Have you accessed "bereavement benefits"?

missbiggles1

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Except you are treated as a married couples when you want to claim benefits such as income support, JSA etc. I.e. My partner couldn't claim pension credit, income support etc because we lived together and my income was sufficient, (which is morally correct), but then when it came to me trying to claim widows bereavement allowance etc (we were together 30 years) I'm not entitled. Either you are treated as a married couple or you're not, they shouldn't be able to apply the rules both ways.

I was aware of the rules before his death, however there were reasons we didn't marry. He didn't believe it would stop me claiming since he knew that he hadn't been able to claim since we were treated as married. At least though we did have a time to be able to marry, although we chose not to, not everyone even gets that time to choose, sudden death, illness or accident can happen to anyone anytime.

No you aren't. Means tested benefits are based on household income, nothing to do with being married or not. People make choices, as you did, and those choices have consequences.

Anyway, enough off topic.

tmcg80

Thank you my condolences to you too,
Why should we have to marry?? We had a great life without it and probably lasted longer than most marriages do these days!! I didn't know anything about these benefits until my father died dec 2014 and my mother (whom was married to him) for 25 years and she knew nothing about it either until she was told by a friend but she had a terrible time getting the benefit because she worked 15 hours and didnt have any benefits and they told her she wasnt eligible for anything the stress she went through for help was ridiculous, Eventually she got it but what she had to go through wasn't nice especially at that time.
Anyways the people that helped me through it from the jobcentre said it was ridiculous too as we are claiming as a couple so should be treated as a couple. Double standards if you ask me....

Mojisola

sjohnston1979 wrote: »

My mother is 66 and receives no benefits other that her state pension.

If her pension is less than £151.20 a week, she can claim Pension Credit.

Peggysue212

Before my husband ( I was his unpaid career, a job I was honoured to do) died last year he was receiving pension credit, with me added as a dependant. Because of I received a small pension, (passed onto me via his pension) which topped up the Widows benefit, I could not claim any other benefit (i.e. Income support), and I could not claim Funeral Allowance. If I'd died, however, because he was on a pension credit, he would have been eligible for the funeral payment. Being married and a complete dependant, still does not count in government circles. I have been further stitched up, because, although I am now 60 and should have been receiving my own pension, the change of rules mean I can't receive my state pension until I'm 66. One year on, and at the age of 60, I now have to "sign on" and find work!! My £200 a month of passed over pension will be taken into account for any future income support claims.!!

Kazad

I do sympathise also and your story is so sad. I couldn't help but reply as I am shocked about this. First of all I'm so sorry to hear about your partner and with the 2 young kids it must have been terrible for you. This country is so wrong how they deal with benefits etc. Yes the bereavement payment/allowance is great but why do you need to be married to get any help with this? If you had separated at any time over them years then you would be entitled to half of everything so why not in this instance? You have been with your partner a long time and like you say longer than some marriages in this day and age so you should be entitled to the same benefits, the fact that your 15 year old daughter had to go down as next of kin is shocking, again just because you weren't married.!!! There is definitely something wrong there!!! The law needs to be changed for situations like this one.
Sorry again to hear of your loss x

mel54

I am 61 years of age and my husband who was 71 passed away in July 2015, and my household income therefore fell by nearly 50% overnight, as I was was his full time carer for the past 5 years. I am in the group of women whose pension age has been changed twice, the last time with hardly any notice at all, and will not not receive it until July 2020. When my husband died I found that as I was under state pension age and financial support as his widow was denied to me until 2020. I also found that widow's benefit was stopped several years ago, so I was now only entitled to the new Bereavement benefit. I was never told about this, but via a chance conversation with a complete stranger I found this out and have since successfully claimed ; I feel that there should be more information about this for people who are going through bereavement and who are rightly very worried about their drastically reduced financial situation. The actual claim procedure I found to be easy and straightforward, and my first payment came through quickly a month in arrears after being processed. However this benefit is only payable for 52 weeks, so for me it will stop in July 2016, and as I am unable to claim my state pension until July 2020, I have 4 very bleak years financially to look forward to. I have health issues myself, but I may be forced to find a job to increase my income - this is not how I'd planned to spend my 60s!

