Bereavement Support Payment and the older bereavement payments

Bereavement Support Payment is a state benefit for people whose husband, wife, civil partner or, in some cases, cohabiting partner has died. It gives financial help with the more immediate costs caused by the death¹. It is not means-tested, it is tax-free, and it does not reduce other benefits you may be getting, including Universal Credit.

The payment is made up of a lump sum followed by up to 18 monthly payments. There are two rates: a standard rate of £2,500 plus £100 a month, and a higher rate of £3,500 plus £350 a month for people responsible for children². Which rate you get, and how many monthly payments you receive, depends on your circumstances and above all on how quickly you claim: to receive all 18 monthly payments, your claim must normally be made within three months of the death³.

Bereavement Support Payment was introduced in April 2017 and replaced three older benefits: Widowed Parent's Allowance, Bereavement Allowance and the Bereavement Payment⁴. It applies to deaths on or after 6 April 2017. If your partner died before that date, the older benefits may still be relevant, and they are covered below. The law has also changed so that unmarried partners who were living together and raising children can now qualify, including through retrospective claims for deaths that happened years ago⁵.

What Bereavement Support Payment is and who it helps

Bereavement Support Payment is a benefit you may be able to claim if your spouse or civil partner has died². Since a change in the law, it can also be claimed by a cohabiting partner who was living with the person who died and is responsible for a child. It exists to help with the immediate financial shock of losing a partner's income, at a point when many families also face funeral costs and a sudden drop in household money.

The legal basis is Part 5 of the Pensions Act 2014, which introduced the benefit in Great Britain, with equivalent provision made in Northern Ireland³. Under that Act, a person is entitled to the payment if their spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner dies, if they are under pensionable age when the partner dies, if they are ordinarily resident in Great Britain or a specified territory, and if the contribution condition is met⁵. In practice this means the test is about your age, your relationship, where you live and your partner's National Insurance record, not about your income.

The benefit is aimed at working-age people. It replaced the previous system of bereavement benefits for surviving spouses and civil partners widowed on or after 6 April 2017³. At March 2026 there were 48,000 people receiving it, of whom 37,000 (77.5%) were on the standard rate and 11,000 (22.5%) were on the higher rate⁴. The scale of the payment is deliberately front-loaded: a larger initial sum to cover immediate costs, followed by smaller monthly payments over up to 18 months⁶.

How much you get: £2,500 or £3,500, then up to 18 monthly payments

There are two rates, and the amounts are fixed by regulations rather than rising automatically each year.

The standard rate is an initial lump sum of £2,500 followed by up to 18 monthly instalments of £100⁹. The higher rate is an initial lump sum of £3,500 followed by up to 18 monthly payments of £350⁹. People without children get an initial payment of £2,500 and 18 subsequent payments of £100; people with children receive an initial payment of £3,500 and 18 subsequent payments of £350⁷. The monthly payments are paid directly into an account of your choice⁶.

Two things matter about these figures. First, the number of monthly payments depends on when you claim: up to 18 is the maximum, and claiming late reduces it, as the deadline section below explains⁶. Second, the amounts do not rise each April in the way many benefits do. The Pensions Act 2014 does not require annual uprating of Bereavement Support Payment³, and the rates for 2026/27 remain £2,500 and £100 for the standard rate and £3,500 and £350 for the higher rate¹⁰. The Government confirmed in 2026 that these rates remain unchanged¹¹, and the official benefit rates for 2026/27 list the same figures¹². Guidance on the 2026/27 uprating states that bereavement benefit rates will remain the same as in 2025/26 for adults below State Pension age¹³.

Standard rate or higher rate: children decide it

The single thing that decides which rate you get is whether you are responsible for a child. The higher rate is paid to claimants entitled to Child Benefit⁴. If you are responsible for a child under the age of 20, you could get the £3,500 lump sum; if you are not, you could get £2,500². The higher rate also covers people who are pregnant when their partner dies⁸.

