Bereavement Support Payment UK: who qualifies, how much, and how to claim
This guide covers the 2026/27 rates, who can and cannot claim, what you need before you apply, the two deadlines that decide how much you receive, and the effect on your tax and other benefits.
How much is Bereavement Support Payment?
Bereavement Support Payment pays one larger first payment followed by up to 18 monthly payments, at one of two rates. The rate depends on whether you have dependent children, not on your income, your savings or your age.
Higher rate, with dependent children: £3,500 first payment, then £350 a month for 18 months
Higher rate maximum total: £9,800 across 19 payments
Standard rate, no dependent children: £2,500 first payment, then £100 a month for 18 months
Standard rate maximum total: £4,300 across 19 payments
Uprating for 2026/27: none, because both rates are frozen
Bereavement Support Payment is a tax-free benefit paid by the Department for Work and Pensions to people whose spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner has died. Bereavement Support Payment replaced three older benefits in April 2017: Widowed Parent's Allowance, Bereavement Allowance and Bereavement Payment.
The 18-month duration has drawn criticism from bereaved families who argue the support is too short. A parliamentary petition is currently open to extend it. The government's position is that Bereavement Support Payment covers the immediate financial impact of bereavement, not long-term income replacement.
Who qualifies for Bereavement Support Payment?
You qualify for Bereavement Support Payment if your spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner died on or after 6 April 2017 and you were under State Pension age when they died. All five of the following conditions had to apply on the date of death.
Your relationship: you were the husband, wife or civil partner of the person who died, or were living with them as a couple
Date of death: your partner died on or after 6 April 2017
Your age: you were under State Pension age
Where you lived: you were living in the UK, or in a country with a UK social security agreement
Your partner's National Insurance record: your partner had paid National Insurance contributions for at least 25 weeks in a single tax year, or died from an accident or disease caused by their work
Cohabiting partners can claim Bereavement Support Payment only if they have dependent children, or were pregnant at the time of the death. That rule changed on 9 February 2023, following the McLaughlin Supreme Court ruling and subsequent legal action. Before 9 February 2023, only married couples and civil partners were eligible.
A retrospective claim window for deaths between 30 August 2018 and 9 February 2023 ran until 9 February 2024 and has now closed.
There is no income test and no means test for Bereavement Support Payment. Your earnings, your savings and any other benefits you receive do not affect whether you qualify.
Who cannot claim Bereavement Support Payment?
You cannot claim Bereavement Support Payment if you were over State Pension age when your partner died, or if your partner died before 6 April 2017. Five situations rule out a claim.
Over State Pension age on the date of death: no claim, although different benefits may apply
Partner died before 6 April 2017: no claim, although older bereavement benefits may apply
Divorced or separated by court order on the date of death: no claim
In prison: no claim
Cohabiting, with no dependent children and not pregnant: no claim
If your partner died before 6 April 2017, you may still qualify for Widowed Parent's Allowance or Bereavement Allowance under the older system, although both are closed to new claims under the post-2017 rules. What happened to the old widow’s pension is covered separately.
How do you claim Bereavement Support Payment?
You claim Bereavement Support Payment in one of three ways: online at GOV.UK, by phone to the DWP Bereavement Service, or by post on form BSP1. Bereavement Support Payment is never paid automatically, so nothing happens until you make a claim.
Online: use the GOV.UK claim service
By phone: call the DWP Bereavement Service on 0800 151 2012
Welsh language line: 0800 731 0453
Textphone: 0800 731 0464
By post: complete form BSP1, downloaded from GOV.UK or collected from a Jobcentre Plus
Have four things in front of you before you start the claim.
Proof of death: the death certificate or the registration reference
National Insurance numbers: your own and your partner's
Bank details: your bank or building society account number and sort code
Child Benefit reference number: needed only if you are claiming the higher rate
Work out how many death certificates you need early, because several organisations will ask for a copy at the same time as the DWP does.
Getting the bank details right matters. An incorrect sort code or account number is the most common reason for a delayed first payment. DWP does not publish a fixed timescale for how quickly the first payment arrives after a successful claim.
