§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the time limit is for claiming Bereavement(a) Allowance and (b) Payment; what powers exist to extend the limit in individual cases; and in what circumstances these powers are used. [88470]
§ Malcolm WicksWe want bereaved people to claim and receive the help that they and their families are entitled to when they need it—immediately after the bereavement. Most people do: more than four-fifths claim within four or five weeks of their loss.
Entitlement to Bereavement Allowance lasts for 52 weeks after the death of a spouse. If the claim for Bereavement Allowance is made within three months of the death, the benefit will be paid for the full 52 weeks. Where a claim is made more than three months after the death occurred, benefit is paid from the date of claim for the balance of the 52-week period.
There are no powers to extend the three-month time limit for claims for the full 52 weeks benefit. However, there are special rules for cases in which a death is not confirmed until some time after it has occurred, for example, following a disappearance.
Bereavement Payment, a one-off lump sum, must currently be claimed within three months of the death of a spouse. However, we laid amending regulations on 24 October 2002, which extend the time limit within which the lump sum Bereavement Payment may be claimed to 12 months in respect of deaths that occur on or after 1 April 2003. This aligns it with the period for which Bereavement Allowance can be paid. We believe this is a sensible alteration that will simplify the scheme for everyone, while remaining compatible with underlying benefit entitlement rules.