UK bereavement allowance .

by **trubrit** » February 4, 2012, 4:02 pm

It used to be that a widow of a UK pensioner living in Thailand or any other country was entitled to a payment of 2,000pounds upon his death. Also subject to her age at the time ,a pension for 52 weeks after , but I have just noticed the following clause on the govt site that appears to exclude wives of those living abroad. I don't remember this being added. Has anyone any info on it?
Bereavement Payment, Bereavement Allowance and Widowed Parent's Allowance are available in England, Scotland and Wales only.

by **BobHelm** » February 4, 2012, 4:29 pm

I don't think what you are quoting is the case TB...
If you look at
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAnd ... G_10018703
It says...

Who can claim
You may be able to claim Bereavement Payment if your husband, wife or civil partner had paid their National Insurance contributions (NICs) or their death was caused by their job and either:

you were under State Pension age when they died
your husband, wife or civil partner was not entitled to Category A state Retirement Benefit when they died

and

Who can’t claim

You can't get Bereavement Payment if any of the following apply:

you were divorced from your late husband or wife or the civil partnership had dissolved at the time of the civil partner's death
you're living with another person as husband, wife or civil partner
you're in prison

Nothing else....
The only thing...
I did notice on another site..a mention of England, Wales & Scotland, but that was only in relation to where the claim form (BB1) could be obtained, not concerning eligibility.

by **trubrit** » February 4, 2012, 4:47 pm

Thanks for that Bob . That's what I was hoping as it wasn't listed in the reasons for non payment. However that quote was direct from their site and seems to imply otherwise. No mention of the form only being available in Uk .Confusing what?

by **BobHelm** » February 4, 2012, 5:26 pm

But some bad news TB...
The Government did present a consultation document to Parliament in December.
The consultation period is Monday 12 December 2011 and runs until Monday 5 March 2012.
Copies of it can be seen here
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/201 ... efit.shtml
in various formats.

The aim is stated to simplify claims & two proposals appear in it.
There is also a claim within the document that it will result in

Widening access:
The full award will be paid wherever the deceased spouse or civil partner paid sufficient Class 1, 2
or 3 National Insurance contributions for one tax year before they died.
Other rules around concessions, for example, where bereavement was caused by an industrial
accident or disease would not be changed.
Simplicity:
One key contribution rule would exist for any bereavement payment. As long as this key rule is met,
the amount an applicant would get would be fixed.

Rather than limiting it by location.
I could not see anything in the document that suggested that it would do anything except increase the financial value of the benefit. Something that surprised me more than slightly given the Governments primary aim of reducing expenditure.
Maybe you can spot something TB....

UK bereavement allowance .