Bereaved 17 yo child and benefit system

belfastgirl23

I'm asking for help on behalf of a 17 (nearly 18) yo child who just lost her mother. She is determined to stay on in the family home (a council house, she has been told that she is likely to be approved for tenancy). She is still at school doing A'levels and has a part time job. Her mother was not working at the time of her death and has been seperated from her father for about ten years but they have never divorced. Her father is also on benefits and has been unwell for a long time, he also lives quite a distance away so moving in with him is not a possiblity since she would have to move school. My questions are:

Will she be entitled to any benefits?

Should her father claim funeral expenses and could he claim the bereavement payment of £2000? What would be the implication for her future benefits?

I've made an appointment for her with the local advice centre but they're closed for Christmas so the nearest appointment was when they re-open in January. I'd like to be prepared for what the answers will be, any help would be very gratefully received. Or indeed if anyone has advice on anything I haven't thought of, this is all still very new to me too...

Oldernotwiser

Didn't you ask this a couple of days ago?

Fran

If her father claims anything this has nothing to do with any claim she makes.

You can find her local Cruse contact on their website..

There is information on the BBC website too.

There is also the Child Bereavement Charity who might have useful info.

Contacting someone from one of these websites should help you with answers.

There's also:

Armchair Advice and there are other links on the above websites.

Zara33

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Didn't you ask this a couple of days ago?

Yup she sure did
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1361683

MoneyHoney

Much will depend on the young persons location. Some charities have specific projects regarding young people and housing and help with tenancy issues, 'generally' under 18s aren't able to hold a tenancy in their name but I notice you mention nearly 18.

Also worth contacting Connexions, the young peoples guidance service, they will have a direct link to the local housing officer advising under 18s. They will probably require a face to face appointment and often have drop in services throughout the week.

http://www.connexions-direct.com/

Benefits for under 18s are dependent on individual circumstances (quite unique) so it would be difficult to for anyone to advise on here. In simple terms, yes, the young person will 'most probably' be entitled to claim 'some' benefits but again being a student and working p-t 'may' have an effect. Also for the future, worth looking into additional support for University i.e. charitable trusts/grants. I'll post a link when I locate it.

MrsE_2

Speak to social services, they can help out in situations such as these.

belfastgirl23

Sorry I did ask on the families page but it occurred to me I should have really asked in the benefits board (still not really thinking straight about some of this) so I posted again instead of just asking for the thread to be moved.

There is a new issue here though which is the role of her dad and the possibility of the bereavement payment which I hadn't known about at the time. So the question is slightly different although still the same big mess of the original situation!

Didn't occur to me it would be a cross post for some people. And it is worrying me I guess...sorry for any confusion. And thanks for the help.

Fran

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Sorry I did ask on the families page but it occurred to me I should have really asked in the benefits board (still not really thinking straight about some of this) ..... And it is worrying me I guess...sorry for any confusion. And thanks for the help.

There's absolutely no need to apologise! Ask as many times as you like and don't worry about the odd one or two who are "offended" by it.

On the other thread you say the girl is the daughter of a close relative. I'm sorry to hear of your loss and your family, it must be a difficult time.

Zara33

Fran i don't think anyone is offended merely stating that it had been posted elsewhere. In the link i gave already the "father" isn't in the picture at all now he appears to be Although the mother and father were never divorced they from what i get from reading these two posts have been seperated for 10 years.

Breavement payment
Who can claim?

You may be able to claim Bereavement Payment if your husband, wife or civil partner had paid their National Insurance contributions (NICs) or their death was caused by their job and either:

• you were under State Pension age (60 for women and 65 for men) when they died

or

• your husband, wife or civil partner was not entitled to Category A state Retirement Benefit when they died.

National Insurance contributions and Bereavement Payment

When you fill in the claim form you'll be asked to give your late husband, wife or civil partner's National Insurance number and details of their recent employment history.
This will allow the office that deals with your claim to look into their National Insurance record and to work out if you qualify for Bereavement Payment.

Who can’t claim?

You can't get Bereavement Payment if any of the following apply:

• you were divorced from your late husband or wife or the civil partnership had dissolved at the time of the civil partner's death
• you're living with another person as husband, wife or civil partner
• you're in prison

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Bereaved/DG_10018703
Funeral Payment

Relationship with the person who has died

To be able to get a Funeral Payment you must also be either:

• the partner of the deceased when they died
• the parent of the deceased child, or have been responsible for the deceased child (and there is no absent parent) (unless they are getting one of the above qualifying benefits or were estranged from the child at the date of death)
• the parent of a still-born child
• a close relative or close friend of the deceased (and it is reasonable for you to accept responsibility for the funeral costs)

Who isn't eligible? You can't get a payment as a close relative or close friend of the deceased if either:

• the deceased had a partner when they died
• there's a parent, son or daughter of the deceased who has not been awarded one of the qualifying benefits or was not estranged from the deceased. This doesn't include family members who are: aged under 18, qualifying young persons for the purposes of Child Benefit, full-time students, members of religious orders, in prison or in hospital (and who had been awarded a qualifying benefit immediately before they entered prison or hospital), asylum seekers being supported by the National Asylum Support Service or family members not ordinarily resident in the UK
• there's a close relative of the deceased, other than a close relative in one of the excluded groups listed above, who was in closer contact with the deceased than you were, or had equally close contact and is not getting a qualifying benefit

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Bereaved/DG_10018660

Verianna

Zara33 wrote: »

Fran i don't think anyone is offended merely stating that it had been posted elsewhere. In the link i gave already the "father" isn't in the picture at all now he appears to be Although the mother and father were never divorced they from what i get from reading these two posts have been seperated for 10 years.

What the bloody hell has that got to do with anything? So what if they were seperated 10 years or 10 days. This isn't Eastenders and surely you need to question you forum etiquette if you are getting your knickers in a twist over the finer details of a very simple question in what must be a truely awful time for OP :mad:

Zara33

Verianna wrote: »

What the bloody hell has that got to do with anything? So what if they were seperated 10 years or 10 days. This isn't Eastenders and surely you need to question you forum etiquette if you are getting your knickers in a twist over the finer details of a very simple question in what must be a truely awful time for OP :mad:

It makes a difference where benefits are concerned so if you don't mind dismount from your high horse eh.