Bereavement Support Payment

Eloise Mears

What are Bereavement Support Payments?

Bereavement Support Payments are a benefit provided by the government to help people cope with the financial impact following the death of a spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner.

• Bereavement Support Payments were historically only available to parents whose husband, wife or civil partner died in the previous 21 months. Recent changes in the law mean unmarried parents can now claim Bereavement Support Payment
• The current level of the statutory Bereavement Support Payments in England and Wales is £15,120
• Bereavement Support Payments replace Bereavement Allowance (previously Widow’s Pension), Bereavement Payments, and Widowed Parent’s Allowance.

Is everyone entitled to bereavement support payments?

No, to be eligible for bereavement support payments the following criteria must be met:

• the death occurred on or after 6 April 2017
• the deceased must have paid National Insurance contributions for at least 25 weeks in one tax year since 6 April 1975
• to receive the full amount the claim must be made within 3 months of the death , claims can be made up to 21 months after the death, but this affects the amount you receive.
• the surviving partner must be under State Pension age and living in the UK or a country that pays bereavement benefits
• you are not eligible if you are in prison

How much is bereavement support payment?

Bereavement Support Payment consists of a one-time lump sum followed by up to 18 monthly payments. There are two rates:

• Higher rate For those who are pregnant or entitled to Child Benefit at the time of the spouse’s or civil partner’s death. This includes a £3,500 initial lump sum and 18 monthly payments of £350.
• Lower rate: For those who do not have children and are not pregnant. This includes a £2,500 initial lump sum and 18 monthly payments of £100.

When should you apply for bereavement support payment?

• You should claim Bereavement Support Payment within 3 months of the death to get the full amount. For every month later that you claim after this, you’ll receive one fewer monthly payments.
• You must claim within 12 months of your partner’s death to get the first payment. If you claim after this time, you will only get monthly payments.

How do you claim bereavement support payment?

There are several ways that you can claim:

• call the Bereavement Service helpline on 0800 151 2012
• download a claim form on GOV.UK and apply by post
• apply online on GOV.UK

Legislative change regarding Bereavement Support Payments

In 2018, the Supreme Court considered a case in which a bereaved parent could not claim a Bereavement Support Payment after her partner she had cohabited with for 23 years died. It was decided that she was entitled to receive a back payment of £10,000, an enormous help through such a difficult time. Although this ruling did not change the law, it put pressure on ministers to change the rules on entitlement to bereavement benefits. This week parliament has approved payments for unmarried parents who lose a partner, provided they are under pension age.

This will mean that cohabiting parents could get up to 18 monthly payments following the loss of their partner. This may also apply retrospectively to those who have lost loved ones before the change in the law.

The decision follows a 2018 judgment by the Court of Appeal in Jacqueline Smith v Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Secretary of State for Justice in which the court determined that cohabiting partners who have been in a relationship for more than 2 years should be entitled to bereavement damages under Section 1A of The Fatal Accidents Act 1976; which now amounts to an award (alas still pitifully low) of £15,120 for bereaved partners who lost their loved one on or after 1 May 2020.

In the case of Smith v Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Ors (Rev 2) [2017] EWCA Civ 1916, the Court of Appeal held that the current law on bereavement damages was incompatible with Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Claimant, Ms Smith, had argued that Section 1A(2)(a) of the Fatal Accidents Act 1976, which allows a claim for bereavement damages for the benefit of married couples or civil partners, but not unmarried cohabiting couples, discriminated against her as an unmarried person. As such, Ms Smith argued that the provision was incompatible with her Convention rights. The decision of the Court of Appeal (Ms Smith’s claim having been previously dismissed by the High Court in 2016) was hailed as a historic one, and Ms Smith’s lawyer called for Parliament to change the law and “bring bereavement legislation into the 21^st century” in the aftermath of the judgment.

A legislative change was required to bring the court’s decision into practical effect. Finally, on 8 May 2019, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) announced a proposed Remedial Order providing for the award of bereavement damages under Section 1A of the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 to be available to a person who has cohabited with the deceased person for a period of at least two years immediately before the death. The Remedial Order also provides that where both a qualifying cohabitant and a spouse are eligible (for example, where the deceased was still married and not yet divorced or separated but had been in a new cohabiting relationship for at least two years), the award will be divided equally between the two eligible claimants.

These benefit changes are long overdue. Times are changing; the Office for National Statistics figures confirm that the number of cohabiting families has increased by 22.9% over the last decade.

More Change Needed

Whilst the above changes have been welcomed, it is clear that the law on bereavement payments currently stands in England and Wales is unfair and lags behind that of other advanced jurisdictions.

The current level of the statutory Bereavement Support Payments in England and Wales is £15,120, which shocks relatives of many people involved in a fatal accident caused by someone else’s wrongdoing. By comparison, in Scotland, there are no fixed statutory limits on the amount payable, with cases considered on their own individual merits. Past awards in Scotland include sums of £80,000 for widows, £35,000 for adult children, £30,000 for siblings up to £86,000 for parents and between £2,500-£18,000 for grandchildren. Whilst no amount of money can adequately compensate for the loss of a loved one, the figure as it stands in England and Wales seems woefully low.

There have been numerous calls in recent years for legislative change to increase the amount of the bereavement award in England and Wales; however, to date, the figure remains at £15,120. A survey by APIL found that most people thought that bereavement damages should be more than £100,000, while three-quarters of people also supported levels of awards being set on a case-by-case basis.

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