State support for bereaved children: who is paid, for how long, and who misses out
Published 2026-10-16
What the state pays a family when a parent dies depends heavily on the country. Great Britain pays the surviving partner a fixed sum over 18 months, whatever the children's ages[1]. Norway, Sweden and the United States pay the child their own survivor benefit until about 18 to 20[2][3][4]. In most of these systems, some families miss out because of the rules on marriage, contributions or deadlines.
When a mum or dad dies, the household loses a parent and, often, an income, in the same moment. Rent, food and school costs carry on. Many countries have state survivor support for this situation, but the designs differ widely. Who is covered can depend on whether the parents were married and on the National Insurance or social security record of the parent who died. This study sets out the rules and official statistics for five countries where we could check them at source. It shows who these systems reach and where families fall through the gaps. It describes systems, not what any family is entitled to.
Countries differ most on who is paid, and for how long
The main survivor payment for families with children, as described by each official source we checked:
| Country | Main payment when a parent dies | Who receives it | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | Barnepensjon (children's pension): one times the national insurance basic amount a year, NOK 136,549, or 2.25 times (NOK 307,235) if both parents have died[2] | The child | Until the month the child turns 20 |
| Sweden | Barnpension, based on the deceased parent's pension record, with a top-up (efterlevandestöd) for children whose pension is low or nil[3] | The child | Until 18; until June of the year the child turns 20 if still in school |
| United States | Social Security child's benefit, 75% of the worker's basic benefit amount; a widowed parent caring for a child under 16 can also be paid[4] | The child, and the parent | Child: under 18, or 19 if still in high school |
| Canada | Canada Pension Plan children's benefit: $307.81 a month in 2026[5] | The child | Under 18, and full-time students (age limit not shown on the page we checked) |
| Great Britain | Bereavement Support Payment, higher rate: £3,500 plus 18 monthly payments of £350[1] | The surviving partner | 18 months, whatever the children's ages |
The biggest difference is whose payment it is. In Norway, Sweden, the United States and Canada, the child has a benefit in their own right, paid until adulthood or the end of school. In Great Britain the payment belongs to the surviving partner, and it is short. Its official evaluation calls it "a short-term benefit which contributes to the more immediate costs associated with bereavement"[6]. A child who was four when their parent died and a child who was fifteen receive support for the same 18 months.
Where the child is paid, support follows them into adulthood
Norway's rules changed on 1 January 2024. Children's pension is now paid to anyone under 20 whose parent or parents have died, at a flat rate tied to the national insurance basic amount: NOK 136,549 a year after one parent's death, and NOK 307,235 after both parents' deaths, at rates from 1 May 2026, less if the parent who died had lived abroad. Young people aged 18 to 20 on 1 January 2024 whose parent died earlier may also qualify under the new rules[2].
Sweden links the child's pension to the earnings record of the parent who died. For a child aged 12 or over, it is 30% of the parent's survivor pension base, with 20% added for each older brother or sister, and the total shared equally between the children. Children whose pension would be low or nil receive a top-up, efterlevandestöd, which works as a basic safety net. This top-up reaches even a child living in Sweden whose parent "never lived or worked in Sweden" (our translation)[3].
The United States is the only country here for which we could check a count of children being paid. In March 2022, 2,015,958 children of deceased workers were receiving Social Security survivor benefits, with an average monthly benefit of $982.66. Another 109,841 widowed mothers and fathers were receiving benefits for caring for a child, averaging $1,119.48 a month. Children made up 34.3% of the 5,881,432 survivor beneficiaries. Eligibility depends on the parent who died having been insured through their work, though a parent who was "currently insured" at death is enough for children's benefits. Children born to unmarried parents are covered on the same terms as other children, and stepchildren and dependent grandchildren may qualify[4].
Canada's children's benefit is paid at the same amount to every eligible child: in 2026 the average and the maximum are both $307.81 a month, for children under 18 and for full-time students. A surviving partner under 65 receiving the survivor's pension got an average of $555.70 a month if newly awarded in July 2026, against a maximum of $803.54[5].
Great Britain's payment is short-term by design
Bereavement Support Payment replaced the earlier bereavement benefits for deaths from 6 April 2017. It is not means-tested, and it goes to a surviving partner under State Pension age. The higher rate, for a partner who was getting Child Benefit for a child living with them or who was pregnant, is a one-off £3,500 and 18 monthly payments of £350. The lower rate, for partners without children, is £2,500 and 18 payments of £100[1]. At most, a bereaved family with children therefore receives £9,800 over a year and a half.
