The Bereavement Allowance was a weekly benefit that was payable to certain widows, widowers, or surviving civil partners whose spouse or civil partner died before 6 April 2017. Prior to that date, it was also possible for qualifying applicants to claim the Widowed Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Payment.
The new Bereavement Support Payment was launched on 6 April 2017. The Bereavement Support Payment replaced Bereavement Allowance, Widowed Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Payment. If you lose your spouse or civil partner on or after 6 April 2017 you may be eligible to claim the Bereavement Support Payment.
You could be eligible to claim if your partner either paid National Insurance contributions for at least 25 weeks or died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work. You must also be below the State Pension Age in order to claim Bereavement Support Payment. The new system of state bereavement payments usually means a more generous initial bereavement payment, but further support payments may be less than under the old system.
HMRC has a specialist bereavement services team that deals with PAYE and Self Assessment issues which arise when a taxpayer dies. In most cases, the team provides family members or personal representatives with a single point of contact when finalising the PAYE and Self Assessment affairs of the deceased.
