30/01/2026
This needs to change.
The last thing you want to do when you have lost your child is look for a job!
One policy I am particularly intent on changing is the sudden switch-off of support when a child dies. Currently, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) ends on the day a child passes away. For many families, this is the very income that helped them survive during months or years of hospital life, travel costs, heating, food, and simply staying afloat while caring for a seriously ill child.
To remove that support immediately, with no compassionate transition period, is not right.
Grief does not follow an administrative timetable.
Parents do not stop needing support the moment their child dies.
I am pleased that Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability at Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and is engaging with our proposals and that officials are actively exploring the legal and financial implications of introducing a bereavement run-on for children’s DLA.
This is about dignity, compassion, and recognising the reality families face at the worst moment of their lives. We look forward to further updates and to continuing the work to ensure families are not abandoned by the system when they need it most.
