Campaigning News

Championing change: Cathy’s story

Aug 2024

Cathy Brokenshire has surprised herself since her husband – the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP – died in October 2021 at the age of 53. A lifelong non-smoker, his lung cancer diagnosis came as a huge sho…

WAY calls on the new Government to stand up for bereaved families

Jul 2024

The charity WAY Widowed and Young has written to the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall asking for her urgent support for bereaved families, whose needs have been overlooked in r…

Campaign to extend bereavement support payments: Sophie’s story

Jul 2024

When Sophie’s husband Paul died in 2023, she was 17 weeks pregnant. Her Bereavement Support Payments are due to stop just after her baby turns one. Here is Sophie’s story…

Urgent: Deadline for retrospective bereavement benefits

Jan 2024

Deadline for cohabiting parents to claim full retrospective bereavement benefits closing soon - find details...

Looking back on 2023

Dec 2023

We are so incredibly grateful to everyone who took part in an event, donated or raised money for WAY. Your support means everything to us and our members. We look back on just a few of the highlights …

Blank Space: Kelly’s fight for equality

Nov 2023

It was a few days after her fiancé Jordan’s funeral that former WAY member Kelly found out she was pregnant. Jordan had gone for a night out in Retford in Nottinghamshire with friends when he was atta…

Find the 21k

Sept 2023

Find out more on the campaign pages of our website and help us to find the 21,000 people who may be eligible for retrospective payments.

Joby's Story

Jun 2023

Joby writes how the recent change in the law to extend bereavement support to parents who weren’t married or in a civil partnership has impacted her…

Dying Matters: death, dying and grief in the workplace

May 2023

We are supporting Hospice UK’s #DyingMatters campaign. During Dying Matters Awareness Week, they are encouraging everyone to come together to talk about death, dying and grief in the workplace.

Ian's Story: Challenging National Insurance discrimination

Apr 2023

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 had…

Standing up to discrimination: Daniel's Story

Apr 2023

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… 

Extending Bereavement Support Payments: Lauren’s story

Mar 2023

When Lauren’s husband Rob died last June, she started to receive the first of 18 monthly instalments of Bereavement Support Payment to help support herself and her daughter, Amelia. Although she was g…

Laura Banks’ story: challenging injustice all the way to the Supreme Court

Feb 2023

We asked Laura Banks from Siobhan McLaughlin’s legal team to share her perspective on taking Siobhan’s case all the way to the highest court in the land – and winning!

Siobhan's Story: Cohabiting Couples Campaign

Feb 2023

When Siobhan discovered through conversations with Citizen’s Advice that parents who were not married or in a civil partnership were unable to claim the support available at that time to married paren…

Kathy's Story: Cohabiting Couples Campaign

Feb 2023

WAY Ambassador Kathy Ford lost her partner Keith in November 2018 to a sudden heart attack. They had been together for 19 years and had two sons together. In June 2019, Kathy gave evidence to the Work…

Elanor shares her story to support our Cohabiting Couples Campaign

Feb 2023

Elanor’s partner Robin died in 2005 after a motorbike accident. She was pregnant with their only daughter Sophie when Robin died and has struggled for the past 17 years to bring up Sophie as a lone pa…

CAMPAIGN SUCCESS! Bereavement benefits extended to cohabiting parents

Feb 2023

We are delighted to announce that from Thursday 9 February, cohabiting parents will be able to claim the same bereavement benefits to help bring up their grieving children as if they had been married …

Orlanda's Story: Widowed, Pregnant and Challenging Injustices

Feb 2023

WAY Widowed and Young Ambassador Orlanda Bryars was featured on The One Show on 7 February alongside fellow WAY members Joana and Kelly. Here she highlights the heart-breaking injustices facing pregna…

Celebrating campaign success: Georgia's Story

Feb 2023

Georgia Elms was widowed in 2006 when her husband Jon died suddenly from meningitis aged just 38 – the next day she discovered she was pregnant with the couple’s second child.

Diary of WPA application for an unmarried parent

Feb 2023

Elanor is sharing a diary as she goes through the application process for retrospective payments under the Widowed Parent's Allowance (WPA).

At WAY we pride ourselves on providing support, free of judgement, to anyone who is facing widowhood at a young age. We are also committed to fighting injustices that young widowed people may face.