At Ringrose Law we regularly assist clients who have sadly lost a loved one due to a “Fatal Accident”: whether that be an accident on the road, at work, or due to medical negligence.
There have recently been some developments in the law which will benefit clients making a claim in this area. We welcome these changes, which include the Bereavement Award amount being increased, and now cohabitees of over 2 years are able to claim it too.
Overview
There are a number of losses which we seek to claim for clients if their claim is successful, but here we discuss the Bereavement award only. We are always happy to advise on Fatal Accident claims as a whole.
The Bereavement Award is made under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 and is defined as an award in a personal injury compensation claim, following the unlawful death of a person involved in an accident or illness, due to fault by another.
Increase of the Bereavement Award
The award is payable as part of a compensation claim, if eligible, and it is a fixed amount set by Government. On 1 May 2020 this was increased from £12,980 to £15,120.
Claimant organisations have long campaigned for this change as the amount had not been increased in 7 years. The new amount applies to deaths which occur after 1 May 2020: the previous amount will unfortunately still apply to any claims made in respect of deaths before this date.
Who might be entitled to the Bereavement Award?
The Government set a list of who can seek to obtain such an award in a claim, which we find can be restrictive.
The award is now available to:
- The husband, wife, civil partner or cohabitee (for over 2 years) of the person who has died;
- The mother or parents under the age of 18 who has died.
The Remedial Order to the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 which makes these changes comes into force today, 6 October 2020. This means that a cohabiting partner of a person who has died is now eligible to claim a bereavement award as long as the couple had cohabited for two years immediately before the date of death.
Prior to this change, cohabitees could not make this claim, which has been subject to an overwhelming amount of criticism.
The recent case of Smith v Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Secretary of State for Justice [2017] led the way for change. The Claimant, Ms Smith, was the surviving partner of a man who died due to clinical negligence after contracting an infection following a hospital procedure. The couple had lived together for around 11 years, but as they were not married, Ms Smith was not entitled to the Bereavement Award. In the Court of Appeal it was held, unanimously, that the exclusion of unmarried cohabiting partners was unlawful discrimination and incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. As a result of this case, the Government confirmed that the law would be changed.
Whilst this change is not retrospective it will apply to all claims made after 6 October 2020.
Our Thoughts
We are pleased that the Bereavement Award has been increased and the categories of people who can claim the award has been widened. These changes will benefit more families who have lost loved ones.
Many Claimant organisations still argue that this change does not go far enough and the amount should be higher, or not capped at all. For example, In Scotland and Ireland there is no fixed statutory amount, and cases are considered on their own individual merits. We are sure that discussions over this will continue.
If you wish to discuss a possible negligent fatal accident, our team has considerable expertise in this area and we are happy to discuss this with you.
Call 01522 561020 or email