mumps

tmcg80 wrote: »

Thank you my condolences to you too,
Why should we have to marry?? We had a great life without it and probably lasted longer than most marriages do these days!! I didn't know anything about these benefits until my father died dec 2014 and my mother (whom was married to him) for 25 years and she knew nothing about it either until she was told by a friend but she had a terrible time getting the benefit because she worked 15 hours and didnt have any benefits and they told her she wasnt eligible for anything the stress she went through for help was ridiculous, Eventually she got it but what she had to go through wasn't nice especially at that time.
Anyways the people that helped me through it from the jobcentre said it was ridiculous too as we are claiming as a couple so should be treated as a couple. Double standards if you ask me....

You don't have to marry, that is your choice, but if you choose not to marry then you aren't entitled to the benefits for married people. I know that must seem hard but just think of how difficult it would be to sort these things out. You suggest that people who have been together for ten years are treated as married but how do you prove that? My daughter is in a house share with an old friend, he isn't her partner but if they continue to share could their shared residence give her the right to claim married benefits? What if you are a couple but your otherhalf is working away, maybe even in another country, how do you prove you are "together" when for practical purposes it looks like you haven't lived together? What if people have been together for 9 years 11 months, is there relationship worthless but the extra month would have made it something else?

Some things are just too complicated in the real world.

mumps

mel54 wrote: »

I am 61 years of age and my husband who was 71 passed away in July 2015, and my household income therefore fell by nearly 50% overnight, as I was was his full time carer for the past 5 years. I am in the group of women whose pension age has been changed twice, the last time with hardly any notice at all, and will not not receive it until July 2020. When my husband died I found that as I was under state pension age and financial support as his widow was denied to me until 2020. I also found that widow's benefit was stopped several years ago, so I was now only entitled to the new Bereavement benefit. I was never told about this, but via a chance conversation with a complete stranger I found this out and have since successfully claimed ; I feel that there should be more information about this for people who are going through bereavement and who are rightly very worried about their drastically reduced financial situation. The actual claim procedure I found to be easy and straightforward, and my first payment came through quickly a month in arrears after being processed. However this benefit is only payable for 52 weeks, so for me it will stop in July 2016, and as I am unable to claim my state pension until July 2020, I have 4 very bleak years financially to look forward to. I have health issues myself, but I may be forced to find a job to increase my income - this is not how I'd planned to spend my 60s!

I think more information is necessary and also advice for people to plan for the future, none of us know what the future holds and we need make plans. When my children were young I took out an insurance policy to ensure my husband would be able to have paid help to replace some of things I did and it gave me some peace of mind. This sort of planning has a cost but is worth it.

I am also caught with the pension changes so I sympathise, we had little time to adjust to the second change.

jhgkp

Just feel very sad when after my first husband died 10 years ago. We were married nearly 11 years and for the previous 5 years before his death I had to give up work full time to look after him 24/7 (he was 42 when he died and I was only 33). I only got out once a week to buy the shopping and his mum "babysat" him for me. We had no help from anyone else. We lived on his disability benefits and my carers allowance. So when I went to the welfare rights to see what benefit or what happens to me after he died, I got told the news I was not a widow and I would be classed as a young single female and would be only entitled to job seekers allowance (but probably not get it as I had not worked in so long) or incapacity - it was this one I got as my GP was concerned about me getting a job after being out of the market so long and recently lost my husband. I did after 6 months of him dying got a full time job.

phoebeee

I'm 23, and my partner was killed in an accident last August. We had lived together for 3 years but were not yet married. I'm stuck in a tenancy which with both of our incomes was manageable, but I'm now spending pretty much everything I earn on day to day living costs. I also contributed to funeral costs, so the savings I had are fast disappearing. I know these circumstances are fairly exceptional, but it seems wrong to me that there is nothing available to help if you are young and unmarried. I assume the expectation is that younger people will have other family members to support them - my parents are unable to help me much financially. I know money doesn't fix these problems but it would certainly help getting through the days.