Johnny Timpson: For better or worse, richer or poorer

clock • 4 min read

Johnny Timpson holds forth on bereavement benefits, cohabiting inequalities and the upcoming Supreme Court case in Belfast

It is now more than 75 years since the publication of the Beveridge Report which laid the foundations for the UK's welfare state, and we're now a year on from some of the most significant reform to working age benefits since then.  The lack of support for bereaved mothers and children was one of the ‘evils' that Beveridge wanted to tackle with a specific suite of bereavement benefits. But the April 2017 reform introduced a new Bereavement Support Payment benefit, which falls short. The level of support is now £350 per month with discretionary increases, and the provision period is 18 ...

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