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Mother urges bereaved parents to claim bereavement support

BBC Sophie LawsBBC
Sophie Laws wants to raise awareness over the change in eligibility for bereavement support payments

A woman who successfully applied for backdated bereavement support payments after the death of her partner has encouraged others to do the same.

Sophie Laws, from Saffron Walden, Essex, who has a five-year-old son, was able to claim the benefit after a change in the law in February 2023.

Previously parents had to be married or in a civil partnership to be eligible for the payment worth up to £9,800.

The deadline for backdated full claims is 8 February.

Bereavement support payments can now be claimed by unmarried parents who have lost a partner, provided they are below the state pension age.

This could include an initial lump sum of £3,500 followed by a monthly payment of £350 for 18 months.

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How did the law change?

  • Before the law was amended cohabiting parents were ineligible to claim the payment
  • This changed on 30 August 2018 when Siobhan McLaughlin, a mother-of-four whose partner died in 2014, won a court case which deemed that her exclusion from claiming the benefit was incompatible with human rights law.
  • The Supreme Court's decision led to a change in the law, which came into effect in February 2023
  • This allowed any cohabiting person, who would have been eligible for the payments from the date of the court case ruling, to make a backdated claim
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Ms Laws was one of those people who was able to apply for a portion of the payments.

Her partner Andrew died in June 2018, two months before the Supreme Court case, which meant she missed out on the lump sum and two monthly payments.

She described receiving the payment as "bittersweet".

Ms Laws urged anybody who may be eligible for a backdated claim to apply before the deadline for full claims passes.

"Even if you think you're not going to get it, it takes less than five minutes to do it online, or by phone if you're not on the internet," she said.

Vicky Anning Vicky Anning from WAY Widowed and YoungVicky Anning
Vicky Anning, from WAY Widowed and Young, urged people to apply before the deadline

The charity WAY Widowed and Young has campaigned to extend bereavement support payments beyond 18 months.

"Eighteen months is nothing," said Vicky Anning, from the charity.

Last week, the issue was raised at Prime Minister's Questions by SNP MP Hannah Bardell.

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