Widow's Pension UK: what you are entitled to and how to claim

This guide explains what replaced the widow's pension, how much Bereavement Support Payment is worth, who qualifies, and how to claim before the deadlines reduce what you receive.

Does the widow's pension still exist?

No. The old Widow's Pension, Bereavement Allowance and Widowed Parent's Allowance were closed to new claims and replaced by a single benefit, Bereavement Support Payment, for deaths on or after 6 April 2017. If the person died before that date, different rules can apply and some people are still receiving legacy payments, but for any recent death the benefit is Bereavement Support Payment.

The term widow's pension survives in everyday use, which is why people still search for it. What they are almost always looking for is the money a surviving spouse or civil partner can claim after a death, and that is now Bereavement Support Payment.

What is Bereavement Support Payment?

Bereavement Support Payment is a benefit for people whose husband, wife or civil partner has died. It is paid as a first larger payment followed by monthly instalments, and it is tax-free. It does not affect your other benefits for a year, and it is not counted as income for tax credits or universal credit in that period.

There are two rates.

The higher rate is for people who were getting Child Benefit, or were entitled to it, or who were pregnant when their partner died. It pays a first payment of £3,500 and then £350 a month for 18 months, a maximum of £9,800.

The standard rate is for everyone else who qualifies. It pays a first payment of £2,500 and then £100 a month for 18 months, a maximum of £4,300.

These amounts have been frozen since Bereavement Support Payment launched in 2017 and were not uprated for 2026 to 2027.

Who is eligible for Bereavement Support Payment?

You can claim if your husband, wife or civil partner died and you were under State Pension age when they died and living in the UK or a country that pays bereavement benefits. Since 9 February 2023, cohabiting partners who were not married or in a civil partnership can also claim, provided you were living together and responsible for a child at the time of the death.

Your late partner must also have met a National Insurance condition. Either they paid National Insurance contributions for at least 25 weeks in one tax year at some point in their working life, or they died from an accident at work or a disease caused by work. Where the death was caused by their job, the National Insurance record does not matter.

You cannot claim if you were divorced from the person who died, or if you are in prison. Reaching State Pension age also rules out Bereavement Support Payment, though you may be able to inherit part of your late partner's State Pension instead.

How to claim, and the deadlines that matter

Claim within three months of the death to receive the full entitlement. You can still claim up to 21 months after the death, but you lose one monthly payment for every month you claim beyond the first three, so late claims are worth less. The first payment is still available for the whole 21-month window.

You can claim in three ways. Apply online at gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment, call the Bereavement Service on 0800 151 2012, or complete form BSP1 and post it. If you use the government's Tell Us Once service when you register the death, it can start the Bereavement Support Payment claim for you, which is the simplest route for most people.

Have the deceased's National Insurance number, your own National Insurance number, and your bank details ready. Payments go into your bank account, with the first payment usually arriving within a few weeks of a successful claim.

Other bereavement benefits and pension inheritance

Bereavement Support Payment is not the only thing a surviving spouse may be entitled to, and it is worth checking the others.

You may be able to inherit part of your husband, wife or civil partner's State Pension, depending on their National Insurance record and when each of you reached or reaches State Pension age. This is separate from Bereavement Support Payment and is dealt with by the Pension Service.

If you are bringing up a child whose parent has died and you are not their parent, Guardian's Allowance may apply. War Widow's or Widower's Pension is a separate scheme for deaths linked to service in the armed forces, and it is not affected by Bereavement Support Payment.

Private and workplace pensions are different again. Many pay a survivor's pension or a lump sum to a spouse or nominated beneficiary, and these are not automatic, so you claim them from each scheme. Our guide on what happens to a pension when someone dies explains how survivor benefits work. If you think there may be an old workplace pension you cannot trace, the Pension Tracing Service finds the scheme's contact details for free.

Is Bereavement Support Payment taxed or counted as income?

Bereavement Support Payment is tax-free, and it is ignored for your other benefits for twelve months from the first payment. That means it does not reduce Universal Credit, tax credits, Housing Benefit or the other means-tested benefits during that first year, so claiming it does not cost you elsewhere.

After twelve months, money from Bereavement Support Payment that you have saved rather than spent can start to count towards the savings limits on means-tested benefits. If you are on Universal Credit or another income-related benefit, this is worth planning for, because savings above £6,000 begin to affect those benefits and savings above £16,000 usually end them.

What if your partner died before 6 April 2017?

Different benefits apply for deaths before 6 April 2017, and some people are still receiving them. The main one is Widowed Parent's Allowance, a weekly payment for a surviving parent with dependent children. It is closed to new claims, but people who were already receiving it can continue until their circumstances change.

Bereavement Allowance and the original Widow's Pension worked in a similar way and are also closed to new claims. If your partner died before April 2017 and you never claimed at the time, take advice quickly, because the rules and any transitional entitlement are specific to your dates.

War Widow's or Widower's Pension

The War Widow's or Widower's Pension is a separate scheme for deaths linked to service in the armed forces, and it is not affected by Bereavement Support Payment. It is paid where a husband, wife or civil partner died as a result of their service, and it is tax-free. Claims go to Veterans UK rather than the Bereavement Service, so it is a different route from the one above.

Inheriting your partner's State Pension

You may be able to inherit an amount based on your late partner's State Pension, and whether you can depends on their National Insurance record and when each of you reached or reaches State Pension age. Under the older State Pension system, a surviving spouse could often inherit a substantial part of their partner's pension. Under the new State Pension, the rules are tighter, and inheritance is limited to certain protected amounts. Contact the Pension Service to find out what applies to your situation, and trace any workplace pensions the person held using the Pension Tracing Service.

Common reasons a claim is refused or reduced

The most common reason a claim is refused is that the claimant had reached State Pension age when their partner died, because Bereavement Support Payment is only for people below that age. The next is that the late partner did not meet the National Insurance condition and the death was not caused by their work.

Claiming late is the most common reason a claim is reduced rather than refused. Every month you wait beyond the first three costs one monthly payment, so a claim made a year after the death loses a large part of the monthly instalments even though it still pays the first lump sum. Being divorced from the person who died also rules out a claim, as does being in prison.

What counts as living together for a cohabiting claim

Cohabiting partners qualify where they were living together as if married and were responsible for a child at the time of the death. The rule changed on 9 February 2023 to include unmarried couples with children, after the previous limit to married couples and civil partners was found to be unlawful. Before that date, an unmarried partner could not claim at all.

You do not need to have shared finances or a joint tenancy to count as living together, but you do need to have been in a genuine ongoing relationship and living in the same household. The child element is the key condition: you must have been getting Child Benefit for a child you had with the deceased, or have been pregnant at the time of the death, or be responsible for a child who lived with you. Claims that were possible before the 2023 change can in some cases be backdated, so take advice if your partner died in the years just before it.

Where Bereavement Support Payment fits in the wider admin

Claiming Bereavement Support Payment is one task among many in the weeks after a death, and it sits alongside notifying pension schemes, closing accounts and telling every provider the person held. For the full running order, see what to do when someone dies.

Legacy Trail finds the accounts, pensions and services the person held and notifies them centrally, so you can claim what you are entitled to without spending weeks tracking down every provider and repeating the same details to each one. Start here: