Bereavement support payments
Urgently check if you're due £10,000s – many who weren't now are
If your partner dies before you reach state pension age, you may be due bereavement support payments. While this help was previously only available if you were married or in a civil partnership, a recent law change means co-habiting parents are newly eligible and can get backdated payments worth £10,000s. But you only have until 8 February 2024 to claim, so check NOW.
Important: Bereavement benefits are ONLY available if you were UNDER state pension age when your partner died. If you weren't, this guide isn't for you, but you may be eligible for other types of financial support – see our 10-minute benefits check guide for more.
Bereavement support changes mean many more people can now get help

Losing a loved one is a devastating blow emotionally, and it can also be an incredibly difficult time financially. Bereavement benefits are cash payments that are designed to help reduce the financial impact of losing a partner. They are available UK wide.
- A recent law change means 10,000s are newly eligible for help. Until recently, bereavement payments were only available if you were were married or in a civil partnership. However, a landmark law change in February 2023 means that cohabiting parents who are bereaved are also now eligible for help. And, for a limited time, this can be claimed for bereavements dating back to 2001 – but you need to apply by 8 February 2024.
- Having (or expecting) children dictates what help you can get – as the tables below show. In this context, having children means you must be entitled to (though not necessarily claiming payment of) Child Benefit. In other words, you must have at least one child under the age of 16, or under 20 if they are in full-time study or approved training. If you're expecting a child when your partner dies, you can also make a claim for help.
Help for unmarried, cohabiting couples where one partner dies
Unmarried, cohabiting couple WITH children | Unmarried, cohabiting couple WITHOUT children | |
Partner died on or before 8 Apr 2001 | You're not eligible for any support | You're not eligible for any support |
Partner died between 9 Apr 2001 and 5 Apr 2017 | You could be eligible for backdated widowed parent's allowance – potentially worth £10,000s. Claim by 8 Feb 2024. | You're not eligible for any support |
Partner died between 6 Apr 2017 and 8 Feb 2023 | You could be eligible for backdated bereavement support – potentially worth £9,800. Claim by 8 Feb 2024. | You're not eligible for any support |
Partner died on or after 9 Feb 2023 | Claim bereavement support, max £9,800. | You're not eligible for any support |
Married / civil-partnered WITH children | Married / civil-partnered WITHOUT children |
|
Partner died on or before 8 Apr 2001 | You're not eligible for any support | You're not eligible for any support |
Partner died between 9 Apr 2001 and 5 April 2017 | You could be eligible for backdated widowed parent's allowance – potentially worth £10,000s. Claim by 8 Feb 2024. | You're not eligible for any support |
Partner died in the last 21 months | Claim bereavement support, higher rate max £9,800 | Claim bereavement support, lower rate max £4,300 |
Note: If your spouse died on or after 6 April 2017, but it wasn't in the last 21 months, then unfortunately you won't be able to make a retrospective claim for support. Married couples and those in civil partnerships have had access to bereavement support since it started in 2017, so the rationale for not allowing backdated claims now is that you had the opportunity to claim it then.
MoneySavers have already claimed £100,000s
Since the law change to allow unmarried partners to claim for backdated support, we've already heard from eight readers who have collectively claimed £124,000+ in vital help.
Some had no idea of the law change and were alerted by friends. It's estimated that around 21,000 families – some bereaved as long ago as 2001 – may be newly eligible for £10,000s, so reaching eligible families with news of the changes is crucial.
Admin assistant Joanne from Bradford successfully claimed £22,000 earlier this year. She said:
"I was going through my emails and almost deleted the MSE weekly email when I spotted the reader success about bereavement support. I clicked on the link and followed the guidance in the story to make a claim.
I was told I was eligible but I was totally shocked when £22,000 dropped into my bank account. I had to ring the Department for Work and Pensions to make sure it was correct and not a mistake.
- MoneySaver Joanne
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Bereavement support payment – who's eligible and how to apply
'Bereavement support payment' has been the catch-all bereavement benefit for anyone who has lost their partner since 6 April 2017. It can be worth up to £9,800 and it’s NOT means-tested, so you can get it regardless of how much you earn or how much money you have in savings.
But you do need to meet ALL of the following criteria to qualify:
- Relationship status – When your partner died, you must have been married, or in a registered civil partnership, or living together as though you were married.
- Age – When your partner died, you must have been UNDER state pension age (you can check yours here). If you were living together but unmarried and not in a civil partnership, you must also have been eligible (in other words, under state pension age) on 30 August 2018, this is the date of the Supreme Court ruling. See how does the date of the ruling affect my eligibility?.
- Location – When your partner died, you must either have been living in the UK, or in a country that pays bereavement benefits.
- Work history – Your partner must have either paid national insurance contributions for at least 25 weeks in one tax year since 6 April 1975, or died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work.
IMPORTANT: If you were co-habiting when your partner died, you also need to have been either entitled to Child Benefit for at least one child, or expecting a child who was subsequently born. Crucially, you DON'T need to have been receiving Child Benefit payments, so you can still qualify if your income was too high to claim. See below for I wasn't claiming Child Benefit, what do I do?
To claim a backdated payment, you also need to have still been eligible for Child Benefit on or after 30 August 2018, meaning your youngest child needs to have been born:
- After 30 August 1998 if they continued full-time education until 20 years old.
- After 30 August 2000 if they left full-time education at 18 years old.
- After 30 August 2002 if they left full-time education at 16 years old.
We've written to the Government asking it to make this requirement clearer (see our News story).
How much is bereavement support payment worth?
Bereavement support payments are usually paid as a one-off lump sum payment followed by up to 18 monthly payments. All of it is TAX-FREE.
