A woman and her daughter has missed out on £45,000 of benefits since the death of her partner - because they were not married. Alice Evans is now campaigning for a change in the law.
At the moment, those who are not married do not receive bereavement benefits. Alice, from Derbyshire, says the law is outdated and people in her position should be entitled to the same support, reports DerbyshireLive.
Bereavement Support Payments were introduced in 2017, replacing the Widowed Parent Allowance and other payments. Alice's partner, Daniel Sillwood, died suddenly in his sleep in 2014.
He worked as an inspector at Rolls-Royce and was the family main earner. It left Alice struggling to pay the bills on her own.
She has been lobbying her MP, Nigel Mills, to press to change the law. Alice says he has worked at achieving that, but she is growing frustrated and has now started a petition to call for the change.
Had she been married, she and her daughter would have received around £45,000 over the past eight years. Alice said that would have meant a better life for their daughter, who is now 10. She was just two years old when her dad passed away aged 35.
But Alice added that this it was not just about money, as Daniel’s death, from pneumonia, meant the family lost a “very devoted father and partner”.
She said: “He thought the world of Imogen would do anything for her. He would come home from his night shift and take her to nursery in the morning, then come back home in the evenings and cook meals. He was a family orientated person.”
Alice thinks the current law is not fit for purpose in 2022 as fewer people today decide to marry but still live in a family setting with people dependent on them. She said: “We were living together as man and wife, we just never got married. Maybe we would have one day - we just didn’t get the opportunity.
“The payment would be around £120 a week. It’s unfair because I wasn’t married to him but still felt the benefit. The bereavement payment used to be called the ‘Widowed Parent Allowance’. I’m a widowed parent - I don’t see the relevance.
“When he passed away he was the breadwinner. We lost the wage that he brought in. I was left raising a child and running the household single-handedly. Imogen would be able to live a life today that she would have if her father was alive.”
Alice added that she believes there are over 20,000 other people in the UK who are in a similar situation to her own who would be eligible for this benefit. She has also lobbied Mr Mills, for change and he has sent a letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey, who says changes to the law are being made.
Mr Mills, Conservative MP for Amber Valley, said: “The remedial order goes through Parliament in two stages, taking 60 days each. The first one was completed earlier this year, we're waiting for the second one, which will come when the consultation replies to the first have been considered.
“I've asked the Secretary of State for an update on the timetable but have not had a reply yet. The change is going to happen and the catch up payments will be made, it’s just a parliamentary process that needs completing, sadly that's not always as quick as we'd all like.”
