Fairer bereavement benefits

Unmarried cohabiting partners and bereavement benefits

The Government has published a Remedial Order - read on to find out more the Order and what this means.

Our open letter to the Government as the first 60 day review closes:

During Children’s Grief Awareness Week, we welcome the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR)’s careful scrutiny of the proposed Remedial Order, and its recommendations which we fully support. The JCHR urges the Government to make important improvements to the Order that would further address the discrimination that grieving families and children have faced.  We look forward to seeing an amended Remedial Order that takes on board all the Committee’s recommendations and suggested improvements.

In its current form, the Remedial Order doesn’t go far enough in making back payments to parents who missed out in the past. In line with our recommendation, the JCHR suggests that payments could instead be backdated to February 2016 when the courts first ruled that the system was discriminatory and incompatible with human rights standards. We also welcome the JCHR’s suggestion of an ex-gratia payment scheme, and believe this should be established for those families bereaved before February 2016. This means that Siobhan McLaughlin, who bravely brought the case, would be entitled to a full award, instead of missing out on 2 years of payments.

The JCHR makes other important recommendations: that entitlement is extended to pregnant women who were cohabiting with their partner, and that those who have previously applied for and been refused the benefits get retrospective payments in full.

The way that bereavement benefits interact with the taxation and social security system is complex. The Committee establishes an important principle that those receiving retrospective payments shouldn’t be disadvantaged compared to those who received their benefits at the time. We would welcome urgent clarification from colleagues in Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs and the Treasury to confirm how the approach noted in the Remedial Order would be applied in practice.

We would also welcome the opportunity to work with colleagues at the Department of Work and Pensions, the Treasury and Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs to finalise the drafting of the Remedial Order and associated legislation, to realise fully the Prime Minister’s stated ambition to remedy this injustice.

Once the changes come into law, it is crucial that families who missed out in the past are made aware of the change so that they can make a claim. The Committee recommends an effective Government communication campaign. We are ready to support the Government in reaching out to our networks so that all families who have missed out on payments get the support they will finally be entitled to in order to help bring up their grieving children.

 

Yours faithfully,

Ann Chalmers, Chief Executive, Child Bereavement UK

Alison Penny, Director, Childhood Bereavement Network

Alison Garnham, Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group

Steven Wibberley, Chief Executive, Cruse

Jo Hardy, Head of Services, Gingerbread

Shelley Gilbert MBE, Founder and Lifetime President, Grief Encounter

Chris James, Director of External Affairs, Motor Neurone Disease Association

Satwat Rehman, Chief Executive, One Parent Families Scotland

Lindesay Mace, Down to Earth Manager, Quaker Social Action

Heidi Travis, Chief Executive, Sue Ryder

Georgia Elms, Ambassador, WAY Widowed and Young

Fergus Crow, Chief Executive, Winston’s Wish

 

The Remedial Order: a quick guide

The Government agreed to update legislation to ensure that the surviving partner of cohabiting couples with children can also claim bereavement benefits. To do this, the government has published draft legislation in the form of a remedial order, which extends the eligibility of surviving cohabiting partners with dependent children to claim Widowed Parents Allowance or Bereavement Support Payment.

 

What does the Remedial Order say?

The Remedial Order does three important things:

• it extends the current legislation to make provision for the remaining partner of a cohabiting couple to claim bereavement benefits
• it offers transitional protection, meaning anyone who is claiming the benefit now will be not be disadvantaged by this proposed legislation
• it provides the opportunity for retrospective applications from 30 August 2018, meaning once this legislation is enacted you will be able to make a backdated claim for the relevant benefits, provided you met the criteria for that benefit at the time.

 

What does it mean for me?

If your bereavement benefit claim was turned down because you were the surviving member of a cohabiting couple with children, you will be able to apply again provided you meet the benefit eligibility criteria. However, we anticipate that this legislation will not be enacted until Spring 2022, so you will not be able to apply before then.

 

What happens next?

There are now a number of steps before the remedial order becomes law, which includes two separate 60-day reviews in Parliament. After the first review, any submissions or recommendations must be published along with either the original order, or a new draft that incorporates any changes. The order is then laid again before Parliament to review and finally vote on, after which the order becomes law.