Widowed parent Bereavement payment

Pascal2022

My wife died in 2019 leaving me a single parent to our 11 year old daughter at the time. I received the one off Bereavement payment of £9800. After speaking to a colleague whose wife had passed away in 2017 I discovered he was receiving a weekly benefit of around £120  ( now £126) for his teenager daughter which he would receive till his child left education up to the age of 18. When I worked it out for my child it came to over £30000 difference if she also stayed in education till she was 18. When I questioned this with the DWP I was told “that’s what we do now” with no explanation of where that money has gone to. It seems unfair to me how they changed the rules so any widowed parent would receive far less than they should based on the year their partner died. Any advice for anything else I should have received would be appreciated.

Caz3121

There is nothing that can be done, benefits change over time. (as Governments work out what they can afford)
Similar to those that may have savings that would previously have been entitled to claim tax credits if their child had been born before they stopped new claims for tax credits and are not entitled to Universal Credit because of those savings.

https://www.gov.uk/widowed-parents-allowance
You can only make a new claim for WPA if your partner died before 6 April 2017.

calcotti

And current Bereavement Support Payment pays £9800 as a maximum but paid over 18 months (not sure what you got as a one off payment).

sheramber

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

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

Bereavement support payments took over from WPA but that was paid a lump sum and 18 monthly payments but it has never been anything like £9800.

Are you sure the £9800 wasn't a pension lump sum?

calcotti

sheramber said:

Bereavement support payments took over from WPA but that was paid a lump sum and 18 monthly payments but it has never been anything like £

The total amount for someone with a child comes to £9,800 over 18 months (£3,500 and £350 x 18).

Pascal2022

Yes I received £9800 Bereavement payment over 18 months, but if my wife had died 2 years earlier, I would have received an initial payment of around £3000 if I remember correctly, then the WPA of £120 a week till she left education. So basically 7 years x £120 PW (approx £43500). So the difference between the £9800 Bereavement payment and the WPA older system is staggering.

Pascal2022

So after 18 months you get nothing.

calcotti

Pascal2022 said:

Yes I received £9800 Bereavement payment over 18 months, but if my wife had died 2 years earlier, I would have received an initial payment of around £3000 if I remember correctly, then the WPA of £120 a week till she left education. So basically 7 years x £120 PW (approx £43500). So the difference between the £9800 Bereavement payment and the WPA older system is staggering.

Pascal2022 said:

So after 18 months you get nothing.

Yes, that's how it works now and was a big change with deliberate policy intent.

(Useful that although the opening post refers to a one off payment of £9800 you have now clarified that you meant £9800 over 18 months - I couldn't understand where the one off payment figure came from.)

One thing that I think is unreasonable is that while most benefits are about to increase by 10.1% BSP has not been increased since its introduction in 2017 and has therefore decreased significantly in real terms value.

One significant difference for those on a low income and claiming income based benefits is that BSP payments are ignored whereas previous bereavement benefits were included as income and therefore reduced other income based benefits,

The background to the introduction of BSP is referred to here
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/410/pdfs/uksiem_20170410_en.pdf

What is being done and why

7.1 ....This reform is part of the wider welfare reform agenda to provide a more effective and supportive system that meets the needs of all in the future without encouraging long term benefit dependency.

7.2  Bereavement Support Payment entails a shift in the focus of bereavement benefits, to a short term source of support providing help with the more immediate costs caused by the death of a spouse or civil partner. It is not intended as an income replacement benefit.

The existing benefits

.....

7.9  .. the ongoing nature of payments under Widowed Parent’s Allowance, which can continue for up to 20 years in extreme cases, without any encouragement to maintain contact with the labour market, risks creating welfare dependency.

7.10  A further criticism is that because entitlement ceases if the claimant remarries this can provide an artificial disincentive to those who wish to form new relationships after bereavement.

Reforming the bereavement benefits system

7.11  The objectives for reforming the bereavement benefit system as set out in the consultation prior to the passage of the Act were to simplify the payment and contribution conditions, to make the system more accessible, and for the system to be fair and promote self-dependency.

..

7.13  Unlike the current bereavement benefits a claimant can get Bereavement Support Payment at the same time as other benefits. Payments will also not be counted as benefit income when calculating the maximum amount of other benefits a person can be paid. Payments will not cease if the claimant remarries or forms a new civil partnership.

7.14  The amount of the new benefit received will not be means tested and the payments will not be taxable. This is on the grounds that it is designed to support people with the additional costs of bereavement, rather than to support everyday living costs.

7.15  A claimant will only stop receiving Bereavement Support Payment if they die, reach state pension age or are convicted of a criminal offence and sent to prison.

Duration of Bereavement Support Payment

7.16  To mitigate long term benefit dependency, Bereavement Support Payment will be payable for a maximum of 19 months (consisting of a single initial larger payment with up to 18 subsequent smaller monthly payments) from the date of death.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Not really of any consolation for the op but there seems to be an avenue for more people to make new claims to the old Widowed Parents Allowance at the moment.

https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/news/bereavement-benefits-parents-extended-cohabitees

Pascal2022

Thanks, that’s the first time I’ve seen any sort of explanation regarding the change. I’ve heard unmarried widowed parents can now claim this Bereavement benefit or the WPA if there partner died before 2017, which is a positive change of policy.

sheramber

Pascal2022 said:

Yes I received £9800 Bereavement payment over 18 months, but if my wife had died 2 years earlier, I would have received an initial payment of around £3000 if I remember correctly, then the WPA of £120 a week till she left education. So basically 7 years x £120 PW (approx £43500). So the difference between the £9800 Bereavement payment and the WPA older system is staggering.

I worked on the statement meaning a lump sum, not payments over time.

I received the one off Bereavement payment of £9800.