Bereaved Parent Grant

The Bereaved Parent Grant is a once-off payment to widows, widowers, surviving civil partners and surviving cohabitants with dependent children.

Surviving cohabitants will only qualify for the Bereaved Parent Grant if their partner’s death occurred on or after 21 July 2025.

This payment was called the Widowed or Surviving Civil Partner’s Grant. It was renamed when it was extended to include cohabitants (cohabitating couples).

A cohabiting couple is a couple that lives together in an intimate and committed relationship, who are not married to each other and not in a civil partnership. To qualify for the Bereaved Parent Grant, a cohabitating couple with dependent children must have been living together for a continous period of:

• At least 2 years, if you have at least one dependent child of the relationship
• At least 5 years, if you have one or more dependent child but they are not of the relationship

To qualify for the Bereaved Parent Grant, you must be:

• A widow, widower, surviving civil partner or surviving cohabitant with one or more dependent children living with you at the date of death of your spouse or partner. You can also qualify if you have a child born within 10 months of the death of your spouse or partner
• Getting a qualifying social welfare payment – see below

Surviving cohabitant

To qualify for the Bereaved Parent Grant, a cohabitating couple with dependent children must have been living together for a continous period of:

• At least 2 years, if you have at least one dependent child of the relationship
• At least 5 years, if you have one or more dependent child but they are not of the relationship

Surviving cohabitants will only qualify for the Bereaved Parent Grant if their partner’s death occurred on or after 21 July 2025.

Dependent child

A dependent child is:

• A child up to age 18 (or between 18 and 22 and in full-time education at a recognised school)
• Normally resident in the State
• Living with you

Qualifying social welfare payments for the Bereaved Parent Grant

To get the Bereaved Parent’s Grant you must also qualify for one of the following payments:

• Bereaved Partner’s Contributory Pension
• One-Parent Family Payment
• Death Benefit under the Occupational Injuries Scheme
• State Pension (Contributory)
• State Pension (Non-Contributory)

The Bereaved Parent Grant is a once-off payment of €8,000.

The Bereaved Parent Grant can be paid directly to your account in a financial institution.

You do not need to submit an application form if you are applying for Bereaved Partner’s (Contributory) Pension.

You can only apply for the Bereaved Parent Grant by post. To apply, download and complete the Bereaved Parent Grant application form.

If you wish to talk to someone about your pension entitlements, you can visit your local Citizens Information Centre, local social welfare office or Intreo Centre.