I will be a lot worse off now David has gone, i am very worried ! Is anyone else affected financially because there loved one has died.
Hello @penny6 ,
I’m so sorry for the loss of David. Thank you for sharing this with us. I’m just giving your thread a gentle, “bump” for you - hopefully someone will have some thoughts to share.
Take good care,
Alex
Hi Penny,
It’s only 8 weeks for me and everything is still up in the air. I got a very blunt letter from Work and Pensions. It said that I was not eligible for any of his pension! I hadn’t even asked for anything. They were informed through the Tell Us Once system, I suppose. As for other stuff, I don’t know. I had four letters from the council tax, one said they owed me money, one said that I owed them money, and one asked if I still live here!
I am sorry you have money worries on top of everything else. Maybe the Citizens Advice Bureau can help make sure you get everything due to you.
Xx
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hubby died just over 2 yrs ago, i was 8 weeks without any money at all till they sorted out benefits. i can only get pension credit of 187 a week. cant get disability as they i am not disabled enough, in their words “i hav to have someone wiping my bum first” cant get state pention as i never paid anything in. so all in all i am about 200 a week worse off since he died, if it wasnt for my son paying my sky and internet i wouldnt have those as i cant afford them. i am lucky to live in london so have a free bus pass or i wouldnt even be able to go out either. hubby was not insured so had to borrow money for funeral off friend and i am still paying that back. lucky he was pure cremation, if it had been a normal funeral he would still be in the morgue.
I’m worried too. We both had civil service pensions as well as our state pensions so we were living quite comfortably, if modestly. I know I’m lucky that we had built up some savings, our mortgage is paid off and the house is worth a decent amount, but however I look at it I can’t see how my massively reduced income is going to cover my outgoings. That’s not sustainable in the long term. I vaguely thought I’d get half his pension but after tax it’s worked out at a lot less than that. It seems I may have to downsize the house to make ends meet but that would be a horrible wrench when it was our home for over 30 years and the garden is my hobby and solace. The worst part is not knowing exactly where I stand and how drastic the solutions have to be. The civil service pensions people haven’t replied to my queries, I’m not confident DWP have got my own pension right and goodness knows what horrors HMRC have got stored up for me. I know worrying about money won’t help but it’s really hard not to obsess about it while I’m just waiting to see how the sums pan out.
At one time you used to get a widows pension but that all stopped. All you can apply for now is bereavement payment you get 2,500 up front and 100 per month for 18months thats it but you need to apply yourself they dont let you know hope this helps someone .
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Hi Penny, yes, my financial situation has become dire. I had to apply for Universal Credit, i have had the grand sum of 26.30 since my husband died on April 5th. i get lower rate PIP and 2 very small pensions and thats it. How are you supposed to survive? To be worrying about money as well as grieving the loss of a loved one, ist so cruel. I hope to god things start improving as im ready for throwing in the towel.
i applied and was turned down for breavement one too
Hi Penny,if your partner served in the military there are some great organisations that can help financially,hope this helps Ron.
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Hi Penny, I to find myself struggling to survive since I lost my partner 8 months ago, I am lucky I still work full time but I have lost his income and he was the bigger earner, I now find myself considerably worse off as to what is coming in but now also have the sole responsibility of covering all the out goings & adding this difficulty on top of your heartbreak is suffercating & overwhelming! We have no choice but to keep going & trying our best to overcome each challenge! Lets be honest we would live in poverty with absolutely nothing just to have that person back x
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He was in the Royal Engineers but left about 20 years ago, we are not married and they would not let me have any of his pension. 
I get my pension next year. I will get ÂŁ950 a month, it will be hard to manage as I will not be entitled to pension credits as the government make sure you are getting over the criteria required so you cannot claim anything else. I will have to pay full council tax, glasses, teeth, this country is not a good place to be a pensioner.
My sister lives in France, she gets ÂŁ1,500 Euros a month and retired at 63 !.
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@penny6 if you are over 60 you get free glasses, perscriptions, teeth and can claim council tax, and if in london free travel.
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You can get a free eye test but not free glasses, people on pension credits can get a voucher towards glasses, but i wont be able to get pension credits as state pension pays ÂŁ2.75 more than the amount where you are eligible to claim so this stops us being able to claim. You cannot get free dental treatment either. I will also have to pay council tax, I can get a free bus pass though when I am 66. Next year.
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i am on pension credit, i get free glasses,had my eyes done a month ago never paid anything and i didnt have to have any voucher, free dental treatment, i dont pay council tax.
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That’s good SueF1 you must be on the older pension, I will be on the new one which just takes me over the amount so I will not be able to claim pension credits. £2.75 over ! obviously a deliberate calculation by the government.
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Hi penny,what really riles me is leaving my private pensions to one side,I now get taxed on part of my state pension alone,if state pension was my only source of income they would throw untaxed benefits at me,it’s all wrong.
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you have to pay tax on your state pension ! terrible
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i cant even get state pension cause i never paid anything in. you used to get it automatically till they changed the rules about 4 yrs ago
you mean you cant get anything ? what will you do ?
Surely even people that haven’t been able to work get something.