Reversing the cuts to Bereavement Support Payments

Losing a parent is one of the toughest moments for a child to experience and the challenges of this time can have a prolonged effect on the child’s wellbeing and education. 

The Conservatives' cuts to bereavement support payments in 2017 were cruel, shortsighted, and have only made it more difficult for families and children to access the support they need. Providing financial support for children who have lost a parent is critical to ensuring that families are not left struggling and instead, thrive, despite the difficult circumstances. 

This struggle is worsened by the current cost-of-living crisis, where many carers cannot afford basic necessities, and only a tiny proportion of families receive the support they need.

Liberal Democrats have passed new policy to stand up for bereaved families and kinship carers, so more young people can grow up in a loving, stable home.

• Double the funding for Bereavement Support Payments, reversing the Conservative party’s cuts since 2017.
• Pass Christine Jardine MP’s Bereavement Support (Children and Young People) Bill that would ensure that children and young people are aware of what support is available to them following the death of a parent.
• Support the education of children in care, extend Pupil Premium Plus funding to children in kinship care, and guarantee any child taken into care a school place within three weeks, if required to move schools.
• Appoint a Cabinet Minister for Children and Young People with specific responsibilities for closing the gaps in support for children who have lost a parent or both their parents.
• Make care experience a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 to strengthen the rights of people who are in or have been in care.
• Support children in kinship care and their family carers by:
  • Introducing a statutory definition of kinship care.
  • kinship carers with a weekly allowance for each child they care for, equivalent to the national minimum weekly allowance for foster carers.
  • Giving kinship carers the right to paid employment leave when taking on care of a child.

 Liberal Democrats will stand up for families and children in their time of need.