The Government is proposing to stop Widowed Parents Allowance after a year. Those who receive it now will not be affected, but people whose partners or spouses die in the future will be.
At the moment it is paid monthly, and is a lifeline for bereaved families. It is based on the partner who died's national insurance contributions, and it is also taxed. It is certainly not enough to live on on its own, and most people who receive it work too.
It helps to pay bills, including childcare for a working parent who has lost their partner and their income. Partners will have paid many years contributions towards their state pension which they will never collect, so the least that should be done is that their partners and children get help at a terrible time.
Anyone who thinks that you are over a bereavement after a year is deluding themselves. Please write to your MPs about this. I have written to Lord Freud, the architect of these changes, as well as my MP.
Please see link below to Telegraph article. The debate contains very offensive language about saving bereaved parents from dependency and how receiving this benefit will discourage people from remarrying. Words fail me.
www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/rowena-mason/9392768/Widowed-parents-to-lose-up-to-80000-in-benefits.html
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Bereavement
Ending Widowed Parents Allowance after a year
39 replies
myfriendflicka · 18/08/2012 07:11
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NatashaBee ·
18/08/2012 20:51
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