Bereavement Benefits

What are they?

There are three types of bereavement benefit. These may be payable on the death of a husband, wife or civil partner. Whether you are entitled will depend on the National Insurance contributions your partner paid.

The three benefits are shown below.

• Bereavement Payment is a lump sum of £2000 we pay to people who have been bereaved who qualify.
• Widowed Parent's Allowance is a weekly benefit we pay to widowed parents who qualify.
• Bereavement Allowance is a weekly benefit we pay to people who have been bereaved who qualify.

Are they for me?

If you started getting benefit before 9 April 2001 because you are widowed, you may be getting a widow's benefit, instead of Bereavement payments.

What are the benefit rates?

Bereavement Payment (lump sum) is £2000.00

Widowed Parent's Allowance is £90.70

Bereavement Allowance (standard rate) is £90.70

What do I need to do next?

Contact Jobcentre Plus to find out if you qualify for one of these benefits.

More information can be found in the leaflet 'If you are Widowed or your Civil Partner Dies' (99kb).

You can download a Bereavement Benefit claim form

To make sure you do not miss out on any benefit due to you, you should contact us to find out if you need to fill in this form. If you download a form you should contact us to establish the date of your claim. Find out how to contact us.

You can download a bereavement benefit claim form in PDF format. This form does not apply in Northern Ireland

Get help with PDF's

To save a copy of the file to disk right click with your mouse on the link below and choose the 'Save Target As' option.

If you want to print out a form to fill in with a pen (184k)

The form comes with notes that will help you fill in the form and tell you where to send the completed form.