Ministers finally pledged last July to extend Bereavement Support Payment to unmarried couples, if they have children and live together. Currently only married people can get the benefit - which is worth up to £10,000 for parents who lose their partner before pension age. “The State has decided because their parents are not married, those children must be pushed into poverty,” she told the Commons. She told MPs the “destitution of orphan children” has been made worse by the rise in deaths due to Covid. The High Court then also struck down the marriage rule in its replacement, Bereavement Support Payment, in February 2020.

Source: Daily Mirror May 19, 2021 18:00 UTC