MPs say equal access to bereavement benefits welcome but flaws remain

The Joint Committee on Human Rights has called on the Government to close loopholes that could see families that are neither married nor in civil partnerships missing out on bereavement benefits. In a report published today, the Committee welcomes the broad thrust of Government proposals to amend legislation to remedy discrimination that saw cohabiting partners and their children blocked from receiving Widowed Parent’s Allowance or higher rate Bereavement Support Payment.

The Committee is satisfied that the Remedial Order largely succeeds in remedying the discriminatory effect of the law, but the report does identify one exception. It calls for further changes to be made to ensure bereaved pregnant women who are not in any legal union are entitled to the same benefits as those who are married or in a civil partnership. It also calls for the benefit to be split in cases where the new system means more than one person is eligible, instead of giving the entire benefit to a single claimant as the current system inevitably requires.

Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP said: “It is right that the Government has responded positively to the courts finding that these bereavement benefits were incompatible with human rights and brought forward legislation that removes whether or not you’re in a legal union from the equation when deciding who is entitled to Widowed Parent’s Allowance or higher rate Bereavement Support Payment.

“However, as it stands the proposals still create a discrepancy in the entitlement for pregnant women and I would urge the Government to amend the remedial order to fix this.

“The benefit is there to provide support to families with children at a desperately difficult time. This is not when we should be questioning what is and isn’t a family. The only question is how do we ensure that bereaved partners with children receive the support they are entitled to.”

The Widowed Parent’s Allowance and higher rate Bereavement Support Payment were established to provide financial support to families with children who had lost a parent. Cases at the Supreme Court and High Court found that existing rules over who was entitled to claim the benefits were incompatible with human rights law. By restricting benefits to those who were married or in a civil partnership, the courts found that it discriminated against cohabiting partners and their children without justification.

In response, the Government has brought forward proposals to amend the legislation governing these benefits so that they extend to cohabiting partners and to implement the change retroactively to 30 August 2018.

The Joint Committee says it is largely satisfied that the Government’s proposals would ensure that bereavement benefits would treat cohabiting partners with children the same as married couples and civil partners. The report warns, however, that the remedial order would fail to provide equal treatment for pregnant cohabiting partners and calls for it to be amended to ensure they are entitled to the same benefits as pregnant spouses and civil partners.

It also welcomes the intention to apply the changes retroactively to give recourse to those who have missed out on payments, although it proposes amending the date to the first High Court of Northern Ireland declaration of incompatibility 9 February 2016 to encompass more of those who were wrongly denied support.

The Joint Committee also highlights potential unfairness in cases where there are two potential benefit claimants. It proposes that in such cases the benefit should be split evenly, rather than one claimant receiving the full benefit and the other receiving nothing.

The Joint Committee finds that the remedial order should be amended to ensure that those who were unsuccessful applicants under the old system are not prevented from making a claim now. The Government should also ensure the changes to the bereavement benefits system are widely promoted to ensure those newly entitled to receiving the benefit are aware of how to access it.