"Responsible for a child" generally follows the Child Benefit rules, so it usually means a child living with you for whom you get, or could get, Child Benefit. Age UK's guidance frames the split the same way: £2,500 if you are not responsible for a child under 20, £3,500 if you are². Scope's guidance adds that the higher rate is an initial sum of £3,500 with a monthly payment of £350 for 18 months, while the standard rate is £2,500 with £100 a month¹⁰.

The rate is fixed at the point of entitlement: it is about your situation when you claim, not later changes. Marie Curie's guidance sets out the two rates in the same terms, with the higher rate lump sum of £3,500 and monthly payments of £350¹¹. If you are unsure which rate applies to your family, the claim form asks about your children, and the Bereavement Service can confirm it before you apply.

Who can claim: age, National Insurance and relationship rules

Four conditions must all be met.

• Age: you must have been under State Pension age when your partner died. One guidance source puts this as being under 66 at the date of death¹⁴; the statutory test is being under pensionable age⁵.
• Relationship: your husband, wife, civil partner or, since the law changed, cohabiting partner must have died on or after 6 April 2017¹⁴.
• National Insurance: your partner must have paid National Insurance contributions for at least 25 weeks in one tax year since 6 April 1975⁸. The Government's guidance on social security abroad puts the same condition as at least 25 weeks of contributions¹⁵. In legal terms, their contributions must give rise to an earnings factor equal to or greater than 25 times the lower earnings limit for at least one tax year¹⁶.
• Residence: you must have been ordinarily resident in Great Britain (or a specified territory) when your partner died⁵.

There are exceptions and exclusions around the edges. If your partner died because of a workplace accident or an illness caused by work, you may still be able to claim even if they had not made the necessary National Insurance contributions². At the other end, you cannot get the payment if you were divorced, or your civil partnership was dissolved, when your husband, wife or civil partner died, or if you were no longer living with your partner or were living with someone else at the time of the death¹⁴. The payment is also not made while you are in prison¹¹.

The National Insurance condition is about the deceased partner's record, not yours. That is why the claim asks for your partner's National Insurance number as well as your own¹⁷. A Supreme Court judgment was passed down on 20 November 2025 in favour of the Department for Work and Pensions on a challenge to the National Insurance eligibility rules, so the condition as it stands is the one applied to claims.

Unmarried partners with children can now claim

For most of the benefit's life, only husbands, wives and civil partners could claim. That has changed. The rule change means that, from 30 August 2018, "partner" can include cohabiting couples who were not in a legal union when one of them dies⁸. From July 2026, bereavement benefits no longer require marriage or a civil partnership, as long as the claimant is responsible for at least one child². The surviving partner must have been living with the deceased and responsible for a child of the relationship.

The change also opened a retrospective window for families who missed out under the old rules. The Government makes retrospective payments, backdated to 30 August 2018, to those who missed out because they were not married or in a civil partnership; some families may have been bereaved as long ago as 2001¹⁸. A bereaved cohabiting parent whose partner died on or after 30 August 2018 but before 9 February 2023 could backdate a claim until 8 February 2024, with payment backdated to when the partner died¹⁸.

The deadlines for retrospective claims have now passed, but the rules that applied are worth recording because families may still receive payments under them:

• If your cohabiting partner died after 30 August 2018 and before 9 February 2023 and you claimed before February 2024, your claim could be backdated up to 18 months¹⁹.
• If your cohabiting partner died before 30 August 2018 and you claimed before February 2024, your claim could be partially backdated but you could not get the initial lump sum¹⁹.
• A bereaved cohabiting parent whose partner died before 9 February 2023 could backdate their claim until 8 February 2024⁸.
• Claims made after 8 February 2024 but on or before 8 November 2024 could still attract some monthly payments, but not the lump sum¹¹. The retrospective window closed on 8 November 2024.

Equivalent provision was made for Northern Ireland, including for payments made within the past 12 months to the survivor of a cohabiting partnership in respect of a death occurring before the Order came into force²⁰. A retrospective payment might affect previous and future tax, tax credits and benefits, so it is important to seek advice before spending one¹⁸.

