PLAN IF & WIDOWS PARENTS ALLOWANCE INFO
From 2016, government proposals have now been passed through to cut Widows Parents Allowance. This is a welfare payment for surviving parents with children U18. When me and my mum claimed this, we recieved a small one-lump sum after my Dad's death and basic weekly payments up until I turned 18.
Under new proposals this amount will not only be cut down, but will also be limited to 12 months, meaning the payment will terminate on the 1-year anniversary of a parents death.
This one-year limit is WRONG. It assumes that after a year, surviving parents will be back on their feet. The government is putting a time limit on grief and as any bereaved person would say, grief is immeasurable. This welfare payment being cut after 12 months is totally unfair.
It's difficult to see how suddenly a single parent is expected to be able to earn enough money to pay bills and mortgages alone, while simultaneously looking after children and grieving. Unless bereaved families dramatically scale back their life, or have an enormous amount of help from their family, they will simply not be able to cope.
This cut will directly affect low-income bereaved families, like mine.
Ultimately this cut puts bereaved children going through their worst nightmare of losing a parent as a target for government cuts. This is something that really upsets me as a performer, a bereaved young person and a former bereaved child.
BELOW ARE MORE DETAILED ARTICLES ON THIS ISSUE
I hope to use GOOD GRIEF to raise awareness of these proposals and reccommend that the government extend the payment period to THREE-YEARS if cuts have to be made.
Also check out the PlanIf Campaign
This campaign aims to encourage parents to make plans if they were to unexpectedly die. 1 in 5 deaths are unexpected, with a child losing a parent every 22 minutes in the UK.
