Bereavement Benefits: Cohabitation

(asked on 21st December 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to allow surviving members of cohabiting couples to access bereavement benefits.


Answered by
Caroline Dinenage Portrait
Caroline Dinenage
This question was answered on 8th January 2018

Bereavement Benefits are contributory benefits and it is a founding principle of the contributory benefits system that rights derived from another person’s contributions should be based on the concept of legal marriage or civil partnership. Moreover, proving that cohabitation existed could be a complex process likely to cause distress at a time of bereavement.

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