Watch my speech on uprating the widowed parent's allowance

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝.

The day my husband died, my children came home from nursery and needed me to be the same reliable, loving, stable mum they knew.

𝐓𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐛, 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞.

But, in a way, I was lucky. Because I was bereaved before 2017, I received the widowed parent’s allowance.

𝐈𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟕, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 – 𝐚𝐧 𝟏𝟖-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐭-𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐞.

That payment has not been uprated since it was introduced. Thanks to inflation, it is now worth over £3k less than in 2017.

𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟖 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬; 𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲. 𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqW9Gcm84UM