Exactly how much you'll get depends on which of the groups you're in, and when you make your claim. But generally speaking, there are two rates of bereavement support payment:
- Lower rate – You’ll get this if you and your spouse or civil partner didn’t have – or weren’t pregnant with – any children at the date your partner died. You'll receive an initial lump sum of £2,500, followed by up to 18 monthly payments of £100 (this could be less, or even zero, depending on how long after your partner’s death you claim, so it's best to claim as soon as you can).
This rate of support is unfortunately only open to those who are married or in civil partnerships.
- Higher rate – You’ll get this if you or your partner were either pregnant, or entitled to Child Benefit, when they died. You will receive an initial payment of £3,500, followed by up to 18 monthly payments of £350 (this could be less, or even zero, depending on how long after your partner’s death you claim, so it's best to claim as soon as you can).
This rate of support is the only level open to those who were unmarried and living together.
Will claiming affect my other benefits?
Any backdated lump sum payment you receive WON'T have an impact on any other benefits you're claiming for 12 months from the date you receive it. However, after this point, any leftover amount may have an impact on your income-related benefit entitlement, see our 'need to knows' below for more.
If you also receive monthly ongoing bereavement support payments, these WON'T have an impact on any other income-related benefits you receive, regardless of how long the monthly payments last.
How to apply
You can apply for bereavement support payment online, by phone or by post. You’ll need the following info:
- Your national insurance number
- Your bank or building society account details
- The date your partner died
- Your partner's national insurance number
To apply online, fill in this Gov.uk form. It’ll take around 15 minutes.
If you’d prefer to apply over the phone, call 0800 151 2012 if you’re in England, Scotland or Wales, 0800 085 2463 if you’re in Northern Ireland, or +44 (0) 191 206 9390 if you’re abroad.
OR, for postal applications, you need to either download form BSP, or ask your local Jobcentre Plus to post you the form. You then need to fill it in and send it to the address listed on the form.
Claiming can provide massive financial support at a time of intense emotional distress, as one MoneySaver wrote in to tell us:
Thanks for your news item about backdated bereavement benefits for co-habiting couples. My partner died in 2019 and I got no help, and I had a 17-year old at college.
Thanks to your news report I applied and today I received £9,800. Thank you, it’s paying my credit card bill for the funeral and it will entirely wipe off my debts."
- Anonymous
Widowed parent's allowance – who's eligible and how to apply

Widowed parent's allowance was replaced by bereavement support payment on 6 April 2017, but you can still make a retrospective claim if your partner died before then (and after 8 April 2001), and you meet these other four qualifying criteria:
- Relationship status – When they died, you and your partner need to have been married, in a registered civil partnership, or living together as though you were married. You don't qualify if you were divorced at the time of the death, or if you have since remarried, formed a new civil partnership, or begun co-habiting living with another partner.
- Age – When your partner died, you need to have been under state pension age. Your state pension age depends on the year you were born – check yours on Gov.uk. If you were living together but unmarried and not in a civil partnership, you must also have been eligible (ie under state pension age) on 30 August 2018, this is the date of the Supreme Court ruling.
- Work history – Your partner paid national insurance contributions, or they died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work.
- Child Benefit – When your partner died, you need to have been either entitled to Child Benefit for at least one child or expecting a child who was subsequently born. Crucially, you DON'T need to have been receiving Child Benefit payments, so you can still qualify if your income was too high to claim. See how does the date of the ruling affect my eligibility?.
IMPORTANT: To claim a backdated payment, you also need to have still been eligible for Child Benefit on or after 30 August 2018, meaning your youngest child needs to have been born:
- After 30 August 1998 if they continued full-time education until 20 years old.
- After 30 August 2000 if they left full-time education at 18 years old.
- After 30 August 2002 if they left full-time education at 16 years old.
We've written to the Government asking it to make this requirement clearer (see our News story).
How much is backdated widowed parent's allowance worth?
How much you'll get depends on how much your partner paid in national insurance contributions. But the maximum amount of widowed parent's allowance you can get is £139.10/week (£7,233/year).
You'll get the allowance for as long as you continue to be entitled to Child Benefit after 30 August 2018, so if your child was young (or not yet born) when your partner died, your backdated claim could be worth £10,000s.
HOWEVER, unlike the bereavement support payment the widow's parent's allowance IS taxable income. If you're employed, this will be taken from your payslip automatically through the PAYE system, but if you pay tax via self-assessment, you should declare your payment on your self-assessment tax return.
Will it affect my other benefits?
Any backdated lump sum you receive WON'T have an impact on any other benefits for 52 weeks after you get it. But after this point, anything leftover from the lump sum payment may be taken into account when calculating your income-related benefit entitlement, see our FAQs below for more.
However, unlike with bereavement support payment, any weekly ongoing widowed parent's allowance payments WILL be taken into account when working out your entitlement for other income-related benefits.
See Gov.uk for more info.
How to apply
Backdated widowed parent's allowance can only be claimed by post.
You can either download, print and complete a widowed parent's allowance form. Or you can call the bereavement service helpline on 0800 151 2012 to request a form be posted to you.
Send your completed form to: Dover Benefit Centre, Post Handling Site B, Wolverhampton, WV99 1LA.
Backdated claims could be worth £10,000s, as was the case for Janice, who emailed in to tell us:
"Just want to say thanks for bringing the change in law to my attention. My partner died suddenly in December 2016 and because we weren’t married I received nothing despite the fact we had a 12 year old son. Following you highlighting the change in law, I submitted a claim and have recently received a payment of over £30k! Many Thanks!"
MoneySaver Janice
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