The benefit it replaced for parents worked differently. Widowed Parent's Allowance, introduced in 2001, "can be paid for as long as the claimant holds an entitlement to Child Benefit (up to 20 years in some cases)", according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)[7]. Families bereaved before April 2017 who already receive it keep it until they are no longer eligible[1]. The switch replaced help tied to the children's ages with a fixed sum over a fixed period.
Relatively few claims are from families with children. DWP's evaluation of the first three years found that the higher rate went to about 17% of all Bereavement Support Payment claims in each year from 2017–18 to 2019–20. The share with dependent children under the old system was 20% in 2015–16 and 19% in 2016–17. DWP attributes part of the difference to the rising State Pension age, which widened eligibility to older partners who are less likely to have dependent children. It adds that "work is ongoing to ensure that those eligible for Child Benefit, and thereby the Higher Rate, do claim it"[6]. The higher rate depends on Child Benefit, so a family not receiving it, or not told they were entitled to it, could receive the lower rate instead[1].
Payments also depend on claiming promptly. To receive the lump sum and all 18 monthly payments, a partner must claim within three months of the death. Between three and twelve months, the lump sum is still paid but some monthly payments are lost. After 12 months there is no lump sum, and after 21 months usually nothing at all[1]. In 2017–2020, 94% of those awarded the benefit claimed on time; 5% claimed within three to nine months and 1% within nine to twelve months, and so received less than the full amount[6].
Who misses out: marriage, contributions and deadlines
Children whose parents were not married
Until February 2023, Bereavement Support Payment and Widowed Parent's Allowance could only be paid to a partner who had been married to, or in a civil partnership with, the parent who died. The courts found this incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights: the Supreme Court for Widowed Parent's Allowance on 30 August 2018, and the High Court for Bereavement Support Payment on 7 February 2020. In both cases the courts found that the rule "unfairly discriminates between children on the grounds of the legal status of their parents' relationship"[7].
The Bereavement Benefits (Remedial) Order 2023 came into force on 9 February 2023. It extended the higher rate and Widowed Parent's Allowance to cohabiting partners with dependent children, or who were pregnant, with no minimum period of living together, back to 30 August 2018. The minister said it would "benefit thousands of families with dependent children". It came with deadlines, though. For a death before 9 February 2023, a claim made from 9 November 2024 receives no Bereavement Support Payment[7]. Families bereaved before 30 August 2018 who were left out by the old rule receive, at most, a part payment with no lump sum[7]. Cohabiting partners without children are still not covered: the cohabitation route applies only with Child Benefit for a child living with them, or a pregnancy[1].
Sweden draws a similar line for the adult's payment, but not the child's. A cohabiting partner can receive the adjustment pension (omställningspension) only if they had or were expecting a child with the person who died, or had been married to them; living together alone is not enough. The child's own pension does not depend on the parents' relationship[3].
Families where the parent who died had too few contributions
Contributory systems pay only if the parent who died had built up enough of a record. In Great Britain, the partner who died must have paid enough Class 1 or Class 2 National Insurance contributions in any one tax year since 1975, or have died from an accident at work or a disease caused by work[1]. Of the 11% of claims refused between 2017 and 2020, a quarter (25%) were refused because the required contributions had not been made. Most refusals (54%) were because the claimant was over State Pension age; late claims were under 1%[6]. In the United States, too, survivor benefits depend on the deceased parent's insured status[4]. Sweden's top-up for children is the clearest example we found of a child-level safety net that does not depend on the parent's record[3].
How many eligible families are reached
Take-up is hard to measure, because no country we checked publishes how many bereaved children are not receiving a survivor payment. DWP's estimate for Great Britain is that Bereavement Support Payment was received for 84% of deaths of married people of working age in 2018: 36,300 awards against an estimated 43,100 such deaths. This is a modelled estimate, not a count. It applies UK and England proportions of working-age deaths and of marriage to Great Britain, and it does not cover cohabiting families, who were not eligible in 2018[6].
Children whose parents have both died
Where both parents have died, the UK pays the person bringing up the child Guardian's Allowance, £22.95 a week per child on top of Child Benefit. It can also be paid where one parent has died and the other cannot be found, is in hospital by court order, or will be in prison for at least two years. One of the parents must have been born in the UK, the European Economic Area or Switzerland, or meet a UK residence test, a condition some children of parents who moved to the UK may not meet[8]. Norway, by contrast, raises the child's own pension to 2.25 times the basic amount when both parents have died[2].
