Have children and have lost your unmarried, co-habiting partner? You may now be eligible to claim

Princetongirl

igre said:

Hi, applied for Widowed Parent's Allowance but was rejected... Reason - 
This is because your Child Benefit entitlement ended before 30th August 2018.

I thought this was for the period from the date of death until end of child benefit, not that child benefit still needed to be being paid in 2018 ???
Situation...
Partner died in 2002. Was in receipt of child benefit until 2014. Was and still am below state pension age. Seem to fulfil the criteria so don't understand why the claim was rejected with the above reasoning... Any ideas ? Thanks

I am in a similar position. I am looking to apply for a backdated claim on my Mum’s behalf as my Dad passed away in 2008 and Mum was in receipt of and entitled to child benefit up until around 2011. As of today she is still under state pension age and has not remarried, however she was not entitled to receive child benefit payments as at 31 August 2018. I’m wondering if anyone knows any more on this? Is it still worth going ahead with the claim? Thanks 

kaMelo

The date of change in legislation is August 2018. To receive any payments prior to August 2018 the parents needed to be married or in a civil partnership. 
If an unmarried parent died prior to this date then a backdated claim can be made but payments will only be backdated to the date of legislation change, August 2018. If the surviving parent was ineligible on this date then no payment will be made.

That's how I read the legislation anyway but I'm more than happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

sheramber

kaMelo said:

The date of change in legislation is August 2018. To receive any payments prior to August 2018 the parents needed to be married or in a civil partnership. 
If an unmarried parent died prior to this date then a backdated claim can be made but payments will only be backdated to the date of legislation change, August 2018. If the surviving parent was ineligible on this date then no payment will be made.

That's how I read the legislation anyway but I'm more than happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

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

You can only make a new claim for WPA if your partner died before 6 April 2017.

All the following must also apply:

• you’re under State Pension age
• you’re entitled to Child Benefit for at least one child
• you and your partner were married, in a registered civil partnership, or living together as though you were married
• your partner paid National Insurance contributions, or they died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work

sheramber

It appears you have been assessed for Bereavement Support , which does have the restriction

If you were living together as though you were married with the person who died

You may be able to get Bereavement Support Payment if your partner died on or after 6 April 2017.

You must have been:

• under State Pension age when your partner died
• under State Pension age on 30 August 2018

When your partner died, you must have been either:

• getting or entitled to Child Benefit
• pregnant

Did you claim Widowed Parents Allowance as opposed to Bereavement Support?

If you did I suggest you contact them again.

igre

Partner died in 2002, so Widowers applies rather than Bereavement - that is what I applied for
Getting child benefit at the time of death, so reads like I should get it from then to the end of child benefit in 2014
The response letter was entitled Widowed Parent's Allowance...
I will try again - thanks for the responses...

Princetongirl

igre said:

Partner died in 2002, so Widowers applies rather than Bereavement - that is what I applied for
Getting child benefit at the time of death, so reads like I should get it from then to the end of child benefit in 2014
The response letter was entitled Widowed Parent's Allowance...
I will try again - thanks for the responses...

I agree, that is how it reads to me too. Please do let us know how you get on.

Goldiemum

I've applied for backdated WPA, I'm expecting the claim to  get rejected as I haven't got a clue what my late partner paid in NI, he was self employed. I just wondered if anyone knew what the timescale is for processing claims? I keep thinking no news is good news but don't want to get my hopes up. 

Goldiemum

I opened up my bank account today and my backdated claim has been paid. Paperwork then arrived in post. Thank you Martin and team, I would have never even known about this if I hadn't got the emails. 

WhitehavenLass

Princetongirl said:

igre said:

Hi, applied for Widowed Parent's Allowance but was rejected... Reason - 
This is because your Child Benefit entitlement ended before 30th August 2018.

I thought this was for the period from the date of death until end of child benefit, not that child benefit still needed to be being paid in 2018 ???
Situation...
Partner died in 2002. Was in receipt of child benefit until 2014. Was and still am below state pension age. Seem to fulfil the criteria so don't understand why the claim was rejected with the above reasoning... Any ideas ? Thanks

I am in a similar position. I am looking to apply for a backdated claim on my Mum’s behalf as my Dad passed away in 2008 and Mum was in receipt of and entitled to child benefit up until around 2011. As of today she is still under state pension age and has not remarried, however she was not entitled to receive child benefit payments as at 31 August 2018. I’m wondering if anyone knows any more on this? Is it still worth going ahead with the claim? Thanks 

I'm in a similar situation to both. I applied for Widowed Parent's Allowance on behalf of my Mam as my Dad died in 2007 and Mam was in receipt of and entitled to Child Benefit until circa 2013. 

She is under state pension age (59) and has never remarried however our claim has been rejected because 'Child Benefit entitlement ended before 30 August 2018'.

I did also look into if she could get Bereavement Support but received this message 'You cannot apply for Bereavement Support Payment if your partner died before 6 April 2017.'.

Where do I go from here? Any advice would be much appreciated as I am at a loss. 

Thank you in advance

sheramber

Looking att he Government statement that ruling is correct.

The requirement to be claim is to have been eligible at 6 April 2018, not at the date of death.

To qualify, claimants must have met the eligibility criteria for either Bereavement Support Payment or Widowed Parent’s Allowance on or after 30 August 2018.

This means those who lost their partner before 6 April 2017 might be able to receive the legacy benefit Widowed Parent’s Allowance, should they be found to have been eligible for this on 30 August 2018.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bereavement-benefits-extended-to-unmarried-cohabiting-parents