WE WERE TOO BUSY TO MARRY
GILL Lavery and her fiance Paolo shared a wonderful life together. They met in 2009, got engaged the following year, bought a house and started their family with the arrival of a son in 2016. But then Paolo suddenly died in July 2017.
‘We’d never got round to getting married,’ says Gill. ‘We were so busy with life, it didn’t happen.’
Initially, Gill was not entitled to bereavement support payments, because she and Paolo were not married. She is delighted the rule change means she should now receive a backdated sum, although it will not be as much as if they had been married. Gill will receive five monthly payments of £350, totalling £1,750, rather than the £9,800 she would have received if they had been married. She said: ‘This is about respecting people’s rights and giving these children what they deserve.’