Marie Curie response to Work and Pensions Committee inquiry into Bereavement Support Payment
Comment published
Today the Work and Pensions Committee has published the report of its inquiry into the Bereavement Support Payment with recommendations to the Department for Work and Pensions.
Having contributed to the committee’s inquiry, Scott Sinclair, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, at the terminal illness charity, Marie Curie, responds:
“We welcome the committee’s proposed changes to Bereavement Support Payments (BSP) by the Work and Pensions Committee and urge the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to adopt them as soon as possible.
“It is unacceptable that bereaved parents who were not married to their partner or in a civil partnership are denied the Bereavement Support Payment. Making all co-habiting couples eligible for the payment, and extending the length of payments, will provide real financial relief to people who are grieving, giving much needed peace of mind at a very difficult time.
“If the DWP act fast to enact these changes we hope that wave of common sense will extend to how they provide financial support to dying people too.
“We know that the financial impact of being terminally ill is huge. Currently, there is too much red tape preventing people from getting the benefit support they are entitled to.
“Travel to appointments, modifications to your home and increased utility costs are just a few reasons why costs quickly spiral, which is compounded by patients’ reduced capacity to work.
“That is why we have been campaigning for the government to make it quicker and easier for anyone with a terminal illness to get the benefits they desperately need.
“And while the DWP has announced a review into this process, this must now happen quickly as dying people do not have the luxury of time.”