Bereavement Payment

AzimScot

Hi,

I understand that you are entitled to a bereavement payment of £2,000 tax free lump sum if your spouse dies but is that only under the circumstance if your on a pension or you have paid NI for years? What if your spouse has paid NI contributions and applied for it on behalf of the deceased person even though they haven't paid NI will you qualify? Also, is it upto £2,000 do you have to justify show receipts?

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

here you go:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/WhatToDoAfterADeath/DG_066810

AsknAnswer2

The deceased spouse has to have paid their National Insurance contributions (NICs) or their death was caused by their job and either the surviving spouse was under State Pension age at the date of death or the deceased spouse was not entitled to Category A state Retirement Benefit when they died.

The surviving spouse of the deceased is the only person who can claim on the conditions that they were not divorced from the deceased, do not have a new partner and are not in prison.

The sum is £2000, no more and no less.

Receipts for what?

dmg24

Having read some of the OP's other questions, this question rather concerns me ...

AzimScot

AsknAnswer2 wrote: »

The deceased spouse has to have paid their National Insurance contributions (NICs) or their death was caused by their job and either the surviving spouse was under State Pension age at the date of death or the deceased spouse was not entitled to Category A state Retirement Benefit when they died.

The surviving spouse of the deceased is the only person who can claim on the conditions that they were not divorced from the deceased, do not have a new partner and are not in prison.

The sum is £2000, no more and no less.

Receipts for what?

Do they not want funneral receipts to show how much it cost? or do they give you the money on recipt of the death cert?

Starrystarrynight

They never asked my Dad for any receipts when he applied. He called into Jobcentre Plus for the application form and handed it back into them. I believe he had to provide the death certificate and his own ID. The payment was with him in about 10 days, as I remember.

cabbage

Funeral payment is a different thing to bereavement payment that's why they don't need receipts. There are many different bereavement benefits including a bereavement payment of £2000, bereavement allowance paid for 52 weeks. Widowed Parent's Allowance and also help with funeral costs.

AsknAnswer2

As cabbage says, the funeral payment and the bereavement payment are two entirely seperate things. Receipts are not required for the bereavement payment but you would need to provide the funeral bill if you claimed a funeral payment.

The funeral payment has strict criteria in regard to allowable expenses, it is not a set amount. There is a maximum limit of £700 in addition to the allowable expenses. If you need more help with funeral payments you will need to give a lot more details because this is a complex area.

AzimScot

has anyone been approved more than £700 funeral payment or been declined for more for some reason? Maybe for extra big coffin as person obese or big family or wanting a fancy tombstone etc?

AsknAnswer2

As I said, the £700 is the limit toward other funeral expenses aside from allowable expenses that can be awarded. It is in addition to the allowable expenses.

The government will not pay for a fancy tombstone, or anything else that the fmaily choose to have which is not a neccessity as specified in law. A coffin is not an allowable expense, it falls under the £700 maximum for other expenses.

You can find the allowable expenses in regulation 9 here