Bereavement Support Payment
Eligibility
Bereavement Support Payment is not means-tested. This means what you earn or how much you have in savings will not affect what you get.
When your partner died, you must have been:
- under State Pension age
- living in the UK or a country that pays bereavement benefits
- married to your partner, in a civil partnership with them, or living with them as if you were married
Your partner must have either:
- paid a certain amount of Class 1 or Class 2 National Insurance contributions in any one tax year since 6 April 1975
- died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work
You can still make a claim if you’re not sure whether your partner paid enough National Insurance contributions. The Bereavement Service will let you know.
You cannot claim Bereavement Support Payment if you’re in prison.
When you need to make your claim
You usually need to make a claim within 21 months of your partner’s death.
If it’s been over 21 months since your partner’s death, you may still be able to make a claim if their cause of death was only recently confirmed. Call the Bereavement Service helpline for help.
How soon you make your claim can also affect how much money you’ll get. You usually need to make a claim within 3 months of your partner’s death to get the full amount of payments.
If your partner died before 9 February 2023
You may be able to get backdated payments of Bereavement Support Payment if:
- your partner died after 5 April 2017
- when your partner died, you were living together as if you were married
- you were under State Pension age on 30 August 2018
You must have also either been pregnant when your partner died, or had a child living with you when your partner died and either:
- you got Child Benefit for that child between when your partner died and when you make your claim
- you’ve been told by the Child Benefit Office that you were entitled to Child Benefit for that child between when your partner died and when you make your claim
You must apply before 9 November 2024 to get any backdated payments.
If your partner died before 6 April 2017, you may be able to get Widowed Parent’s Allowance instead.
If you were living with your partner as if you were married
Unless you’re applying for a backdated payment, one of the following must have applied when your partner died:
- you were getting Child Benefit for a child that lived with you
- you were told by the Child Benefit Office that you were entitled to Child Benefit for a child that lived with you, even if you chose not to get it
- you were pregnant
If your partner was getting or entitled to Child Benefit instead, you’ll need to make a new claim for Child Benefit in your name before you can apply for Bereavement Support Payment.