Thousands of unmarried parents will finally be entitled to bereavement benefits if their partner dies, thanks to changes in eligibility rules. But charities are warning that the changes do not go far enough as some unmarried parents will still be treated worse than those who were married when their partner passed away.
Until now, surviving parents could only claim bereavement support payments if married or in a civil partnership at the time of their partner’s death.
But under the new rules, all surviving parents will be eligible, so long as they lived with the deceased on the date they died and have dependent children.
‘Respect’: Gill Lavery with her late fiance Paolo and their son
The payments total £2,500 plus £100 a month for 18 months, or £3,500 plus £350 for 18 months for families entitled to child benefit.
The new eligibility rules will apply retrospectively from August 30, 2018, the month the Supreme Court ordered the Government to treat unmarried couples in the same way as their married counterparts. Backdated payments will be made as a lump sum when the new policy kicks in next spring.
Charities warn that by choosing the date of the court ruling as the cut-off, rather than the date on which the payments were introduced in April 2017, some families are still set to miss out.
For example, if a married parent passed away in April 2017, their family would receive bereavement support payments totalling £9,800.
However, if they were unmarried but cohabiting, their family would receive just £2,450. Carla Clarke, head of strategic litigation at Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), says: ‘The Government’s proposals are welcome in as far as they go, but they would short-change some families who have already lost a parent and will receive only a fraction of the support they would have been entitled to had the marriage requirement not been in place at the time of the late parent’s death.’
The Government is being forced to change its stance on unmarried parents after mother of four Siobhan McLaughlin won a major Supreme Court case on bereavement benefits in August 2018. McLaughlin had been living with her partner John Adams for 23 years when he died in 2014. They had four children together. McLaughlin, from County Antrim, was denied the widowed parent’s allowance – the predecessor to bereavement support payments – because they were not married. She successfully challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, which ruled that denying her the allowance was incompatible with human rights legislation.
Speaking ahead of the three-year anniversary of the court ruling on Tuesday, McLaughlin says: ‘As a mother, I wanted to make it right for my children. I couldn’t stop their father dying or take away their pain but I could ensure their rights were recognised.’
Charities CPAG, WAY Widowed and Young and the Childhood Bereavement Network are calling on the Government to extend retrospective entitlement to when the benefits were introduced – April 6, 2017, for bereavement support payment and 2001 for the widowed parent’s allowance. They believe 2,480 families would benefit if the cut-off date of August 30, 2018, for bereavement benefits was extended.
Although changes are unlikely to come into force until next spring, those affected should claim now. By contacting the Bereavement Service Helpline on 0800 791 0469, it will ensure a claim is on the DWP files.
