The equality act was put in place to create an equal footing for all. Protected characteristics where put in place to ensure the most vulnerable in society are awarded the same status as those not affected by these characteristics. Yet bereaved children and families have only ever become worse off and under represented since the equality act was put in place. At present bereaved children are not protected financially, BSP now stands at 44.3 weeks worth of state pension. Since it was introduced in 2017 the weeks get shorter when introduced this equated to 61.42 weeks worth of state pension. Pensions went up while bereavement support sat still.
Within the education system bereaved children are not protected, no one knows how many children in education have lost a parent, there’s no register of official status and often the information is not shared internally within schools or passed over during transition to other schools and colleges. When bereaved children come to sit their exams no additional uplift is awarded unlike those who suffer severe bodily injury which gives you 4% uplift, physical assault before the exam 3% and minor ailments such as hayfever 1%. Staff training, even the QCF level 3 for teaching assistant, does not have an optional unit for supporting bereaved children even though by the age of 16 4.7% or around 1 in 20 have experienced the death of 1 or both parents, but they offer a supporting teenage pregnancy unit. Children whose parents are deployed are protected under chapter 10.55 of the SEND Code of practice “while not constituting SEN in itself, may result in a service child experiencing anxiety, dips in educational performance and/or emotional difficulties. Children may also be affected similarly by sibling’s deployment” These are the same issues we see from children who have experienced the death of a parent. If you’re a single parent on universal credit child maintenance payments don’t affect your award and is tax free, but when your partner dies once your BSP runs out you have to work even harder to make up the short fall in payments/second income while having no emotional or practical support in place, how do you cover the school holidays while receiving 28 days holiday from your job, attend school plays, special assembly, sport days. Your day doesn’t start a 8:45am and finish at 3:30. Ok, you say that’s why we have life insurance and private pensions but as with all insurances they find ways to not pay out or make a lower award, a declaration of wishes is just a wish not what will actually happen. The pension company can override this and award it to whom they feel is most entitled to the benefit and this is not always the dependents. Bereaved children need more support because at the moment they are the forgotten children who have already suffered so much loss already.