Bereavement benefits. Help for widows, widowers and surviving civil partners

Transcription

1 Bereavement benefits Hep for widows, widowers and surviving civi partners Bereavement Payment Widowed Parent s Aowance Bereavement Aowance This pack contains more information about bereavement benefits a bereavement benefits caim form. BB1 tes 05/16

2 What are bereavement benefits? We use bereavement benefits to mean any of these Bereavement Payment Widowed Parent s Aowance Bereavement Aowance. They are a based on your spouse or civi partner s Nationa Insurance (NI) contributions. By your spouse or civi partner we mean the person you were egay married to, or were in a civi partnership with, at the time of their death. For peope who ive or have ived in Scotand Pease get in touch with us if you ive or have ived in Scotand and you are not sure if you were egay married. Can I get bereavement benefits? You may be abe to get bereavement benefits if your spouse or civi partner had paid enough NI contributions. You cannot get bereavement benefits if at the time of death you were divorced from your spouse, or your civi partnership had been dissoved, or you were iving together as if you were married, but you were not egay married, or you had remarried or formed a civi partnership, or you were iving with another person as if you were married. The information in these notes wi hep you see if you are abe to get any of the bereavement benefits. You can find out more about bereavement benefits at But if you are sti not sure if you can get bereavement benefit, caim anyway. 2

3 Bereavement Payment Answer these 3 questions to find out if you may be abe to get a Bereavement Payment. 1 Were you under state pension age when your spouse or civi partner died? 2 Was your spouse or civi partner under state pension age when they died? 3 Was your spouse or civi partner over state pension age when they died and not entited to a basic pension based on their own contributions? We ca this a category A pension. You may be abe to get a Bereavement Payment if you have answered to at east one of these questions, and if your spouse or civi partner had paid enough NI contributions. The way HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) coects Cass 2 NI contributions has changed from the 2015/16 tax year. This means the contributions wi be coected as part of the Sef-Assessment Tax return for the majority of customers and HMRC wi no onger coect Cass 2 NI contributions during the tax year. This may affect how much bereavement benefit we can pay you. HMRC can give you information on your ate spouse or civi partner's NI records and about paying Cass 2 NI contributions for your ate spouse or civi partner for benefit purposes. There is more information at If you are entited to a Bereavement Payment, it wi be paid as a ump sum. You may be abe to get Widowed Parent s Aowance or Bereavement Aowance as we as a Bereavement Payment. 3

4 Widowed Parent s Aowance Pease answer these questions to find out if you may be abe to get Widowed Parent s Aowance. 1 Are you entited to Chid Benefit for one of your chidren or one of your spouse or civi partner s chidren? 2 Are you entited to Chid Benefit but not getting it because you or your ate spouse or civi partner fe into the High Income Chid Benefit charge group? 3 Was your spouse or civi partner getting Chid Benefit? 4 If you are a woman, are you pregnant? You may be abe to get Widowed Parent s Aowance if you have answered to at east one of these questions, and your spouse or civi partner had paid enough NI contributions. But if you have answered to a these questions, you may sti be abe to get Bereavement Aowance. If you are entited to Widowed Parent s Aowance, the amount that you can get is based on the NI contributions of your spouse or civi partner. It may incude an Additiona Pension based on their earnings since It may aso incude an Additiona Pension based on caring responsibiities contribution-based Empoyment and Support Aowance, or Incapacity Benefit since Apri You can usuay get Widowed Parent s Aowance as ong as you are entited to Chid Benefit. If you fa into the High Income Chid Benefit charge group and you have not caimed Chid Benefit, you must do so for your caim for a Widowed Parent's Aowance to be considered. If you fa into this group pease contact HMRC to make your caim. 4

