Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of claimants of the widowed parent's allowance claimed that allowance for less than one year in each year from 2001 to 2014.
Widowed Parents’ Allowance (WPA) is one of DWP bereavement benefits and provides financial support to bereaved parents eligible to Child Benefit on behalf of their child. Questions can be answered from analysing data the Department publishes every quarter via the Tabulation Tool – see link: http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/bb/tabtool_bb.html
For example, in February 2014, about 15% of WPA claimants have been claiming for less than a year and half of them between two and five years; claimants receive on average about £108 per week.