BEREAVEMENT ALLOWANCE

What is it?

Bereavement Allowance (BA) is a weekly benefit paid for up to 52 weeks to a customer who is widowed or whose civil partner dies.

Basic qualifying conditions

In order to qualify for BA you must have no dependant children and have attained 45 years of age but are under State pension age at the date you became widowed or when your civil partner died.

There are also National Insurance Contribution conditions you must meet. You can download the appropriate Benefits and Contributions Guide section below - to find out more.

How much could I get and how am I paid?

Click here for Rates. You can be paid weekly by orders which you cash at a Post Office or you can have it paid direct into your bank/building society every 4 weeks.

BA is paid from the first pay day after your spouse's or civil partner's death or when Widowed Parent's Allowance ceases. BA is paid normally for a period of 52 weeks. If the contribution conditions are not fully satisfied and you are under 55 - the amount payable may be reduced.

How and when should I apply

Claims should be made as soon as possible but not later than 3 months after the spouse's or civil partner's death.

Use the claim form and return it to Head Office, Markwell House, Market Street, Douglas.

What else might I be able to claim?

Related benefits are:

• Widowed Parent's Allowance
• Bereavement Payment
• Funeral Payment

The following benefits can be paid in addition to Bereavement Allowance but are reduced by the amount of Bereavement Allowance in payment:

• Carer's Allowance
• Jobseeker's Allowance (Contribution-based)
• Incapacity Benefit
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Maternity Allowance
• Income Support

Retirement pension cannot be paid in addition to Bereavement Allowance.

To find out more about Bereavement Allowance, please download the documents below

Downloadable Documents
Bereavement Benefits (371 kb) Format: Acrobat PDF File A Guide to Bereavement Benefits
Section 10 - Benefits and Contributions Information Guide. (36 kb) Format: Acrobat PDF File This is an excerpt from our guide which outlines Bereavement Benefits.

You will need Adobe Acrobat to download documents that are PDFs, this is available free by following this link:

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