5 Widowed Parent s Aowance continued If you stop being entited to Chid Benefit within 52 weeks of the death of your spouse or civi partner, you may be abe to receive Bereavement Aowance for the remainder of the 52 weeks. This does not appy to you if you are a man whose wife died before 9 Apri If your ate spouse or civi partner was caiming Chid Benefit and you have not yet made a caim to transfer the Chid Benefit to your name, you must do so for your caim for a Widowed Parent's Aowance to be considered. If you fa into this group pease contact HMRC to make your caim. More information For more information go to teephone the HMRC Hepine on Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 8am to 4pm. If you have speech or hearing difficuties and use a textphone, the number to use is Bereavement Aowance Answer this question to find out if you may be abe to get Bereavement Aowance. 1 Were you aged 45 or over when your spouse or civi partner died? You may be abe to get Bereavement Aowance if you have answered to this question, and if your spouse or civi partner had paid enough NI contributions. If you are entited to Bereavement Aowance, the amount that you can get depends on your age when your spouse or civi partner died and your spouse or civi partner s NI contributions. If you were aged 55 or over, you may get the fu rate of Bereavement Aowance. But if you were aged under 55, you wi get ess than the fu amount. 5

6 Bereavement Aowance continued Bereavement Aowance cannot incude any Additiona Pension and is paid at the basic rate ony. You can usuay get Bereavement Aowance for 52 weeks. It wi stop if you become entited to State Pension before the end of the 52 weeks. To find out when you can get State Pension visit If you were getting Widowed Parent s Aowance for ess than 52 weeks and it stops because you are no onger entited to Chid Benefit, you may be abe to get Bereavement Aowance which is paid at the basic rate ony for the remainder of the 52 weeks, or unti you are entited to State Pension whichever comes first. How to caim Just fi in caim form BB1. We are sorry that we have to ask you some questions about your spouse or civi partner. This is because bereavement benefits are based on your spouse or civi partner s NI contributions. If you have any difficuty fiing in this caim form, someone ese can do it for you. You can ask a friend, a reative or an advice centre. Or ask at your Jobcentre Pus office. Pease make sure that you sign the Decaration in Part 7 of the caim form, if you can. When to caim You shoud send us the caim form BB1 as soon as possibe. You must send us your caim form within 3 months of the death of your spouse or civi partner. Faiure to do so may affect your entitement to benefit. If your spouse died on or after 1 Apri 2003 your caim for a Bereavement Payment can be accepted for up to 12 months. If your civi partner died on or after 5 December 2005 your caim for a Bereavement Payment can be accepted for up to 12 months. 6

7 More about benefits for widows, widowers and surviving civi partners Are benefits for widows, widowers and surviving civi partners affected by earnings? if you work, your bereavement benefit wi not go down because of the money that you earn. Are benefits for widows, widowers and surviving civi partners taxabe? Bereavement Payment This benefit is paid as a ump sum and is tax-free. Widowed Parent s Aowance or Bereavement Aowance These benefits are taxabe. If you have to pay tax, they are counted as part of your income when tax is worked out. What happens if you are aso entited to contribution-based Empoyment and Support Aowance or Incapacity Benefit? If you are getting contribution-based Empoyment and Support Aowance or Incapacity Benefit and the amount that you get is ess than your bereavement benefit, or your contribution-based Empoyment and Support Aowance stops because you have received it for 365 days you wi not ose money. We wi pay you an amount of benefit to make up your fu entitement. You wi pay tax on contribution-based Empoyment and Support Aowance from the first day you get it. 7

8 Hep and advice If you want more information about bereavement benefits, or any other benefit, or if you woud ike advice about empoyment and training opportunities, pease get in touch with your Jobcentre Pus office. You can find the phone number and address on the advert in the business numbers section of the phone book. Look under Jobcentre Pus. You can get a bereavement benefits caim pack (form BB1) by phoning If you have speech or hearing difficuties and use a textphone, ca on You can downoad a caim pack at Pease compete the form and send to the Jobcentre Pus address on the caim form or to your nearest Jobcentre Pus office as soon as possibe. Vountary organisations that may be abe to advise you Your oca Citizens Advice Bureau. Cruse Bereavement Care offers emotiona support to the bereaved. You can contact them on Hepine Emai hepine@cruse.org.uk Website This organisation is not abe to give advice on bereavement payments, other benefits or financia matters. 8 Printed on recyced paper BB1_052016_013_002

