Extra bereaved dad and mom will be capable to entry monetary assist from Thursday

Cohabiting dad and mom with dependent youngsters who want assist following the loss of life of a associate can apply for bereavement advantages from Thursday.

The UK Authorities has prolonged the eligibility standards for Bereavement Help Fee and Widowed Father or mother’s Allowance, serving to extra grieving dad and mom to entry the assist.

The advantages are designed to assist dad and mom with the monetary influence of shedding a associate.

Beforehand assist was solely accessible to bereaved dad and mom who have been married or in a civil partnership.

The Division for Work and Pensions (DWP) has opened a 12-month software window for bereaved dad and mom who’ve dependent youngsters and whose associate died earlier than February 9 2023.

The bereavement profit and quantity they’re entitled to will rely on once they misplaced their associate.

To qualify, claimants should have met the eligibility standards for both Bereavement Help Fee or Widowed Father or mother’s Allowance on or after August 30 2018.

These whose associate died earlier than April 6 2017 may be capable to obtain the legacy profit Widowed Father or mother’s Allowance, ought to they be discovered to have been eligible for this on August 30 2018.

A surviving dad or mum who misplaced their associate on or after April 6 2017 could also be eligible for its alternative, Bereavement Help Fee, ought to they’ve been certified for this on August 30 2018.

DWP Minister Viscount Youthful of Leckie mentioned: “Shedding a associate is tragic and this alteration will imply extra bereaved dad and mom can entry this assist by a profoundly troublesome time for them and their youngsters.”

Social Mobility, Youth and Development Minister Mims Davies mentioned: “Now we have made this necessary change to assist hundreds extra grieving dad and mom entry the monetary assist they want and deserve.

“We all know so many lone dad and mom are doing their finest to assist their households by such a troublesome time and our bereavement advantages provide a lifeline to assist them regulate to the influence of this.

“I’d urge anybody who thinks they might be eligible to make an software, as, crucially, some bereaved dad and mom will even be capable to obtain backdated funds to make sure they don’t miss out.”

Alison Penny, director of the Childhood Bereavement Community, mentioned: “We’re relieved that, finally, cohabiting households who’ve suffered the devastating lack of their mum or dad will now have the identical entry to bereavement advantages as married and civil partnered households.

“These advantages are a lifeline for grieving households, serving to dad and mom and carers put their youngsters’s wants first as they start to regulate to a life that has modified without end.

“Our charity estimates that hundreds of households, some bereaved way back to 2001, could also be in line for a retrospective fee of the advantages they’ve missed out on, paid from August 2018.

“The 12-month window for claiming a retrospective fee will assist Authorities and assist organisations to boost consciousness, and provides households time to grasp the impact {that a} again fee may have on their wider tax and social safety entitlements.”

Claims for Bereavement Help Fee could be made on-line through gov.uk, over the telephone or by a paper software type.

Widowed Father or mother’s Allowance claims will probably be processed by paper. Paper functions could be downloaded from gov.uk or requested over the Bereavement Service helpline.

Extra particulars on the total eligibility standards and claims course of will probably be accessible on gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment from Thursday.

The regulation change comes into impact following Parliament’s approval of the Bereavement Advantages (Remedial) Order 2023.

Claire Corridor, a solicitor on the Youngster Poverty Motion Group, mentioned: “It’s important that high-quality data is supplied about the right way to declare and what influence again funds could have on households’ wider monetary place.

“Authorities should be significantly clear in communications to these whose again funds of Widowed Father or mother’s Allowance could have implications for his or her tax, tax credit and social safety advantages. If doubtful, individuals ought to search recommendation to grasp the way it applies of their particular person circumstances earlier than claiming.”

Georgia Elms, marketing campaign ambassador for charity WAY Widowed and Younger, mentioned: “We’re unhappy that it has taken so lengthy to get thus far. Most of the households who will now be eligible for again funds have endured years of economic hardship and lack of recognition as they waited for these adjustments.”