benefit for a widow

benrben

Op, sincere condolences on your loss, I can't give any other benefit advice that's any different from those that have already posted, I just wanted to say it's wonderful that your family are rallying around your sil & her children in such sad times. I lost my sibling 12 days ago, no matter how old you are it still affects you so please remember to take time out for yourself now & again.

emmsie123

Hb needs sorting sooner rather than later as claims start from Monday after they are put in.
The joint claim for tax credit will also have need closing down and applied for singly.
There is a funeral grant also applicable if on a low income.

londonTiger

The NI contributions aren't huge. But he has always paid in. Self employed people pay class 2 & class 4 NI and even if the are earning very little (below the threshold), they would have to opt out. Unlike PAYE employees who are automatically £0 when they earn little.

Secondly he died from a disease, tubercolosis. From what I read his widow is entitled to WPA regardless of NI as the death was due to a disease.

neilvw

londonTiger wrote: »

The NI contributions aren't huge. But he has always paid in. Self employed people pay class 2 & class 4 NI and even if the are earning very little (below the threshold), they would have to opt out. Unlike PAYE employees who are automatically £0 when they earn little.

Secondly he died from a disease, tubercolosis. From what I read his widow is entitled to WPA regardless of NI as the death was due to a disease.

An industrial accident or an industrial disease. The .gov page could have made this clearer perhaps.

https://www.gov.uk/widowed-parents-allowance/eligibility

Sorry if I have misunderstood your opening post, but I thought the TB diagnosis was false and the true diagnosis was cancer?

londonTiger

neilvw wrote: »

An industrial accident or an industrial disease. The .gov page could have made this clearer perhaps.

https://www.gov.uk/widowed-parents-allowance/eligibility

Sorry if I have misunderstood your opening post, but I thought the TB diagnosis was false and the true diagnosis was cancer?

We didn't find out the cause, we suspect it was cancer as he deteoriated very fast after being given TB medicine and had multi organ failure. They tried to flush out the TB drugs from his system and give him another drug but did not survive long enough to find out.

His death certificate states TB but it's highly unlikely to be the case.

londonTiger

neilvw wrote: »

An industrial accident or an industrial disease. The .gov page could have made this clearer perhaps.

https://www.gov.uk/widowed-parents-allowance/eligibility

Sorry if I have misunderstood your opening post, but I thought the TB diagnosis was false and the true diagnosis was cancer?

Thanks for the clarification. With regards to NI. How is it calculated? Is it based on the sum contribution or just just the number of years he's paid in regardless of the amount?

londonTiger

I am stuck with the NI issue. He had a letter on 2011 stating that the year prior he did not pay a NI and the letter stated that he ha s 15 years of NI and whether he wants to voluntarily pay to top up his NI.

However the last 2 years he did not pay his NI bills. He has class 2 NI payment reminders sent to his address to which I do not know if he paid or not. It seems unlikely as normall with self employment NI you get a stapled receipt onto the bill.

With regards to the Windowed Parents allowance, will his widow be entitled to it (he has 15 years of paid NI). Or will they only consider the last 2 years NI for the purpose of working out WPA eligibility?

There is a section on the BB1 (bereavement benefit) form which explicitly asks for the NI contribution for the last 2 years.

NYM

This is from CAB - Widowed Parent's Allowance

Widowed Parent’s Allowance, Bereavement Allowance and national insurance contributions

The first contribution condition for Widowed Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Allowance is that your husband, wife or civil partner must have actually paid enough Class 1, 2 or 3 contributions in any one tax year before they died. You do not have to satisfy this condition if they were getting long-term Incapacity Benefit or Employment and Support Allowance in the year they died.

The second contribution condition is that your late husband, wife or civil partner must either have paid or been credited with contributions for most of their working life - this is most of the years between 16 and their death.

If your husband, wife or civil partner did not have contributions or credits for the right number of years, you can get a reduced rate of Widowed Parent’s Allowance or Bereavement Allowance, as long as they had contributions or credits for at least 25 per cent of the necessary years.

For more information about Widowed Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Allowance, see Benefits and bereavement.

If you are not sure whether you meet the contribution conditions for Widowed Parent’s Allowance or Bereavement Allowance, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.

londonTiger

NYM wrote: »

This is from CAB - Widowed Parent's Allowance

Widowed Parent’s Allowance, Bereavement Allowance and national insurance contributions

The first contribution condition for Widowed Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Allowance is that your husband, wife or civil partner must have actually paid enough Class 1, 2 or 3 contributions in any one tax year before they died. You do not have to satisfy this condition if they were getting long-term Incapacity Benefit or Employment and Support Allowance in the year they died.

The second contribution condition is that your late husband, wife or civil partner must either have paid or been credited with contributions for most of their working life - this is most of the years between 16 and their death.

If your husband, wife or civil partner did not have contributions or credits for the right number of years, you can get a reduced rate of Widowed Parent’s Allowance or Bereavement Allowance, as long as they had contributions or credits for at least 25 per cent of the necessary years.

For more information about Widowed Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Allowance, see Benefits and bereavement.

If you are not sure whether you meet the contribution conditions for Widowed Parent’s Allowance or Bereavement Allowance, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.

Thanks for that, The CAB website is very helpful, I could not get this detailed info from the gov website and all the other places have the same copy-pasted information from gov uk website. buit this article is excellent

NYM

londonTiger wrote: »

Thanks for that, The CAB website is very helpful, I could not get this detailed info from the gov website and all the other places have the same copy-pasted information from gov uk website. buit this article is excellent

I hope it helps x