Injuries Benefit
• Statutory Maternity Pay
• Maternity Allowance
• Statutory Sick Pay

If you get contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), it will be paid in full while you are in hospital. It will be paid indefinitely but after you have been in hospital for 52 weeks you will no longer be paid the support or work-related activity component.

If you get contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), it will stop when you are sick and not able to look for work for more than two weeks. You should get advice to see if you can get another benefit instead.

Reviewed: October 2021