Out of curiosity, what job did you hold in a district council? You seem awfully young to have held a job at one. Why were you homeless at sixteen? I think yes, the council would be weary to give you benefits in that situation and would be wondering why you left home or where your parents are. I think you are missing the bigger picture here, that most sixteen year olds are irresponsible. Most benefits claimants are in work. I know MANY 16 year olds who have been granted JSA just because their parents made minimum wage, or if they had a younger sibling and their parents were entitled to CTC. There are a lot of variables to who gets granted JSA and just because you didn't when you needed the help, does not mean that there are not several who do and take advantage of it. I know because I have seen this first hand. Obviously we dont have a 'whole generation' of dole scrounger's, but the amount of young people getting benefits is ridiculous especially in my area. Sixteen year olds are not going to be given a council house in most cases, or be eligible for housing benefit ( I doubt you'd find a land lord willing to let to a sixteen year old ) and with the price of education and the current job market being what it is, yes there are a lot of 16 year olds on JSA. How do you know my circumstance, or political background or education to comment saying '' why comment on something you have no idea about what the reality is?'' What right do YOU have to assume such a thing? I can bet you are between the ages of 19-25 and really have no clue on how the system works. You never said it was a case by case basis to be fair, I said that. You just tried to claim that the only way a sixteen year old could get JSA was if they were in hardship, or a single parent ( which is not true. ) And what do you think the average jobless sixteen year old is going to do with free money every fortnight? Save up? Yeah right. The benefits system is a joke, as it was up until recently it actually made working a ''choice''. It should not be given to 16 year olds at all, homeless sixteen year olds should be in foster care.