During the hearing, which took place yesterday at the supreme court in Belfast, judges were told that the state’s refusal to pay mother of four, Siobhan McLaughlin Widowed Parents’ Allowance because she was not married to her children’s father, is discriminatory to children born out of wedlock.
Siobhan McLaughlin’s partner John Adams died in January 2014. The couple from County Antrim had spent 23 years together,but Ms McLaughlin was refused bereavement payment and widow’s parent’s allowance because they weren’t married.
The Childhood Bereavement Network, part of the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), and the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), intervened in the case, submitting evidence and legal arguments to the court, including anecdotal evidence from benefits advisers that many parents don’t realise the situation until it’s too late.
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