The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued a three month warning ahead of a major change to benefit backdating rules.

The changes will affect Bereaved Support Payment and Widowed Parent’s Allowance. These benefits aim to support those who have sadly lost their partner but were previously only available to parents who were married or in a civil partnership.

The Government extended the eligibility criteria to also include couples who were cohabiting and had dependent children in February of this year, and opened a 12-month window for cohabitating parents to backdate their claims. The deadline for backdating claims is February 8, 2024.

The amount you may be able to claim is dependent on when your partner died. If your partner died on or after April 6, 2017, then you might be able to claim Bereavement Support Payment. If they died before this date, you may be entitled to Widowed Parent’s Allowance. You have to be under state pension age to qualify.

The earliest point payments can be backdated to is August 30, 2018 - so you could claim around five years' worth of payments. You also would have needed to qualify for either payment on this date to be eligible for the backdated payments.

The Bereavement Support Payment is worth £2,500, plus £100 a month for 18 months for those eligible. If you get Child Benefit or you were pregnant, you receive higher rates. This includes a first payment of £3,500, plus £350 a month for 18 months - this means you could receive up to £9,800 in support.

The amount you could get through Widowed Parent’s Allowance is based on how much your partner paid in National Insurance contributions. The maximum is £139.10 a week and you might be entitled to claim this until you either stop being entitled to child benefit or reach state pension age.

DWP Minister Viscount Younger of Leckie said: "This change will help provide many more bereaved families with children access to the financial support they need through a profoundly difficult time. I would urge anyone who thinks they may be eligible to claim as soon as possible so that they can ensure that they benefit from these backdated payments."

Bereavement Support Payment claims can be made online, over the phone or through a paper application form. Widowed Parent’s Allowance claims are only processed by paper forms and these can be downloaded from the GOV.UK website or requested through the Bereavement Service helpline on 0800 151 2012.

The DWP says people can make a claim after the February deadline however those who do will not receive as much money.

In its official guidance, the DWP says anyone who claims on or after February 9 2024 until the end of November 8, would not get as many backdated payments as they would have originally got. The DWP says the number of backdated payments reduces over time until November 9.