Cheshire mum finally claims bereavement support payment after campaign

A Cheshire mum has finally been given a £9,800 Bereavement Support Payment, years after her partner died. Kathy Ford, 50, from Pickmere, has now urged other bereaved partners who were co-habiting to check if they are eligible.

Kathy had been with partner Keith Hepplewhite for almost 20 years when he died suddenly of a heart attack in 2018 aged 57. The couple had two sons and had never married due to the costs involved, Kathy said.

That meant Kathy was not entitled to the Bereavement Support Payments given to bereaved spouses. But last year, the DWP announced the Bereavement Support Payment would be extended to include cohabiting parents, and thousands who previously missed out may be able to back-date their claim, the Mirror reports.

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The deadline for backdating is fast approaching – and you only have until February 8 to check if you’re eligible. The change in law was introduced after successful campaigning by bereavement charities, including WAY Widowed and Young, of which Kathy is an ambassador.

“Our children aren’t worth any less than married people, said Kathy, who is now urging anyone who thinks they may be eligible to check if they can make a claim before the deadline.

Keith Hepplewhite with his son Oliver Hepplewhite-Ford

Kathy was able to use the money she received from the backdated payments to help pay her mortgage. She said: “It was surprisingly easy. When I’d applied in the past it was paper based, but now it is all online. The only information I didn’t have to hand was my partner’s National Insurance number. It literally took less than ten minutes.

“Just apply, because the worst case scenario is they’ll just say no. What have you lost? A bit of time. Spend time talking to people in a similar situation to see what you’re entitled to. There are young and widowed Facebook pages. Some of them are American based but even on the American ones, there is still a large UK community in those groups. Everyone helps everyone.”

The payment is dependant on when a partner died. If they passed away between April 9, 2001 and April 5, 2017, then you may be able to claim backdated Widowed Parent’s Allowance. This could potentially be worth tens of thousands of pounds – although it is taxable, so you may need to pay tax on any backdated sum you receive.

Widowed Parent’s Allowance has been replaced by Bereavement Support Payments. If your partner died between April 6, 2017, and February 8, 2023, then you would need to backdate a claim for Bereavement Support Payments instead. This is worth a maximum of £9,800.

If your partner died after February 9, 2023, the new rules for cohabiting couples will now apply to you anyway, as this is when the eligibility criteria was expanded.

Couples who weren’t married are only eligible for the backdated payments if they were entitled to Child Benefit and were under state pension age when their partner died. You don’t necessarily have to had been claiming Child Benefit – for example, if you’re a higher rate taxpayer – you just need to be entitled to it.

In order to qualify for either payments, your partner must have either paid a certain number of National Insurance contributions, or died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work.

If your partner died within the last 21 months and you didn’t have children, but you were married or in a civil partnership, you may be eligible to claim a lower amount of Bereavement Support Payment worth up to £4,300.

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