Bereavement Allowance
Bereavement allowance is a weekly taxable benefit payable for up to one year from the date of your husband’s, wife’s or civil partner’s death.
Bereavement allowance cannot be claimed if you were divorced from the deceased at the time of their death (or your civil partnership was dissolved), are living with another person as if you are married (or in a civil partnership) or you are currently in prison.
If you were over the state pension age when your husband, wife or civil partner died then you may qualify for extra state pension. This is based on the deceased’s NI contributions.
If you have been widowed below the state pension age and have a dependent child, you can claim Widowed Parent's Allowance. Widowed Parent's Allowance and Bereavement Allowance cannot be paid at the same time.
Note that if you start living with someone as if you are both married or decide to marry then you will no longer be able to claim Bereavement Allowance and you will need to notify DWP about your change of circumstances.
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Qualifying for Bereavement Allowance
The allowance can only be claimed if all the following apply:- You were at least 45 years of age when your husband, wife or civil partner died
- You are under the state pension age
- You are not bringing up children
- Your husband, wife or civil partner paid NI contributions or died as a result of an industrial accident or disease
Bereavement allowance cannot be claimed if you were divorced from the deceased at the time of their death (or your civil partnership was dissolved), are living with another person as if you are married (or in a civil partnership) or you are currently in prison.
If you were over the state pension age when your husband, wife or civil partner died then you may qualify for extra state pension. This is based on the deceased’s NI contributions.
If you have been widowed below the state pension age and have a dependent child, you can claim Widowed Parent's Allowance. Widowed Parent's Allowance and Bereavement Allowance cannot be paid at the same time.
Completing a Bereavement Allowance claim
The bereavement payment claim form BB1 (available from the DWP website) requires you to supply the deceased’s national insurance number together with details of their recent employment history. These details will go towards helping calculate the amount of Bereavement Payment that’s payable (if applicable).Note that if you start living with someone as if you are both married or decide to marry then you will no longer be able to claim Bereavement Allowance and you will need to notify DWP about your change of circumstances.
The Bereavement Payment
The Bereaved Payment is a one-off, tax free lump sum of £2,000 that you could be entitled to.Qualifying for a bereavement payment
You may be entitled to claim Bereavement Payment if the deceased had paid NI contributions or if their death was caused by their job. Other rules of qualification are:- That you were under the state pension age when they died
- The deceased was not entitled to Category A state Retirement Benefit when they died