Claiming Benefits

Bereavement Payment

Eligibility

When your partner died, you must have been:

• under State Pension age
• living in the UK or a country that pays bereavement benefits

Your partner must have either:

• paid National Insurance contributions for at least 25 weeks in one tax year since 6 April 1975
• died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work

You cannot claim Bereavement Support Payment if you’re in prison.

Your relationship to your partner

When your partner died you must have been either:

• married or in a registered civil partnership
• living together as though you were married

If you were married or in a registered civil partnership with the person who died

You can claim Bereavement Support Payment if your partner died in the last 21 months but you might get less than the usual 18 monthly payments.

You must claim within 3 months of your partner’s death to get the full amount.

You may still be able to claim Bereavement Support Payment if your partner’s cause of death was confirmed more than 21 months after the death. Call the Bereavement Service helpline.

If your partner died before 6 April 2017, you may be able to get  Widowed Parent’s Allowance instead.

If you were living together as though you were married with the person who died

You may be able to get Bereavement Support Payment if your partner died on or after 6 April 2017.

You must have been:

• under State Pension age when your partner died
• under State Pension age on 30 August 2018

If you reach State Pension age within 18 months of your partner’s death, you can make a claim but you might get fewer monthly payments.

When your partner died, you must have been one of the following:

• getting Child Benefit
• eligible for Child Benefit
• pregnant

If you do not get Child Benefit, you must make a new claim for it in your name before you can apply for Bereavement Support Payment.

If your partner was getting Child Benefit, you will not automatically get Bereavement Support Payment. You’ll need to make a new claim for it in your name before you apply for Bereavement Support Payment.

If your partner died before 6 April 2017, you may be able to get Widdowed Parent's Allowance instead.

Widowed Parent's Allowance

Eligibility

Widowed Parent’s Allowance (WPA) has been replaced by Bereavement Support Payment. If you already get WPA, your payments will continue until you are no longer eligible.

You can only make a new claim for WPA if your partner died before 6 April 2017.

All the following must also apply:

• you’re under State Pension age
• you’re entitled to Child Benefit for at least one child
• you and your partner were married, in a registered civil partnership, or living together as though you were married
• your partner paid National Insurance contributions, or they died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work

You will have to confirm the cause of death if you were married or in a registered civil partnership.

You may also claim WPA if you were pregnant when your partner died, or you were pregnant after fertility treatment when your partner died.

You cannot claim WPA if you:

• were divorced and no longer living with your partner when they died
• have remarried or are living with another person as if you’re married to them or as if you’ve formed a civil partnership
• were over State Pension age when your partner died – you may be able to get extra State Pension
• are in prison