How to get Widowed Parent’s Allowance in 2022

What is Widowed Parent’s Allowance? How much could I get? Am I eligible? You may have experienced the death of a loved one. If this is the case, you could receive this benefit, and more. Your Benefits will walk you through everything that you need to know about Widowed Parent’s Allowance.

What is widowed parent’s allowance?

Widowed Parent’s Allowance (WPA) is a benefit in the process of being replaced by Bereavement Support Payment. It is typically a bi-weekly payment that is awarded to those who experienced the death of a loved one.

Who is entitled to widowed parent’s allowance?

Your circumstances need to be the following in order for you to qualify for Widowed Parent’s Allowance:

• You are younger than State Pension age;
• You are entitled to Child Benefit (for one child or more, and your deceased wife, husband or civil partner must have been their parent)
• And either your deceased wife, husband or civil partner made National Insurance contributions, or their death was due to an industrial disease or accident.

A few situations may make you not eligible to claim this benefit. They are as follows, you:

• Were divorced from your partner at the time of their death;
• Have remarried or living with someone else, as if having formed either a civil partnership or being married to them;
• Were older than State Pension age at the time of your partner’s death;
• Are currently imprisoned.

How much is widowed parent’s allowance?

The amount of National Insurance contributions that your late wife, husband or civil partner made will determine the amount of Widowed Parent’s Allowance you can get. However, your deceased partner may have died because of an industrial disease or disability. If this is the case, they will not need to have made National Insurance contributions.

You will keep receiving Widowed Parent’s Allowance. This will be the case until one of the following two conditions happen:

• You are finally State Pension age;
• You no longer qualify for Child Benefit.

Widowed Parent’s Allowance is paid in the same way that you receive most other benefits. It will be paid directly into your credit union, building society or bank account. You will typically be paid every 2 weeks. However, you can ask to receive payments every 4 or 13 weeks instead.

Will widowed parent’s allowance impact my other benefits?

There is a list of benefits that Widowed Parent’s Allowance may impact. In fact, the amounts you receive from them will likely change. If you start being paid WPA, and earn one of the following benefits, you will need to notify the relevant office:

• Universal Credit;
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA);
• Carer’s Allowance;
• Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA);
• Incapacity Benefit;
• Income Support.

You must notify the office that pays your benefit if you start earning WPA. If you do not do so, you may be paid the incorrect amount. If this happens, then you may have to pay that back, or even have to pay a fine. 

The benefit cap is a limit on the total amount of benefit that someone is able to receive. Most individuals between 16 and under State Pension age are impacted by this. Receiving Widowed Parent’s Allowance may affect your other benefits if it increases how much you earn to more than benefit cap. Note that not all benefits are impacted by the benefit cap. 

How to claim widowed parent’s allowance

You may claim Widowed Parent’s Allowance in one of two ways: either in paper form or by phone. By phone, call the Bereavement Service helpline on 0800 151 2012. You may do so via telephone, Relay UK, the video relay service or through textphone. They are available from 8am to 6pm Monday through Friday.

If you wish to apply in paper form, you will have to download the relevant documents. More specifically, the Bereavement Benefits pack (form BB1). You may also ask to receive a form by emailing your local Jobcentre.

You will find notes in the form. These will help you filling out the claim form. Then, you will need to send the form to the Dover Benefit Centre. You may also request the form in a different format, like as an audio CD, large print or in braille.

You may live abroad. If this is the case, you can contact the International Pension Centre on +44 (0) 191 206 9390. This is to figure out whether you are eligible or not.
You will need to provide your full name, date of birth, and your National Insurance number. If you do not know this last one, do not worry. You may not need to provide it.

What if I disagree with a decision?

You may not be happy with a decision that was taken on your Widowed Parent’s Allowance claim. Then, you may challenge it. This is also known as a mandatory reconsideration. What this means is that you ask for your claim to be looked at again and be reconsidered. 

You may ask for a mandatory reconsideration if you:

• Want your claim to be examined again;
• Disagree with the decision that was taken;
• You believe that an error was made, or key evidence was missed in dealing with your claim.

Widowed Parent’s Allowance is a claim that can go directly to an appeal when a decision is challenged. Your letter should tell you if you need to do a mandatory reconsideration first. Once you have your mandatory reconsideration decision, you have a month to make your appeal to a tribunal. 

Once your appeal was submitted, you will be able to give the tribunal any relevant evidence. The tribunal hearing will decide of the outcome of your appeal.

What is Bereavement Support Payment?

Bereavement Support Payment is a benefit paid to those whose wife, husband or civil partner died in the last 21 months. If you almost qualify for Widowed Parent’s Allowance, you are likely to qualify for this benefit. It is the benefit that is replacing WPA. However, it is also replacing Bereavement Payment and Bereavement Allowance.

How much is Bereavement Support Payment?

Bereavement Support Payment consists of two different types of payment. First, there is a single large sum, followed by smaller monthly payments. The monthly payments will be received for a maximum period of 18 months. 

You may earn this benefit at two different rates. Indeed, there is the higher and lower rate. How much you may receive for each is the following:

You may be earning Child Benefit. Not only that, but you may not receive it, but still be entitled to it. If this is the case, you likely qualify for the higher rate of Bereavement Support Payment.

Will Bereavement Support Payment impact my other benefits?

Widowed Parent’s Allowance impacts other benefits that you may earn. This is also kind of the case for Bereavement Support Payment.

However, this benefit will not impact any other benefit for the first year that you receive it. More specifically, the year following your first payment.  After this period, you may have money left over from your first payment. If this is the case, it could impact how much you receive with other benefits.

Am I eligible for Bereavement Support Payment?

Some things need to be true in order to claim Bereavement Support Payment. To be eligible for the full amount, you must claim this benefit within 3 months of the death of your late loved one. The maximum amount of time you may wait to claim is 21 months later. 

One of two conditions need to apply for you to be eligible for this benefit. More specifically, one of two conditions must have applied to your late loved one:

• Their death was due either to a disease that happened because of their work, or an accident that took place at their work;
• They paid National Insurance contributions after 6 April 1975, and did so during one tax year for at least 25 weeks.

This is not all. Additionally, two conditions need to have been true for your situation. They are as follows:

• You were below State Pension age at the time of your partner’s death;
• You either lived in the United Kingdom, or in a country where you are eligible to receive bereavement benefits (this includes European Economic Area (EEA) countries, Switzerland and Gibraltar).

What additional help could I receive?

Your later loved one may have died not long ago, if you are claiming benefits following their death. As such, you may need help with your funeral costs. If this is the case, you could be eligible to receive Funeral Expenses Payment. You must receive a qualifying benefit to receive this benefit.

Your loved one may have died while being employed. If he adhered to the death in service scheme, you may be able to earn it as well. What this is a type of insurance that your deceased loved one could have adhered to, that then pays a lump sum to those dependent on the deceased individual.