Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will extend the Bereavement Support Payment scheme to cover the deaths of parents who were living together or had children together in order to provide support for the remaining partner and their children.
It is a key principle that all rights to inheritable benefits derived from another person’s contributions, such as Bereavement Support Payment, should be based on the concept of a legal marriage or civil partnership. However, on 7 February the High Court ruled that the higher rate of Bereavement Support Payment (which is paid to those with children) to be incompatible with the ECHR in that it is only payable where the survivor was married to, or in a civil partnership with the deceased. Whilst this ruling does not change the current legislation, we are carefully considering what to do in response to this judgement.