Bereavement Support Payment

Bereavement Support Payment eligibility has changed, and you may also be eligible to a backdated claim. See the section entitled Changes to Bereavement Support Payment.

Eligibility

You will 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
  • eligible for Child Benefit
  • 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 or your partner don't need to be getting benefits to apply.

Payments

The amount of Bereavement Support Payment you can get will depend on your relationship to the person who died 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 first 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 eligible for Child Benefit
• 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.

All payments are tax free. Re-marrying or re-partnering will not affect your payments. 

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. 

Changes to Bereavement Support Payment

Eligibility changes to Bereavement Support Payment are effective from 30 August 2018 and came into effect on 09 February 2023.

You may now be eligible to a backdated claim of Bereavement Support Payment at the higher rate if you meet the following criteria:

• if you and your partner were living together as if you were married at the time of your partner’s death on or after 06 April 2017
• when your partner died, you must have been one of the following:
  • getting Child Benefit
  • eligible for Child Benefit
  • pregnant

• 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

If your partner died before 30 August 2018

You will not get a first payment and may get up to 18 monthly payments of £350. You must make your claim before 9 February 2024 to get any monthly payments.

If your partner died on or after 30 August 2018, but before 9 February 2023

You may get a first payment of £3,500 and up to 18 monthly payments of £350. You must make your claim before 9 February 2024 to get the full amount.

If your partner died on or after 9 February 2023

You may get a first payment of £3,500 and up to 18 monthly payments of £350. To get the first payment of £3,500, you must claim within 12 months of your partner’s death. To get all of the monthly payments, you must claim within 3 months of your partner’s death.

If your partner died before 6 April 2017

You may be able to get Widowed Parents Allowance instead.

If you want to find out any more information, contact the Bereavement Service.

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