A MINISTER has issued the latest update on a one-off €850 social welfare payment after calls for it to be reinstated.
The Bereavement Grant was a one-off payment to help families with funeral costs or carers’ costs before it was discontinued in January 2014.
Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary has clarified that while the grant won’t be reinstated, there are other alternatives available.
While the number of bereavement grant claims in 2013 was 23,715 at a cost of €20.3million, the estimated cost of reintroducing the grant would be close to €30million per annum.
In response to a parliamentary question from Deputy Pat Buckley, Minister for Social Protection said: “The number of Bereavement Grant claims paid in 2013 equated to 80 per cent of registered deaths.
“If the same percentage was applied to the figures for 2023 – the most recent data that the Department has available – it is estimated that the cost of reintroducing the grant would be close to €30 million per annum and would increase annually.
“Accordingly, any decision to reinstate the grant would have to be considered in an overall policy and budgetary context.”
The Minister noted a range of supports available for people following bereavement which provide more significant support than the former grant.
These include weekly-paid Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s (Contributory and Non-Contributory) pensions, which are based on contributions or a means test, and a once-off Widowed or Surviving Civil Partner grant of €8,000 where there is a dependent child.
The Widowed or Surviving Civil Partner grant is available to widows, widowers or surviving civil partners who have one or more dependent children living with them at the date of death, or a widow or surviving civil partner whose child is born within 10 months of the date of death of her spouse or civil partner.
ALTERNATIVES AVAILABLE
A number of social welfare payments, including State Pension, continue in payment for six weeks following a death, extending to 12 weeks in respect of Carer’s Allowance.
Guardian payments are also available where someone cares for an orphaned child.
And a special funeral grant of €850 is paid where a person dies because of an accident at work or occupational disease.
To be eligible for this grant, the death must have resulted from an accident at work, an accident while travelling directly to or from work, or an occupational disease.
And the person must have paid a minimum of one week’s PRSI.
The Minister continued: “Under the Supplementary Allowance scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet from their weekly income, which may include help with funeral and burial expenses.
“This is a more targeted and efficient manner of assisting people with bereavement expenses in addition to the range of supports already set out.”
CHANGE PROPOSAL
Earlier this month, the Minister also forwarded a plan to change welfare rules so that people can receive the ‘widow’s pension’ even if they are not married.
It follows a Supreme Court decision last year that ruled widower John O’Meara can avail of the pension payment after his long term partner passed away in 2021.
The dad-of-three took a legal case against the State after he was denied the widower’s pension because he and his partner of 20 years Michelle Batey never married.
The landmark court case has forced the Government to bring forward changes to the law to ensure that people can avail of the ‘widow’s pension’ even if they are not married.
New Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary secured the Cabinet’s approval to present the Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension) Bill 2025 to the Dail.
This will give legislative backing to extending the Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner Contributory Pension to “surviving qualified cohabitant.”
Under the change, a partner would qualify to people who are in “an intimate and committed relationship” for two years where there is a child involved or five years where a couple has no children.
The ‘Widow’s Pension’ will now be renamed the Bereaved Partner’s Contributory Pension and will open up to newly qualified people after the new legislation is enacted.
It is expected that changes will see hundreds more people become eligible for the pension payment with the expected annual cost to the State of around €50 million.
The payment is currently worth €244 per week.
