Bereavement benefits

The current system of bereavement benefits – comprising the Bereavement Payment, the Bereavement Allowance, and Widowed Parent’s Allowance – replaced the former system of widows’ benefits for new claims from April 2001, as a result of changes brought about by the Labour Government’s Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999.

Part 3 of the Pensions Bill 2013-14 provides the legislative framework for a new benefit – Bereavement Support Payment – to replace the existing bereavement benefits for new claims starting from 2016-17. Bereavement Support Payment entails a shift in the focus of bereavement benefits, to a more uniform structure providing help with the more immediate costs caused by the death of a spouse or civil partner.