Unmarried mother wins access to Widowed Parents Allowance

[FlippyNeck]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-45355028#

I've been waiting for this ruling and I'm delighted to see that the Supreme Court have made their judgement in Siobhan McLaughlin's favour. Huge respect to her for fighting this all the way, whilst grieving her partner and caring for her children.

I think so many people wouldn't realise that they would be in a similar position if their partner died and they weren't married. Like me. It it grossly unfair that this benefit is based on the deceased's NI contributions - why should being married or not, affect a benefit that is there to support children?

Any MN legal eagles around who can give any insight to what this will mean for others in the same situation, both historically (i.e. will backdated claims be valid) and now, for new claims?

Xenia, not quite sure what you mean, WPA is a contributory benefit (like pension, income based JSA, etc) and people qualify for it depending on whether they've paid NI contributions and if so, how much. As you say though, it's not 'set aside' - you don't build up your own 'pot' as you would with a private pension, but you do have the years in which you made contributions recorded and contributory benefits are based on that.

I do not agree with the statement "if you want the benefits of marriage, then get married"
The money is to the benefit of the child who could not care less if a parent was married or not. A parent and income was lost the day one died.
I receive bereavement allowance as I was legally married but verbally separated (amicably and with love), so I get some money to help raise our child for a limited time.
We would gladly go without the money if he was still alive.
He loved his daughter and contributed to her upbringing as much as he could, regular payment and help with childcare costs, etc
This money has helped keep things normal during the abnormal.
To think that I would have had to have tightened the belt, take away her treats, club, days out distractions, when I was listening to her scream and cry out for her Dad, would have been awful.
Her Dad paid his NI, he's not going to get a govt pension, utilise the NHS, etc He was 41yo, he's saved the govt a lot of money by dying so soon if you want to think of it coldly.
I don't feel guilty about getting bereavement allowance to help with household costs and spend on our daughter. Any remaining parent should also be entitled whether they were married or not.
The money should not be put aside for later on as compensation in adulthood, the kid needs it now so that everything else remains the same besides the parent dying. Can you imagine a parent dying then also being told that you can no longer go to dance class or a day out or a school trip because you can no longer afford it? My DD escape from the abnormal world of grief was school, clubs and trips with friends, not having the money would have taken two of those things away.