9 Bereavement benefits Your caim for bereavement benefits Your benefit payments may be deayed if you do not answer a the questions on this form that appy to you and your spouse or civi partner send us a the documents we ask for. If you cannot do this, get in touch with us straight away. Pease te us about any other persona detais you think we shoud know about in Part 6. For instance, other names or recent previous addresses. Other organisations who might be abe to hep you Your oca Citizens Advice Bureau. Cruse Bereavement Care offers emotiona support to the bereaved. You can contact them on Hepine Emai hepine@cruse.org.uk Website This organisation is not abe to give advice on bereavement payments, other benefits or financia matters. How the Department for Work and Pensions coects and uses information When we coect information about you we may use it for any of our purposes. These incude deaing with: socia security benefits and aowances chid support empoyment and training financia panning for retirement occupationa and persona pension schemes. We may get information about you from others for any of our purposes if the aw aows us to do so. We may aso share information with certain other organisations if the aw aows us to. To find out more about how we use information, visit our website at or contact any of our offices.

10 Part 1: About you Pease fi in this form with BLACK INK and in CAPITALS. Letters Numbers Letter Nationa Insurance (NI) number You can find this on your Nationa Insurance (NI) numbercard, etters from the Department for Work and Pensions or paysips. If you do not know your NI number, have you ever had one or used one at any time? Surname or famiy name Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms A other names, in fu A other surnames or famiy names you have been known by or are using now. Pease incude maiden name, a former married or civi partnership names and a changes of famiy name where appropriate. Address Home phone number Mobie phone number Code Number Postcode Emai address where we can contact you Pease confirm if this emai address is persona private secure Date of birth Pease send us your origina birth certificate, if you have it. Do not send us a photocopy. But if you do not have your birth certificate, do not deay sending in this caim form. If you prefer, you can take your birth certificate to your Jobcentre Pus office. Take this form as we. They wi sign this form to show that they have seen your certificate. Are you sending your birth certificate with this form? We wi send your birth certificate back to you as soon as we can. 2

11 Part 1: About you continued What was the date of your marriage or civi partnership? If you converted or changed your civi partnership into a marriage or married your civi partner, enter the date your marriage is treated as starting on. Pease send us your origina marriage or civi partnership certificate, if you have it. Do not send us a photocopy. But if you do not have your marriage or civi partnership certificate, do not deay sending in this caim form. If you prefer, you can take your marriage or civi partnership certificate to your Jobcentre Pus office. Take this form as we. They wi sign this form to show that they have seen your certificate. Are you sending your marriage or civi partnership certificate with this form? We wi send your marriage or civi partnership certificate back to you as soon as we can. Under what aw/reigion was the ceremony conducted? Pease te us the country where your marriage or civi partnership took pace. Did your marriage end in divorce or has your civi partnership been dissoved? Are you egay separated? Are you, or have you been iving with someone ese as if you were married to them, or as if you are civi partners? Pease te us about this at Part 6. 3

12 Part 2: About your spouse or civi partner Your spouse or civi partner s Nationa Insurance (NI) number Your spouse or civi partner s surname Your spouse or civi partner s other names Address if it was different from your address. If you do not know their address, write t known. Your spouse or civi partner s date of birth What date did your spouse or civi partner die? Letters Numbers Letter Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Postcode Pease send us the Certificate of Registration of Death if you have not aready sent it to us. You can get this from the registrar, for free, in Great Britain ony. If you have an interim death certificate or a etter from the coroner confirming the death, pease send it to us. Did your spouse or civi partner die more than 3 months ago? Pease te us beow why you did not caim earier. If you need more space, pease use Part 6. Were they getting a State Pension or any other benefits? Pease say which benefits. 4