Claim within three months to get the full amount

The timing of your claim decides how much of the payment you get. The claim period starts on the date your partner died. If you claim within three months of that date, your claim is treated as starting on the date of death and you receive a full 18 months of payments. The claim period finishes 21 months from the day after the date your partner died⁸.

The three deadlines do different things:

• Three months: to be eligible for up to 18 monthly payments, your claim must be made within three months of the death⁶. Claiming within three months means the claim is backdated to the date of the death⁹.
• Twelve months: you must claim within 12 months of your partner's death to get the initial lump sum; after this time you will only get monthly payments⁶. This 12-month rule for the lump sum is set in the regulations themselves²².
• Twenty-one months: if more than 21 months have passed since the death and no claim has been made, there is no entitlement¹⁹. A claim ends 18 months after the death of a spouse, civil or cohabiting partner²³.

If you claim more than three months after the death, your claim will be backdated by three months from the date your form is received at the benefit office¹⁹, and Age UK confirms claims can be backdated for up to three months². In other words, a late claim does not start from the date of death, so the number of monthly payments you can still receive is reduced by the delay. One further exception exists: you may still be able to claim if your partner's cause of death was confirmed more than 21 months after their death¹¹.

How to claim in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

You can apply for Bereavement Support Payment online, by telephone or by post⁶. In Northern Ireland there is a dedicated online application service¹⁷. To claim you will need your National Insurance number, your bank or building society account details, the date your spouse or civil partner died, and your partner's National Insurance number⁶.

You must send originals of your marriage or civil partnership certificate and your partner's certificate of registration of death, or show them at your local Jobcentre Plus office¹⁹. The claim starts on the date your partner died if it is received at the benefit office within three months of the bereavement¹⁹.

The benefit is delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions across Great Britain, including in Scotland: DWP continues to deliver Bereavement Support Payment to applicants living in Scotland²⁴. Northern Ireland has its own provision under the Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2015, with the Bereavement Support Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 applying the same rules, including the same 12-month deadline for the initial lump sum²¹. Northern Ireland guidance also covers the wider financial help available to bereaved families, including help with funeral costs¹.

Once awarded, the payment is made monthly into an account of your choice⁶. You must report changes in your circumstances which might affect your entitlement¹⁹, and you must tell your benefits office, for example your local Jobcentre Plus, when you start getting the payment¹¹. The guide to reporting a change of circumstances explains how and why.

Tax, other benefits and the benefit cap

Bereavement Support Payment is tax-free. All payments are exempt from Income Tax³, a position set out when the exemption was created²⁵. Age UK states the same plainly: these payments are not taxable².

It is also ignored when your other benefits are worked out. The payments do not affect entitlement to other benefits, including Universal Credit, and do not count towards the household benefit cap³. The monthly payments are not included when calculating entitlement to means-tested benefits or the benefit cap², and the payment is ignored as income for working out entitlement to other benefits⁹. The legislation that introduced the benefit provides that it will be ignored when calculating a claimant's income for income-related social security benefits, and that it is not taken into account as income under the child support regulations²².

Two cautions sit alongside those rules. First, a retrospective payment for a cohabiting partner whose partner died before 9 February 2023 is treated as capital and disregarded for a year, rather than as income⁹, so its effect on savings-based rules is delayed rather than absent. Second, a retrospective payment might affect previous and future tax, tax credits and benefits, so it is important to seek advice¹⁸. By contrast with the older benefits, Bereavement Allowance could be subject to the Benefit Cap whereas a bereavement payment is not²⁶, and receipt of Carer Support Payment by a claimant or their partner is itself an exception to the benefit cap²⁷.

Widowed Parent's Allowance and the older bereavement benefits

Bereavement Support Payment replaced three earlier benefits for deaths on or after 6 April 2017: Widowed Parent's Allowance, Bereavement Allowance and the Bereavement Payment⁴. If your partner died before 6 April 2017, you may be able to get Widowed Parent's Allowance instead⁶.

Widowed Parent's Allowance is the benefit for bereaved parents. Whatever age you are, you can apply for Widowed Parent's Allowance if you have children²⁸. It is a weekly benefit rather than a lump sum plus monthly payments: the rate for deaths between 9 April 2001 and 5 April 2017 is £156.65 a week in 2026/27¹². Unlike Bereavement Support Payment, the older benefits are uprated annually in line with prices³.

