SE76172 - Social Security benefits: Widowed parent’s allowance

Section 39A Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992

Widowed parent's allowance (WPA)

WPA replaced widowed mother's allowance (WMA) from 9 April 2001, but WMA continues to be paid to claimants receiving that benefit before 9 April 2001 ( SE76177).

WPA is a taxable weekly benefit which consists of:

• a basic allowance for the surviving parent equivalent to the state retirement pension (£72.50 in 2001/02);
• an allowance for each dependant child (children under the age of 16 or under the age of 19 when still in full-time education);
• additional State Earnings Related Pension (SERPS) if the surviving parent qualifies.
  
  Entitlement to WPA requires:

• the deceased parent to have made sufficient National Insurance Contributions prior to his/her death or for death to be caused by his/her job; and
• the surviving parent to have a child and be entitled to child benefit or for a woman to be expecting her late husband's baby (this includes any pregnancy arising as a result of artificial insemination or "in vitro" fertilisation) as long as the woman was living with her husband immediately before his death.
  
  In the case of a man whose wife died before bereavement benefits were introduced on 9 April 2001, a claim to WPA can be accepted from that date if the entitlement conditions are met.
  
  The allowance ceases when the widowed parent's entitlement to child benefit ceases.
  
  A parent who is aged 45 or over when the WPA ceases will be entitled to claim bereavement allowance - see SE76173.