Children and childcare
Bereavement Support Payment: what you get after a partner dies
A lump sum and 18 monthly payments for a widowed partner under State Pension age, whatever their income, if the claim is made in time.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Bereavement Support Payment is paid by the DWP to someone whose husband, wife, civil partner or cohabiting partner has died, if they were under State Pension age at the time. The higher rate, for a parent getting Child Benefit or a woman who was pregnant, is a one-off £3,500 followed by 18 monthly payments of £350, £9,800 in all. The standard rate is £2,500 plus 18 payments of £100, £4,300 in all. The rates were not raised in April 2026. It is not means-tested, so earnings and savings make no difference, and the partner who died must have paid National Insurance contributions in any one tax year since 1975 or have died from an accident at work or industrial disease. Timing is critical: the full amount needs a claim within 3 months of the death, the lump sum is lost after 12 months and nothing is paid after 21 months. For a year after the first payment it does not affect other benefits.
Bereavement Support Payment: what a claim brings
Total you would receive
£9,800
| One-off payment | £3,500 |
| Monthly payments | 18 × £350 |
| Lost by claiming late | £0 |
Our estimate from the GOV.UK claim limits; the Bereavement Service decides the exact number of payments.
The two rates
| Rate | Who gets it | One-off payment | Monthly payments | Most you can get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higher | Married or civil partners with Child Benefit for a child at home, or pregnant; all eligible cohabiting partners | £3,500 | 18 × £350 | £9,800 |
| Standard | Married or civil partners without a child getting Child Benefit | £2,500 | 18 × £100 | £4,300 |
The higher rate depends on the Child Benefit position at the date of death. It applies if you were getting Child Benefit for a child living with you, if the Child Benefit Office had told you that you were entitled to it even if you chose not to be paid, or if you were pregnant. A widow whose youngest child had already left education a month before the death gets the standard rate. If your partner was the one receiving Child Benefit, make a new Child Benefit claim in your own name before claiming Bereavement Support Payment.
The amounts are fixed sums and were not up-rated in April 2026, unlike most benefits. They are paid into a bank, building society or credit union account.
Two households show the gap between the rates. Sarah, 41, was married with two children at primary school when her husband died; she claims within a month and receives £3,500 straight away, then £350 a month for a year and a half, £9,800 altogether. David, 58, whose wife died after their children had grown up, gets £2,500 and £100 a month, £4,300 in all, even though his loss of household income may be just as large.
Who can claim
The eligibility rules require that, when your partner died, you were under State Pension age, living in the UK or a country that pays UK bereavement benefits, and married, in a civil partnership or living together as if married. You cannot claim while in prison. Your partner must have either paid a certain level of Class 1 or Class 2 National Insurance contributions in any one tax year since 6 April 1975, or died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work.
The contribution test looks at any single tax year, not a whole working life. If you are not sure whether your partner paid enough, claim anyway: the Bereavement Service checks the record and tells you. Nothing about your own earnings, savings or other income is looked at, which is why a widow on a good salary gets the same as one with no income.
The claim deadlines and what they cost
The single most common way to lose money is to claim late. GOV.UK sets three cut-offs: within 3 months of the death you get the lump sum and all 18 monthly payments; between 3 and 12 months you still get the lump sum but only some monthly payments; between 12 and 21 months the lump sum is gone and only some monthly payments remain; after 21 months you usually get nothing. The reason is that monthly payments can be backdated by 3 months under regulation 19 of the Claims and Payments Regulations, so each month of delay beyond that removes a payment. The table shows our estimate at the higher rate.
| Claim made after the death | One-off payment | Monthly payments | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 months | £3,500 | 18 | £9,800 |
| 5 months | £3,500 | 16 | £9,100 |
| 9 months | £3,500 | 12 | £7,700 |
| 13 months | £0 | 8 | £2,800 |
| 18 months | £0 | 3 | £1,050 |
| 22 months | £0 | 0 | £0 |
There is one exception to the 21-month limit: if the cause of death was only recently confirmed, for example after a long inquest, a later claim may still be accepted. Ring the Bereavement Service helpline in that case.
Reaching State Pension age during the payments
If you reach State Pension age within 18 months of your partner’s death, GOV.UK warns that you may get fewer monthly payments. A widower close to that age should still claim at once: the lump sum is unaffected, and the State Pension amount page covers what he will receive once his pension starts.
Effect on other benefits
For 12 months from the first payment, Bereavement Support Payment does not affect means-tested benefits such as Universal Credit and Housing Benefit. After that year, money left over from the lump sum can count as capital if you renew or start a claim. A parent who receives £3,500 and keeps it in a savings account would see it treated as savings from the second year, which matters only if total capital then passes the Universal Credit threshold of £6,000. Report the payments to your benefits office when they begin.
How to claim
You can claim online, by phone through the Bereavement Service helpline or by post on form BSP1. You need your National Insurance number, your partner’s National Insurance number, the date of death and your bank details. If you are abroad, the International Pension Centre takes the claim. Northern Ireland has its own phone and postal route.
A parent should also check Child Benefit is in their name and report the death on any Universal Credit claim, since the award will be reassessed. If the children are being brought up by a relative after both parents have died, Guardian’s Allowance is the payment to look at.