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What is the Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension?
The Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension is a weekly payment made on the death of a partner. A bereaved partner can be a husband, wife, civil partner or qualified cohabitant.
Entitlement is based on either your or your late spouse or partner’s social insurance (PRSI) record. All contributions must have been made before the death of your spouse or partner. The two records cannot be combined when calculating entitlement.
You can find out more about the Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension on gov.ie.
Who can get the Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension?
To qualify for Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension, you must:
- be a widow, widower, surviving civil partner or a surviving qualified cohabitant,
- satisfy the social insurance contribution (PRSI) conditions,
- not cohabit with another person
A person will be considered a qualified cohabitant if they lived together with their partner in an intimate and committed relationship for a period of:
- two years where there are children of the relationship, or
- five years where there are no children of the relationship
You can find out more about the qualifying conditions for Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension on gov.ie.
Other social welfare supports for the bereaved:
Bereaved Partner’s (Non-Contributory) Pension
This is a means-tested payment for a widow, widower, surviving civil partner or surviving qualified cohabitant who is under age 66 and does not have dependent children. You will be invited to apply for the Bereaved Partner’s (Non-Contributory) Pension if you do not satisfy the social insurance conditions for Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension. You can find out more about the Bereaved Partner’s (Non-Contributory) Pension on gov.ie.
Bereaved Parent Grant
This is a one off payment to widows, widowers, surviving civil partners or surviving qualified cohabitants with dependent children. You can find out more about how to apply for the Bereaved Parent Grant on gov.ie. You do not need to complete an application form if you are applying for Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension.
State Pension (Non-Contributory)
The State Pension (Non-Contributory) is a means-tested payment if you don't qualify for a contributory pension based on your social insurance (PRSI) contribution record or if you only qualify for a reduced rate of State Pension (Contributory). You can apply for the State Pension on MyWelfare.
One-Parent Family Payment
One-Parent Family Payment is a payment for recently bereaved parents under age 66, who are not cohabiting and do not qualify for a Bereaved Partner’s Pension. One-Parent family payment will be payable for 2 years from the date of death of the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant, or until the youngest child reaches 18, whichever is earlier. You can find out more about how to apply for One-Parent Family Payment on gov.ie.
Death Benefit Scheme
If a person making pay related social insurance contributions (PRSI) dies because of an accident at work, or from a disease that is related to their work, Death Benefit may be paid to their surviving spouse, civil partner, qualified cohabitant, or dependent child. Death Benefit may also be paid if, at the time of their death, the person was in receipt of Disablement Benefit assessed at 50% or more, regardless of the cause of death. You can find out more about how to apply for the Death Benefit Scheme on gov.ie.
What will you be asked for?
Partner & relationship details
To apply for Bereaved Partner’s Pension, you will be asked about your partner and your relationship to them. If you got married or entered into a civil partnership outside of Ireland, you will have to provide your marriage or civil partnership certificate. If your partner died outside of Ireland, you will have to provide evidence of their date of death.
If a cohabiting partner, you do not have to provide documentary evidence of the relationship with your application. However, an officer may contact you to provide the evidence at a later date.
Employment
To help determine your entitlement to Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension, you will be asked about any employment you or your late partner had in an EU country, the UK or a country with which Ireland has a Bilateral Social Security Agreement. We will apply for a pension to that country on your behalf. You can find out more about Bilateral Social Security Agreements on gov.ie.
Allowances & benefits
You’ll be asked to confirm if you’d like to apply for the Child Support Payment. If aged over 66, you’ll also be asked about the Living Alone Increase.
You will need a verified MyGovID account to apply. If you don't have a verified MyGovID account, you can create one here.