How long do you have to claim Bereavement Support Payment?
You have 21 months from the date of death to claim Bereavement Support Payment, and only 3 months to secure the full amount. The date you claim, not the date the DWP processes the claim, decides how much you receive.
Claim within 3 months of the death: you receive the full first payment and all 18 monthly payments
Claim between 3 and 21 months after the death: you still receive the first payment, but the number of monthly payments is reduced proportionally
Claim more than 21 months after the death: you usually receive nothing, unless your partner's cause of death was certified later
The Department for Work and Pensions can backdate a Bereavement Support Payment claim by up to 3 months from the date you apply, if you would have qualified earlier (GOV.UK).
Backdating moves the effective date of your claim rather than reopening the 3-month window, so backdating helps most when a delayed death certificate held up your application.
Does Bereavement Support Payment affect your other benefits?
Bereavement Support Payment does not count as income for Universal Credit, Housing Benefit or other means-tested benefits, so receiving it will not reduce them. Bereavement Support Payment is also tax-free, and you do not declare it on a Self Assessment return.
The first payment is treated as capital after 12 months. Universal Credit tapers once savings pass £6,000 and stops altogether above £16,000 (GOV.UK). Other means-tested benefits set their own capital limits. This is the trap families most often miss: a lump sum left in a current account for more than a year can start to affect Universal Credit.
Bereavement Support Payment continues if you start a new relationship after your first payment has been made. You cannot make a fresh claim based on a previous partner once you are in a new relationship.
Bereavement Support Payment is separate from any death in service benefit paid by your partner's employer, which the employer or the pension scheme arranges rather than the DWP.
Why do Bereavement Support Payment claims get delayed or refused?
Most Bereavement Support Payment claims are delayed for administrative reasons rather than eligibility ones. Five causes account for the bulk of them.
Missing National Insurance number: the applicant does not have the deceased's National Insurance number to hand
Late claim: the applicant missed the 3-month deadline and lost monthly payments
Gaps in the contribution record: the deceased's National Insurance record was incomplete
No Child Benefit evidence: a cohabiting applicant cannot evidence Child Benefit eligibility at the time of death
Cause of death not yet certified: processing pauses until the certification arrives
If your Bereavement Support Payment claim is refused and you think the decision is wrong, you can ask the DWP for a mandatory reconsideration. You have one month from the date of the decision letter to request one.
Frequently asked questions
An LBG bereavement payment is not the same thing as Bereavement Support Payment. LBG stands for Lloyds Banking Group, so the phrase usually means money released from a Lloyds, Halifax or Bank of Scotland account after a death. All three sit under the same banking group, and none publishes a fixed release limit online (Halifax bereavement support). Start with how to notify a bank after someone dies.
There is no general bereavement payment for next of kin in the UK. Bereavement Support Payment is paid only to a surviving husband, wife, civil partner or eligible cohabiting partner. An adult child, a sibling or a parent cannot claim it. Being next of kin carries no automatic entitlement to a state payment.
Bereavement Support Payment replaced three older benefits in April 2017: Widowed Parent's Allowance, Bereavement Allowance and Bereavement Payment. The single new benefit pays one first payment plus up to 18 monthly instalments, instead of an open-ended weekly allowance. Deaths before 6 April 2017 are still assessed under the older rules rather than the current ones.
No, but a cohabiting partner qualifies only if they have dependent children or were pregnant when their partner died, a condition that has applied since 9 February 2023. Married couples and civil partners face no such condition. Every claimant still needs a partner who died on or after 6 April 2017.
Bereavement Support Payment is tax-free, and you do not declare it on a Self Assessment return. Bereavement Support Payment is also ignored as income for Universal Credit, Housing Benefit and other means-tested benefits. The exception is capital: the first payment counts as savings after 12 months, which can reduce a means-tested benefit.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Individual circumstances vary. If you are dealing with an estate, consider taking advice from a solicitor who specialises in probate. For other guidance specific to your circumstances, speak to a funeral director, Citizens Advice, or a regulated financial adviser.