Part I Claims for and Payments and General Administration of Benefit
F1Bereavement benefits
F23 Late claims for bereavement benefit where death is difficult to establish.
(1)
This section applies where a person’s spouse F3or civil partner has died or maybe presumed to have died on or after the appointed day and the circumstances are such that—
(a)
more than 12 months have elapsed since the date of death; and
(b)
either—
(i)
(ii)
less than 12 months have elapsed since the surviving spouse F3or civil partner first knew of the discovery and identification of the body.
(2)
Where this section applies, notwithstanding that any time prescribed for making a claim for a bereavement benefit in respect of the death has elapsed, then—
(a)
in any case falling within paragraph (b)(i) of subsection (1) above, where it has been decided under Article 9 of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 that the spouse F3or civil partner has died or is presumed to have died; or
(b)
in any case falling within paragraph (b)(ii) of subsection (1) above where the identification was made not more than 12 months before the surviving spouse F3or civil partner first knew of the discovery and identification of the body,
such a claim may be made or treated as made at any time before the expiration of the period of 12 months beginning with the date on which that decision was made or, as the case may be, the date on which the surviving spouse F3or civil partner first knew of the discovery and identification.
(3)
If, in a case where a claim for a bereavement benefit is made or treated as made by virtue of this section, the claimant would, apart from subsection (2) of section 1 above, be entitled to—
(a)
a bereavement payment in respect of the spouse’s F4or civil partner's death more than 12 months before the date on which the claim is made or treated as made; or
(b)
any other bereavement benefit in respect of his or her death for a period more than 12 months before that date,
(4)
In subsection (1) above “the appointed day” means the day appointed for the coming into operation of Articles 51 to 53 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999.
4 Treatment of payments of benefit to certain widows.
In any case where—
(a)
a claim for a widow’s pension or a widowed mother’s allowance is made, or treated as made, before 14th August 1990 (the date of the coming into operation of paragraph 16(2) of Schedule 6 to the M1Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1990); and
(b)
the Department has made a payment to or for the claimant on the ground that, if the claim had been received immediately after that date, she would have been entitled to that pension or allowance, or entitled to it at a higher rate, for the period in respect of which the payment is made,
the payment so made shall be treated as a payment of that pension or allowance; and, if and to the extent that an award of the pension or allowance, or an award at a higher rate, is made for the period in respect of which the payment was made, the payment shall be treated as made in accordance with that award.