Child victims of the cruellest cut
As bereavement benefit is snatched away, this mother must sell her home She is just one of hundreds of widows facing anguish over an arbitrary deadline
THOUSANDS of families affected by an aggressive cut in funding for bereaved parents are struggling to plug gaps in their household income. The Government has stripped back financial support for grieving children, under plans it said would ‘modernise’ the system and restore fairness. Those affected say it is their children who are suffering the consequences.
The Mail on Sunday looks at how families can shield themselves from financial crisis following a personal tragedy.
FORGOTTEN CHILDREN
AS A widowed mum of two, Hannah Walsh is having to sell her family home because she can no longer afford the mortgage. Hannah, 35, lost her husband Ed in May last year to suicide. He was just 34.
She works four days a week in public relations in London and receives help from family to pay for childcare for Freddie, aged four, and 18-month-old Orla.
For the past year, a monthly £350 bereavement support payment has helped prop up her family financially – as well as keep her house in Redhill, Surrey.
But the payment will stop in November. In a cruel twist she discovered that people in her exact situation, but whose husbands or wives died before a little-known rule change on April 6, 2017, will continue to receive around £493 a month until their children are grown up.
Essentially, two people in identical situations claiming maximum support could receive a difference of £100,000 over the course of their children’s upbringing.
Hannah asks: ‘Why take help away from people who need it at a time when they are most vulnerable?
‘I feel disappointed because it is money to benefit my children and life is already harder for them than it should be.’
Hannah is building the courage to sell the home she shared with Ed. It is an emotional undertaking she dreads, having only recently found ways to cope with her grief.
She adds: ‘I feel nervous about moving and Freddie says he does not want to. I have lived in Redhill for 11 years – it is my home. I am losing that and I feel emotional.
‘But I cannot afford to pay both the mortgage and childcare for my children. I need to move closer to family who can help.’
Hannah is a member of national charity WAY, which stands for Widowed and Young, a support group for people aged 50 or under who have lost a partner.
She adds: ‘The last thing people like me want to worry about after the emotional trauma of losing a partner is whether they can afford to put the heating on or fill their car with petrol. The cut in bereavement support is heartless.’
HOW FUNDING HAS CHANGED
THOSE bereaved before April 6, 2017, receive from the Govern---
ment a maxi mum £113.70 per week – around £493 a month – until they are no longer entitled to child benefit.
This i s usually until a child reaches age 18 but can be up to age 20 for those in approved education or training. The amount given is based on national insurance con- t tributions that were paid by the deceased when they were alive, acknowledging the fact they will not be drawing benefits in the future such as the state pension. Known as the widowed parent’s allowance, it was paid in addition to a oneoff tax-free bereavement payment of £2,000. Under the new rules, a surviving parent is given a lump sum of £3,500 followed by 18 monthly payments of £350.
THE TASK FORCE
LAST year, comparison website comparethemarket brought
together the ‘Life Matters’ task force to champion the needs of grieving families.
It comprises experts from charities, support groups and people coping with the loss of a partner.
Its research reveals that threequarters of families affected by the death of a parent are worse off under the new bereavement support payment system.
It also discovered there is no central record of the number of children affected by the death of a parent.
Alison Penny, who works for the Childhood Bereavement Network, says this lack of record keeping causes children who have lost a parent to become ‘invisible’.
Task force chair is Ben BrooksDutton, whose wife Desreen was killed by an elderly driver while walking along a pavement in 2012. Ben and son Jackson, aged seven, who was two at the time, narrowly missed being hurt.
He writes a regular blog called Life as a Widower and campaigns for better support services for bereaved parents and grieving children.
He says: ‘The Office for National Statistics records the number of children affected every year by divorce. So you can find out if a child’s parent is no longer married, but not if they are dead.’
The group has come up with a series of recommendations for policymakers to act on. These include putting details of dependent children on death certificates for both married and unmarried parents. Also all teachers and carers of children should receive training on how to manage and support a bereaved child.
In addition, Life Matters would like bereavement issues to be added to the national curriculum, al l organisations t o have a bereavement policy and for the Government to consult on how it can better support f amilies impacted by the death of a parent.
Brooks-Dutton adds: ‘There is so much more that should be done for bereaved families.’
Dan Hutson of comparethemarket says: ‘We do not know what is around the corner but what is fact is the adverse impact these bereavement funding changes are having on families.
‘We encourage people to take family financial protection into their own hands by purchasing life insurance. It gives financial peace of mind that loved ones will be looked after.’