Closed petition Change the law so that bereaved children get a benefit when a parent dies

Closed on 28 July 2016

Children should recieve a benefit whether the parents are married or not.
I believe that this is profoundly unfair to date; the higher rate of bereavement benefit currently paid to those with children is in recognition of the costs-emotional, practical and financial-of bringing up children when a

partner has died.
Children themselves have no influence over whether their parents are married or not, so it seems extremely harsh to deprive some of financial support following a parent’s death based on their parents’ marital status.
This is contrary to current understandings of what constitutes a ‘family’ and differs from how cohabitation is interpreted in other Government legislation.
Persons who die still made NI contributions so why does this differ, because of a documentation of marriage.