Submitted by: CRUSE Bereavement Care 

The National Council of Women in Conference assembled: (a) concerned that the needs of widowed fathers and their dependent children are being overlooked; and (b) aware that a widowed mother with dependent children may receive the widow’s Payment and the Widowed Mother’s Allowance based on her husband’s National Insurance record; whereas (c) a widowed father with dependent children does not receive equivalent benefits; calls upon HM Government to introduce legislation to provide state benefits for widowed fathers on an equivalent basis to state benefits for widowed mothers.