The older system was narrower in who it helped. Spouses and civil partners under 45 with no children were not eligible for Bereavement Allowance, and that benefit was tapered for those between 45 and State Pension age²⁹. Evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee on the reform noted the differences between the old and new schemes, including that the new payment is not taxable and must be claimed within three months of the death to receive monthly payments for the full 18 months³⁰.

The reform followed years of challenge to the old rules. The McLaughlin ruling in the Supreme Court concerned Widowed Parent's Allowance and unmarried partners, but it did not directly apply to Bereavement Support Payment³¹, which is why the extension to cohabiting partners required separate legislation. Bereavement support payment under the Northern Ireland legislation likewise replaced the existing social security benefits for the bereaved²¹.

Remarriage, a new partner and moving abroad

A common fear is that a new relationship will end the payments. It will not. Payment will continue even if you remarry, enter a civil partnership or start cohabiting¹⁹. The Commons Library makes the same point about the design of the benefit: unlike the previous bereavement benefits, remarriage or re-partnering will not disqualify a person from Bereavement Support Payment³. This is a real change from the older benefits, which could be affected by remarriage.

The rules about who counts as your partner apply at the date of death, not afterwards. You cannot get the payment if you were divorced, or your civil partnership was dissolved, or you were no longer living with your partner or were living with someone else when they died¹⁴. But what you do after the death, including forming a new relationship, does not end an existing award.

Moving abroad is a separate question. Entitlement depends on being ordinarily resident in Great Britain or a specified territory when your partner dies⁵, and the Government's guidance on social security abroad (form NI38) sets out the rules for benefits, including Bereavement Support Payment from 6 April 2017, when you leave the UK¹⁵. If you are getting the payment and reach State Pension age, it stops at that point even part way through the payments¹¹. On death, State Pension payments generally stop, but a spouse or civil partner might be able to inherit some of the State Pension³².

Where Bereavement Support Payment does not apply

There are hard edges to this benefit, and it is worth knowing where they fall before you rely on it.

• Deaths before 6 April 2017: there is no entitlement to Bereavement Support Payment for earlier deaths; the older benefits apply instead⁵. The payment replaced those benefits for deaths from 6 April 2017²¹.
• No qualifying relationship: ex-partners, and partners you had already separated from, do not qualify¹⁴.
• Prison: the payment is not paid if you are in prison¹¹. The Act allows regulations to provide that a person is not to be paid for any period in which they are a prisoner⁵.
• State Pension age: you must have been under State Pension age when your partner died¹¹.
• Funeral costs: the payment does not count as a qualifying benefit for a Funeral Expenses Payment². Getting it does not, by itself, unlock help with funeral costs; the separate guide to help with funeral costs explains which benefits do qualify.
• The 21-month limit: once 21 months have passed since the death without a claim, there is no entitlement¹⁹.

It is also not a long-term income. The payment runs for at most 18 months and is designed around immediate costs⁶. Families who need ongoing support usually have to look to other benefits, such as Universal Credit, which the payment does not reduce³.

Getting help with a claim

You do not have to work out your entitlement alone. The Bereavement Service handles claims and can tell you which rate applies and what evidence is needed⁶. Free, independent guidance is available from several directions: Turn2us explains eligibility, amounts and the claim process⁹, Age UK covers the benefit alongside the older bereavement benefits², and Marie Curie's guidance is written for people dealing with terminal illness and bereavement¹¹. One Parent Families Scotland sets out the position for cohabiting parents, including the retrospective claims¹⁸.

If you disagree with a decision on your claim, it can be challenged: the guides to mandatory reconsideration and tribunal appeals explain the process. A free benefits calculator, described in the guide to checking what you are entitled to, can show what else you might get alongside or instead of this payment, since it is ignored as income for means-tested benefits⁹. For anything involving a retrospective payment, where tax and past benefits can be affected, specialist advice is worth seeking before the money is spent¹⁸.