Skip over main navigation
  • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
  • Pages
Child Bereavement UK
Call our Helpline 0800 02 888 40 Donate
Menu
  • Support & guidance
    • Find support
      • How we can support you
      • Helpline
      • Other support organisations near you
      • Bereavement support resources in other languages
      • ‎Participate in research
      • What are bereavement and grief?
      • For adults bereaved as children
      • Changes in bereavement support payments
    • Support for young people
      • Supporting bereaved children
      • Support for bereaved young people
      • Telling a child that someone has died
      • When someone is not expected to live
      • Sudden death - including accidents, suicide and homicide
      • When your partner dies - supporting your children
      • Activities for grieving children and young people
    • Death of a baby or child
      • When your baby dies
      • Grieving for a child of any age
      • Sudden death; including accidents, suicide and homicide
      • Supporting grieving adults
      • When your child is not expected to live
      • Wellbeing for bereaved parents
    • Films, books and resources
      • Short guidance films
      • Short animated films
      • Films about families' experiences
      • Young people's films
      • Books and resources
      • Information and guidance by topic
  • Resources for professionals
    • Resources and guidance
      • Films, books and resources
      • Schools / further education
      • Faiths, cultures and beliefs
      • Health and social care
      • Employers
    • Working with bereaved families
      • Supporting bereaved families
      • Supporting yourself and your colleagues
      • Supporting families pre-bereavement
      • Consultancy and supervision
  • Training
    • What we offer
      • Child Bereavement UK training
      • Bespoke training / workplace training
      • Consultancy and supervision
    • Bookings
      • Book training
      • Frequently asked questions
    • Testimonies
      • Professional case studies
  • Get involved
    • Ways to give
      • Make a donation
      • Leave a gift in your Will
      • Make a donation in memory
      • Payroll giving
      • Philanthropy and major gifts
    • Fundraise for us
      • Take on a challenge
      • Fundraising campaigns and activities
      • Organise your own fundraiser
      • Hear from our fundraisers
    • Volunteer with us
      • Volunteer roles
      • Volunteer at a festival
    • Other ways to support our work
      • Attend an event
      • Charitable Trusts
      • Become a corporate partner
      • JLS Prize Draw
  • About us
    • About our work
      • About Child Bereavement UK
      • Our impact
      • Our people and patrons
      • UK death and bereavement statistics
    • News and stories
      • Case studies
      • Blogs
      • Press releases
      • Newsletters
    • Films
      • Short guidance films
      • Short animated films
      • Bereaved families' experiences
      • Young people's films
    • Get in touch / work with us
      • Contact us
      • Vacancies
      • Volunteer with us
  • Shop
  • Admin
    • Log in
    • Pages
  • Basket: (0 items)
  • Changes in bereavement support payments

Changes in bereavement support payments

The Government has extended eligibility to higher rate Bereavement Support Payment to parents and carers under State Pension age whose cohabiting partner dies leaving them bringing up dependent children. Formerly, these benefits were only paid to surviving parents who were married to or in a civil partnership with their partner.

This change is being backdated to 30 August 2018, when the Supreme Court ruled that denying these benefits to cohabiting families was unlawful. 21,000 families, some bereaved as long ago as 2001, could be eligible for backdated payments of Bereavement Support Payment (currently worth £9,800) or its predecessor, Widowed Parent’s Allowance.

The amounts you will be entitled to vary by when you were bereaved and other circumstances. You will have a 12-month window to put in a retrospective claim and get the full amount you are entitled to. If in doubt about the implications of retrospective payments on your wider tax, tax credits and benefits position, you should get benefits advice before putting in a claim.

For more information and to find out if you’re eligible and how to make a claim, visit the Childhood Bereavement Network website.

Published: 9th February, 2023

Updated: 7th August, 2023

Author: Jenny Anglissq

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Latest

  • Bereavement Support Practitioner | Full-time | Cheshire

    Are you passionate about supporting bereaved children, young people and families, and the professionals who work with them?

  • Help us be there for bereaved families, parents and children

    Help us be there for bereaved families, parents and children

    Since 2014, the generosity of Let’s Rock the 80s festival goers, staff and volunteers has been outstanding, and with your support UK Live have so far raised £980,00 for Child Bereavement UK.

  • JLS Prize Draw

    JLS Prize Draw

  • Understanding traumatic bereavement in children and young people

    Interactive training - various dates

Most read

  • Telling a child that someone has died

    It is important to tell a child of any age when someone important in their lives has died, and ideally this is done by someone who is closest to them.

  • Supporting bereaved children and young people

    Children and young people grieve just as much as adults but they show it in different ways. Find out how you can help them and more about child grieving.

  • Grieving for a child of any age

    The agony of losing a child of any age is unparalleled. There is no age or point in time that makes it any easier. No parent expects to face the death of their child and no grandparent expects to lose their grandchild.

  • When a grandparent dies

    When a grandparent dies

    The death of a grandparent is often a child or young person’s first encounter with the death of someone important. Parents have a great deal to manage when their own parent or carer dies. There is the grief associated with their own loss, but also the reactions and responses of their children to the death of a grandparent.

  • Children's understanding of death at different ages

    Guidance on children's understanding of death at different ages and stages of development.

  • Child Bereavement UK training

    Child Bereavement UK designs and delivers training for professionals in health and social care, education, the emergency services and the voluntary and corporate sectors, equipping them to provide the best possible care to bereaved families.

  • Children's understanding of death at different ages

    Babies and young children have no understanding of the concept of death yet, long before they are able to talk, babies are likely to react to upset and changes in their environment brought about by the absence of a significant person.

  • Contact us

    Contact us

    Contact details for our Helpline, departments and services.

  • When your baby dies

    When your baby dies

    When a baby lives only a short time or dies before birth due to miscarriage, stillbirth or a painful decision to end the pregnancy, people may assume that the loss is not important. This is simply not the case.

  • UK death & bereavement statistics

    UK death & bereavement statistics

    A parent of children under 18 dies every 22 minutes in the UK; around 23,600 a year. This equates to around 111 children being bereaved of a parent every day.

Tag cloud

Child Bereavement UK Death of a baby Death of a parent Explaining death to children films Glasgow Information Sheet 2020 Nursery teacher parenting a bereaved child returning to school short film short guidance films Stillbirth Watford Young People's Advisory Group YPAG
Short guidance films

Short guidance films

Short films delivered by our support practitioners giving guidance on a range of bereavement topics. Read more

Published: 25th March, 2019

Updated: 26th June, 2023

Author: Robin Ngai

Books and resources

Books and resources

A list of books and resources relating to grief and bereavement and what may help. Read more

Published: 21st October, 2021

Updated: 30th November, 2021

Author: Harriet Hieatt-Smith

Others' experiences

Others' experiences

Watch short films and read experiences of bereaved families and how support has helped them. Read more

Published: 30th November, 2021

Updated: 26th June, 2023

Author: Emma Van Allan

Connect with us

Sign up to our newsletter and connect with us on social media to keep up to date with our latest news, activities and services. We'll never sell or swap your details with anybody else. You are free to change your mind at anytime.

Sign up to our newsletter
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Contact us
  • Work with us
  • Sitemap
  • Policies, Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility

Registered in England and Wales: 1040419 and Scotland: SCO42910

Copyright 2023 Child Bereavement UK

Manage Cookie Preferences