13 Part 2: About your spouse or civi partner continued Did they pay NI contributions during the 2 years up to 5 Apri before they died? Did they pay these contributions through an empoyer? Pease te us about this. Pease te us about any empoyers they had during this period. Empoyer 1 Empoyer 2 Empoyer s name and address If you know that pay is deat with at a different address, pease give us this address and phone number. Postcode Postcode Cock or payro number If not known, te us their job or department. Date they started work for this empoyer Date they stopped work for this empoyer If they had more than 2 empoyers, te us about them in Part 6. We may have to get in touch with their empoyers. We wi te them if they have to pay you a pension from your spouse or civi partner s pension scheme. Were they sef-empoyed? Pease te us about this. Were they a member of HM Forces when they died? Were they getting a War Pension when they died? Pease te us their reference number. This is on any etters about their War Pension. 5

14 Part 2: About your spouse or civi partner continued If your spouse or civi partner died because of an accident at work, or because of a disease or iness connected with their work, you may be entited to a bereavement benefit even if they had not paid enough NI contributions. You can find out which diseases and inesses you can caim for at or by using the contact information given there to teephone or write for further information. Do you think your spouse or civi partner died because of an accident at work, or because of a disease or iness connected with their work? May we get medica reports from their doctor and any hospita, if we need them? We need to know about any time that your spouse or civi partner ived or worked outside the United Kingdom (UK). This is because if they paid into the socia security scheme in another country, it may count towards your bereavement benefits. The United Kingdom is Engand, Scotand, Waes and rthern Ireand. Pease te us about any time that they ived in a country outside the UK, or the Channe Isands, or the Repubic of Ireand. Did your spouse or civi partner ever ive outside the UK? If they ony ever ived in Engand, Scotand, Waes or rthern Ireand, tick. Pease go to Part 3. Te us about the time they spent outside the UK. Country 1 Country 2 Which country or crown dependency did they ive in? If they ived in the Ise of Man, te us here. When did they ive there? From To From To Did they pay into the socia security scheme of the country they ived in? Don t know Don t know What was their socia security reference number? What was their socia security reference number? If they ived in more than 2 countries, te us about this beow. 6

15 Part 3: About chidren Are you expecting a chid with your ate spouse or civi partner? If you are, you may be abe to get extra benefit when the baby is born. What date is the baby expected? Are you entited to any Chid Benefit? If you fa into the High Income Chid Benefit charge group and you: are entited to Chid Benefit but do not receive it, pease tick and te us the Chid Benefit reference number have not caimed Chid Benefit, you must do so for your caim for a Widowed Parent's Aowance to be considered. If you fa into this group pease provide detais of your dependant chidren or quaifying young person in the rest of Part 3. Te us the Chid Benefit reference number. This is on any etters sent to you about Chid Benefit, or on a bank statement. How much do you get each week? each week Are you waiting to hear if you can get Chid Benefit? When your spouse or civi partner died, were they getting any Chid Benefit for any chidren? If your ate spouse or civi partner was caiming Chid Benefit and you have not yet made a caim to transfer it to your name, you must do so, but pease compete the rest of Part 3 and compete your caim for bereavement benefits. Te us the Chid Benefit reference number. This is on any etters sent to them about Chid Benefit, or on a bank statement. How much did they get each week? each week What to do next If you have answered to one or more of these questions, pease fi in the rest of Part 3. More information For more information about caiming Chid Benefit pease contact HMRC. Go to chid benefit or teephone the HMRC Hepine on Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 8am to 4pm. If you have speech or hearing difficuties and use a textphone, the number to use is

16 Part 3: About chidren continued Do you have any chidren or quaifying young persons iving permanenty in your househod who are dependent on you? We use chid to mean a person aged under 16 and quaifying young person to mean a person aged 16, 17, 18 or 19. 1st chid Pease go to Part 4. Te us about these chidren or quaifying young persons beow. Chid s surname Chid s other names Chid s date of birth What reation, if any, are you to the chid? What reation, if any, was your spouse or civi partner to the chid? 2nd chid Chid s surname Chid s other names Chid s date of birth What reation, if any, are you to the chid? What reation, if any, was your spouse or civi partner to the chid? 3rd chid Chid s surname Chid s other names Chid s date of birth What reation, if any, are you to the chid? What reation, if any, was your spouse or civi partner to the chid? 8