What the evidence asks of us
- Design support around the child, not only the parents' relationship. British courts found that tying support to marriage "unfairly discriminates between children"[7]. Norway, Sweden and the United States pay the child a benefit in their own right, whatever the parents' relationship[2][3][4]. Policymakers reviewing survivor benefits can ask whether a child's support should depend on their parents' legal status.
- Match the length of support to childhood. Where the child is paid, payments run until about 18 to 20[2][3][4]. Great Britain's payment stops after 18 months whatever the children's ages[1]. Our study of widowed parents with young children looks at the parents' side.
- Build safety nets that do not depend on the deceased parent's record. A quarter of refused British claims in 2017–2020 failed on National Insurance contributions[6]. Sweden's top-up for children shows one way to give every bereaved child a floor[3].
- Make sure families hear about support in time. Deadlines mean late claims receive less, and families who did not know they were entitled to Child Benefit can miss the higher rate[1][6]. Hospitals, registrars, schools and bereavement services are often in touch with families in the first weeks, and can be part of how information reaches them.
- Count bereaved children in benefit statistics. Britain's published evaluation reports claimants, not the children in their families, and covers only 2017 to 2020[6]. We found no country that reports how many bereaved children receive nothing. Our study of how many children are bereaved of a parent shows how far the counts themselves are estimates.
Money is only one part of what bereaved families need, but the figures show that whether a grieving child's household has a stable income for the years that follow is, in part, a matter of policy design, and design can be changed. The wider money picture is the subject of our study of the financial impact on bereaved families.
Language: this piece uses plain words such as “died” rather than euphemisms, because they are clearer. Benefit names are given as each government uses them; Swedish quotations are our translation.
Why we're publishing this
We brought these rules and statistics together so that bereaved families, and the charities, hospices and services that work with them, can see in one place how state support for bereaved children compares across countries, and where it leaves children out. The case for fairer support is theirs to make; our part is to set out the official figures cleanly and say plainly what they show. This study is part of our research library on children and young people bereaved of a parent.
How to read this data
Everything here comes from official sources: government benefit guides and rate tables (Norway, Sweden, Canada, Great Britain), a US Congressional Research Service summary of Social Security data, and DWP's published evaluation and ministerial correspondence. Rates are those published in 2026, except the US figures, which are for March 2022 and will have risen with cost-of-living adjustments since; we could not reach the Social Security Administration's own statistics pages. Amounts are in each country's own currency and have not been converted or adjusted for living costs, so they should not be compared directly. Other help, such as child benefits and means-tested support, is not covered. The British take-up figure of 84% is DWP's modelled estimate for married people only. Bereavement Support Payment also applies in Northern Ireland, with a separate claim route; the DWP statistics and the figures here cover Great Britain. We could not check the official pages for Australia or Ireland, so they are not included, and we found no study, in any country, that measures how many bereaved children receive no survivor payment at all.
Use this data
Free to cite with attribution to Understanding Bereavement. Charities, schools, services and journalists are welcome to reuse these figures and charts. For the underlying figures as a spreadsheet, get in touch.
Important: This study summarises published research about groups of people for general information. It is not medical advice or bereavement support, and it cannot describe or predict anything about an individual child or family. If you are worried about a child or about yourself, please speak to a GP or another qualified professional.
Sources
- GOV.UK. Bereavement Support Payment (guide: how it works, eligibility, what you'll get, how to claim). Department for Work and Pensions, 2026. gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment
- NAV. Barnepensjon (children's pension). Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, 2026. nav.no/barnepensjon
- Pensionsmyndigheten. Till efterlevande (for survivors). Swedish Pensions Agency, 2026. pensionsmyndigheten.se/…/Till-efterlevande-26-01-webb.pdf
- Congressional Research Service. Social Security survivors benefits (RS22294). Congressional Research Service, 2022. everycrsreport.com/…/RS22294
- Government of Canada. Canada Pension Plan: pensions and benefits monthly amounts. Employment and Social Development Canada, 2026. canada.ca/…/cpp/payment-amounts.html
- Department for Work and Pensions. Bereavement Support Payment claimants: summary statistics, April 2017 to March 2020. DWP, 2021. gov.uk/…/bereavement-support-payment-claimants-summary-statistics-april-2017-to-march-2020
- Davies M. Bereavement Benefits (Remedial) Order 2023: letters to all MPs, 8 and 28 February 2023. Department for Work and Pensions (House of Commons deposited paper DEP2023-0217), 2023. data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/…/DEP2023-0217
- GOV.UK. Guardian's Allowance. HM Revenue & Customs, 2026. gov.uk/guardians-allowance