Social Security Act 1975

70 Children of deceased's family

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and Schedule 9 (limits on benefit payable on death), where at his death the deceased had a family which included a child or children, then, for any period during which a person has a family which includes that child or one or more of those children, the person shall be entitled in respect of that child, or in respect of each respectively of those children, to death benefit by way of an allowance at the appropriate weekly rate specified in Schedule 4, Part V, paragraph 15.

(2) The higher rate specified in Schedule 4, Part V, paragraph 15(a) shall apply where the person to whom the allowance is payable is the widow of the deceased or such other person as may be prescribed and the widow is entitled to death benefit (other than a gratuity) under sections 67 and 68 of this Act; and the lower rate specified in Schedule 4, Part V, paragraph 15(b), shall apply in any other case.

(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, where the deceased was a man, any of the following are to be treated under this section as having been children of his family at his death—

(a) a legitimate son or daughter of his who—

(i) at his death was a child of his wife's, but not of his, family; or

(ii) is born to him posthumously ;

(b) an illegitimate son or daughter of him and any woman residing with him at his death, being a son or daughter who then was a child of her family and was being, or would but for the relevant accident have been, wholly or mainly maintained by him;

(c) a child who at the deceased's death was a child of some other person's family but could have been treated under paragraph 3 of the Schedule to the Family Allowances Act as a child of the deceased's family;

(d) subject to such exceptions and conditions as may be prescribed, a child who, having at the death of a previous husband of the wife by a marriage which ended with that husband's death been a child of that husband's family, was at the deceased's death a child of the wife's family.

(4) Subsections (1) to (3) of section 65 of this Act apply in relation to an allowance under subsection (1) above as they apply in relation to an increase of benefit under section 64.