Challenging National Insurance Discrimination
When the Government updated the bereavement support system in April 2017, they also changed the eligibility criteria for applicants. Now, in order to be eligible for Bereavement Support Payment, your late partner must have paid National Insurance for at least 25 weeks in one tax year since 6 April 1975 (or they must have died because of an accident at work or a disease caused by work).
This new eligibility criteria has denied bereavement benefits for several WAY members whose late partners weren’t able to work due to life-long illnesses or disability – depriving them of support at a time when they needed it most.
One of our members Daniel is challenging this discrimination. In September 2023, the Court of Appeal dismissed the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) appeal of a High Court decision from September 2022 in Daniel’s favour. However, this was overturned in February 2024 and a Supreme Court hearing is pending in early 2025.
This legal challenge, led by the Public Law Project, is still ongoing. We will bring more news as soon as we hear it.
In September 2022, WAY member Daniel won a landmark High Court victory that could help dozens more widowed people claim Bereavement Support Payments in future…
Ian's Story: Challenging National Insurance discrimination
When he was widowed to Covid-19 in 2020, WAY volunteer Ian from Coventry was shocked to hear that his family wasn’t entitled to Bereavement Support Payments either, because – like Suzzi – his wife hadn’t paid enough National Insurance contributions during her lifetime due to ill health.