17 Part 3: About chidren continued Chid s surname 4th chid Chid s other names Chid s date of birth What reation, if any, are you to the chid? What reation, if any, was your spouse or civi partner to the chid? If you want to te us about more than 4 chidren, pease te us about them in Part 6. If a chid is iving with another person Which chid is iving with another person? What reation, if any, is this other person to the chid? How much do you send each week for the chid? each week If a chid is in care Which chid is in care? What is the name and address of the oca authority caring for the chid? Postcode How much do you send each week for the chid? each week Have you tod us about any chidren who you are not a parent of? We use parent to incude stepparents, parents by ega adoption and fathers and mothers of iegitimate chidren. If you need to te us about more than one chid, use the space in Part 6. Name of the chid. Does one of their parents ive at the same address as you? What is their name? 9

18 Part 3: About chidren continued Are you, or anyone ese, entited to any benefit or aowance for any of the chidren you have tod us about? For exampe Guardian s Aowance. But tick if you are just entited to Chid Benefit. Pease te us about this. Benefit or aowance 1 Benefit or aowance 2 Name of the benefit or aowance Address of the office it comes from Name of the chid it is for Who gets the benefit or aowance? You You Someone ese Pease say who. Someone ese Pease say who. Benefit reference number This is on any etters about the benefit. Are any of the chidren you have tod us about getting any benefit or aowance? Pease te us about this. Benefit or aowance 1 Benefit or aowance 2 Name of the benefit or aowance Address of the office it comes from Name of the chid it is for Benefit reference number This is on any etters about the benefit. For more information about money for chidren see Part 10 About Chid Tax Credit. 10

19 Part 4: About other benefits Have you caimed bereavement benefits or Widow s Benefit before? Tick if you caimed but were turned down. Did you get bereavement benefits or Widow s Benefit? Are you getting any of these benefits or entitements? Tick if you are waiting to hear about a benefit. Even if the benefit or entitement is not isted here, te us about it anyway. We wi contact you if we need more information. State Pension Jobseeker s Aowance Job Reease Aowance Income Support Pension Credit War Widow s Pension Temporary Aowance for Widows, Widowers and Surviving Civi Partners Empoyment and Support Aowance Incapacity Benefit Severe Disabement Aowance Carer s Aowance Reduced Earnings Aowance Training Aowance Unempoyabiity Suppement paid because of a war disabiity due to service with HM Forces, or an industria accident or disease Guardian s Aowance Armed Forces Compensation Scheme Guaranteed Income Payment Universa Credit. Pease te us about the benefits. Name of benefit Reference number This is on any etters we have sent you about the benefit. 11

20 Part 5: How we pay you You can choose how often you want us to pay your benefit. How often do you want us to pay your benefit? Every 2 weeks Every 4 weeks Every 13 weeks We normay pay your money into an account. Many banks and buiding societies wi et you coect your money at the post office. We wi te you when we wi make the first payment and how much it wi be for. We wi te you if the amount we pay into the account is going to change. Finding out how much we have paid into the account You can check your payments on account statements. The statements may show your Nationa Insurance (NI) number next to any payments we have made. If you think a payment is wrong, get in touch with the office that pays you straight away. If we pay you too much money If we pay you too much money we have the right to take back any money we pay that you are not entited to. This may be because of the way the payment system works. For exampe, you may give us some information which means you are entited to ess money. Sometimes we may not be abe to change the amount we have aready paid you. This means we wi have paid you money that you are not entited to. We wi contact you before we take back any money. What to do now Te us about the account you want to use on the next page. By giving us your account detais you agree that we wi pay you into an account, and understand what we have tod you above in the section If we pay you too much money. If you are going to open an account, pease te us your account detais as soon as you get them. If you do not have an account, pease contact us and we wi give you more information. Fi in the rest of this form. You do not have to wait unti you have opened an account or contacted us. 12

