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Bereavement Payment

If your husband, wife or civil partner has died you may be able to get Bereavement Payment, a one-off, lump-sum payment of £2,000 that's tax-free.

Who can claim?

You may be able to claim Bereavement Payment if your husband, wife or civil partner had paid their National Insurance contributions (NICs) or their death was caused by their job and either:

  • you were under State Pension age when they died
  • your husband, wife or civil partner was not entitled to Category A state Retirement Benefit when they die
  • Changes to the State Pension age  (pensions and retirement planning section)

National Insurance contributions and Bereavement Payment

When you fill in the claim form you'll be asked to give your late husband, wife or civil partner's National Insurance number and details of their recent employment history.

This will allow the Bereavement Benefit section that deals with your claim to look into their National Insurance record and to work out if you qualify for Bereavement Payment.

Who can’t claim?

You can't get Bereavement Payment if any of the following apply:

  • you were divorced from your late husband or wife or the civil partnership had dissolved at the time of the civil partner's death
  • you're living with another person as husband, wife or civil partner
  • you're in prison

Bereavement Service

Call the Social Security Agency’s Bereavement Service, free of charge, if the person who has passed away was getting a social security benefit such as State Retirement Pension, Attendance Allowance, Employment Support Allowance or Disability Living Allowance. The Bereavement Service offers a single point of contact for reporting a death to the Social Security Agency and also offers access to other benefits that you may be entitled to.  

The Bereavement Service can be easily accessed by calling the freephone number below:

  • phone: 0800 085 2463

How much do you get?

The £2,000 payment is a one-off tax-free lump sum.

How it's paid

Direct Payment into an account is the Social Security Agency’s normal way of paying pensions and benefits. It is a safe, convenient and efficient method of payment.

Effect on other benefits

The one-off Bereavement Payment does not generally affect your entitlement to other benefits. But your savings and Bereavement Payment may reduce the amount of means-tested benefits you get like:

How to claim

You can order a Bereavement Benefits pack (form BB1) over the telephone from the Bereavement Benefits section. The pack has help notes on how to complete the claim form.

Download a claim form to print off and fill in

Or you can download claim form BB1:

Once you've completed the form, send it to the Bereavement Benefit section or your nearest Social Security Office, as soon as possible.

Claims can only be backdated three months for Bereavement Allowance and Widowed Parent's Allowance and are dated when the office gets them, so if you delay you may lose benefit. The time limit for claiming Bereavement Payment has been extended to 12 months.

What else you need to know

You’ll need to prove your identity when making a claim. You’ll also have to answer questions about your circumstances and show official documents to support the information.

More useful links

Do it online