Sudden drop in income increases the pain for parents whose child has died

The first in-depth study of the impact of a child’s death on families’ financial circumstances also shows that bereaved parents often encounter difficulties meeting funeral costs and expenses such as headstones. Researchers at the University of York interviewed parents in 17 families contacted through children’s hospices, whose children had died within the past two years. They found that:

• Financial problems after a child’s death were related to the preceding costs of care. Frequent hospital trips, special clothing, bedding, equipment and home adaptations had all added to families’ expenditure. Knowing that their child might not have much longer to live, some families had also taken every possible opportunity for outings and holidays.
• Loss of income associated with giving up work to look after a child and the extra costs of care meant that some families had got into debt. Household spending priorities had been set to whatever was needed at the time. For some, this meant using up savings or increasing their overdrafts and seeking loans.
• All parents felt the financial impact from loss or reduction in benefits when their child died. Some were shocked because they had not anticipated the amount or the immediacy of the reduction.
• In a two-parent family where the father had continued earning around £18,000 per year, the loss of disability living allowance, child benefit and invalid care allowance was a 25 per cent reduction in net monthly family income. A lone parent who had been caring for her teenage son with a weekly income based on Income Support found her money available for household spending cut by 72 per cent.
• Financial adjustments were hard to make quickly. Spending patterns established by parents during the child’s lifetime took time to change, while fuel and other bills incurred when their child was still alive continued to arrive. Those who owned large vehicles adapted for disability found them expensive to run and hard to sell.
• Moving back into paid work was stressful and difficult for those who had left employment to care for their child. Some discovered that the interruption in their National Insurance contributions meant they could not claim contributory benefits if they became sick or unemployed. Parents whose last or only child had died found a social security requirement that they register their availability for work within eight weeks especially harsh.

The report urges social security policy makers to consider ways of softening the impact of the immediate withdrawal of benefits from families after a child dies and of protecting the National Insurance records of all parents caring for very sick or disabled children. It calls for the special needs of these parents to be considered in the Government’s review of parental leave provisions and suggests that money advice could have a place in bereavement counselling.

Anne Corden, co-author of the study, said: “When the ending of entitlement to social security benefits has such profound, emotional significance, the way it is handled becomes extremely important. For example, parents wanted a letter that acknowledged their sadness, used their child’s first name and said their child had died, not ‘deceased’. They would have welcomed some recognition of the importance of their caring role and contribution, instead of bureaucratic procedures that only added to their pain and grief.”