Bereavement Support Payment

Eligibility

Bereavement Support Payment is not means-tested. This means what you earn or how much you have in savings will not affect what you get.

You or your partner don't need to be getting benefits to apply.

You may qualify for Bereavement Support Payment if you and your partner were either:

• married or in a registered civil partnership

or

• living together as if you were married, at the time of your partner’s death. When your partner died, you must have been one of the following:
  • getting Child Benefit
  • you were told by the Child Benefit Office that you were entitled to Child Benefit for a child that lived with you, even if you chose not to get it
  • Pregnant

and 

• your partner died on or after 6 April 2017
• you were under State Pension age when your partner died
• you were resident in the UK at the time of the death or live in a country where the UK has a relevant European Union or reciprocal agreement
• your partner had paid a minimum of 25 Class 1 or Class 2 National Insurance contributions in any single tax year during their working life - exceptions to this may apply: if your partner died as a result of an industrial accident or prescribed disease or was unable to work their entire working life due to a disability

You cannot claim Bereavement Support Payment if you’re in prison.

Payments

The amount of Bereavement Support Payment you can get will depend on your relationship to the person who died, when you reach State Pension age and when you make your claim.

There are two rates of Bereavement Support Payment – ‘standard rate’ and ‘higher rate’. Payments may include an increased initial payment, followed by up to 18 smaller monthly payments.

Standard rate

If you were married or in a civil partnership but not pregnant or have no dependent children, you may be entitled to the standard rate:

This is made up of

• an initial payment of £2,500
•  up to 18 monthly payments of £100

You must claim within 12 months of your partner’s death to get the initial payment. If you claim after this time, you will only get monthly payments.

Higher rate

You’ll get the higher rate if one of the following applied when your partner died:

• you were getting Child Benefit
• you were told by the Child Benefit Office that you were entitled to Child Benefit for a child that lived with you, even if you chose not to get it
• you were pregnant

This is made up of:

• an initial payment of £3,500
• up to 18 monthly payments of £350

You must claim within 12 months of your partner’s death to get the initial payment. If you claim after this time, you will only get monthly payments.

If you do not get Child Benefit or it was in your late partners name, you will need to make a new claim to Child Benefit.

Claiming the full entitlement

You are only entitled to the increased initial payment if your claim is made within 12 months of the death. To be eligible for up to 18 monthly payments, your claim must be made within three months of the death.

You can claim up to 21 months after the death but your payments will be less.

Bereavement Support Payment eligibility and payments stop when you reach State Pension age regardless of whether you choose to delay your State Pension.  

Bereavement Support Payment will be paid directly into an account of your choice on a monthly basis.

Effect on other benefits

Bereavement Support Payments will not affect other benefits you receive, however, in some circumstances they may be treated as savings when applying for other benefits. 

If your partner died before 6 April 2017, you may be able to get Widowed Parents Allowance instead.

How to claim

You can apply for Bereavement Support Payment online, by telephone or by post.

To apply, you'll need:

• your National Insurance number
• your bank or building society account details
• the date your spouse or civil partner died
• your partner’s National Insurance number (this can be found on their National Insurance card, benefit letter, payslip or P60)

If you use sign language, you might be able to use the video relay service to claim Bereavement Support Payments using British Sign Language (BSL) or Irish Sign Language (ISL). To access the service, go to:

• Bereavement Service

SMS messages

When claiming Bereavement Support Payment you may receive text messages (SMS) from the Department for Communities (DfC). They will always be clearly marked as DfC and will never ask you to give, or click a link to give, personal information or financial details by message or email.

If you’re concerned or unsure about any text messages (SMS) you receive from about Bereavement Support Payment you should contact Bereavement Support Payment directly.

If you suspect you have received a fraudulent message as a scam, contact Bereavement Support Payment immediately.

• Further information is available at: scamwiseni

More useful links

• Who to tell about a death
• Check your State Pension age
• Bereavement
• Arranging a funeral
• Financial help for lone parents
• Widowed Parent's Allowance