21 Part 5: How we pay you continued About the account you want to use You can use an account in your name, or a joint account. You can use someone ese s account if the terms and conditions of their account aow this, and they agree to et you use their account, and you are sure they wi use your money in the way you te them. You can use a credit union account. You must te us the credit union s account detais. Your credit union wi be abe to hep you with this. If you are an appointee or a ega representative acting on behaf of the caimant, the account shoud be in your name ony. Pease te us your account detais beow. It is very important you fi in a the boxes correcty, incuding the buiding society ro or reference number, if you have one. If you te us the wrong account detais your payment may be deayed or you may ose money. You can find the account detais on your chequebook or bank statements. If you do not know the account detais, ask the bank or buiding society. Name of the account hoder Pease write the name of the account hoder exacty as it is shown on the chequebook or statement. Fu name of bank or buiding society Sort code Pease te us a 6 numbers, for exampe Account number Most account numbers are 8 numbers ong. If your account number has fewer than 10 numbers, pease fi in the numbers from the eft. Buiding society ro or reference number If you are using a buiding society account you may need to te us a ro or reference number. This may be made up of etters and numbers, and may be up to 18 characters ong. If you are not sure if the account has a ro or reference number, ask the buiding society. You may get other benefits and entitements we do not pay into an account. If you want us to pay them into the account above, pease tick the box. 13

22 Part 6: Other information Pease read carefuy the notes that came with this form. Use this space to te us anything ese you think we might need to know. If there is not enough space, pease use a separate sheet of paper. Make sure you put your fu name and Nationa Insurance (NI) number on each sheet of paper, and sign and date each sheet that you use. Part 7: Decaration I decare that I am a widow, widower or surviving civi partner of the person named in Part 2 of this form. I understand that if I give fase or incompete information or fai to report a changes in my circumstances which may affect my entitement prompty, I may be iabe to prosecution or face a financia penaty. I decare that I have read and understand the notes which came with this form and that I must teephone or write to the office that pays my benefit to report any change in my circumstances. I decare that the information in my caim is compete and correct. Signature Date 14

23 Part 8: What to do now 1 Check that you have answered a the questions that appy to you and your spouse or civi partner. 2 Check that you have shown us a the documents we have asked for, or are sending them with this form. Use the checkist beow: the Certificate of Registration of Death your birth certificate and marriage or civi partnership certificate a birth certificate for each chid. 3 Check that you have signed this form. 4 Send us your caim form as soon as possibe. You must send us your caim form within 3 months of the death of your spouse or civi partner. Faiure to do so may affect your entitement to benefit. You can caim a Bereavement Payment for up 12 months after the death of your spouse or civi partner. Return this caim form to Dover Benefit Centre, Post Handing Site B, Woverhampton WV99 1LA or your nearest Jobcentre Pus office. You can contact the Dover Bereavement Benefits office on If you have speech or hearing difficuties you can contact them using a textphone on Lines are open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. On the first Wednesday of every month the ines are open from 10am to 5pm. Part 9: What happens next If you are entited to a Bereavement Payment, we wi make payment into your account as soon as we can. If you are not entited to this benefit, we wi write to te you why. It wi take a itte onger to work out if you are entited to any other benefit. But we wi write to te you about this as soon as we can. Benefit you can get because of this caim can be paid more quicky if you answer a the questions on this form that appy to you and your spouse or civi partner. If you cannot do this, get in touch with us. But benefit you can get because of this caim may be deayed. Part 10: About Chid Tax Credit Chid Tax Credit is a payment to support famiies with chidren. It can be caimed by those responsibe for one or more chid or young person. Chid Tax Credit is caimed from HM Revenue & Customs is paid in addition to Chid Benefit can provide income for famiies with chidren, whether in or out of work is normay paid to the main carer. To find out more about Chid Tax Credit visit You can caim Chid Tax Credit onine too. You can aso phone HM Revenue & Customs about Chid Tax Credit on If you have speech or hearing difficuties you can contact them using a textphone on Lines are open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, and 8am to 4pm on Saturday. Lines are cosed Sundays, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year s Day and Easter Sunday. If you need hep or a form in Wesh, pease phone Lines are open 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. 15

24 16 Printed on recyced paper BB1_052016_013_001