Bereavement

Help and Support

Cruse Bereavement Care,  - Anyone can contact Cruse if they want to talk about themselves or someone they know who has been affected by death.   TEL: 01702 213843 or 08701671677

Compassionate Friends, Joan and Maurice Lacey, TEL: 01255 426280

National Association of Widows.  Offer friendship and social life a friendship contact list, twice-yearly newsletters, national, regional and local events. If you are a widow and would like to become involved with the Association, please contact the address below for details of head office membership or branch membership.   

Office Administrator, National Association of Widows, 3rd Floor, 48 Queens Road, Coventry, CV1 3EH.  Tel/fax: 0845 838 2261 Email: info@nawidows.org.uk

Samaritans, 154 York Road, Southend On Sea.  Tel 08457 90 90 90. Samaritans aims to benefit society by improving people's emotional health in order to create a greater sense of well being. Apart from being a 24-hour source of support on the telephone, by email, by letter or face to face www.samaritans.org

The New Bereavement Service...........................  On March 16th  the DWP have launched a new service.

This means that customers only have to contact the Department once to report a death, and this information will be shared across all appropriate DWP business areas. 

At the same time, all bereaved customers are offered the opportunity to check what additional help they may potentially be eligible for as a result of the bereavement.

By asking a few guestions, the telephone agent will tell the custgomer if they could be eligible for any benefits as a result of the death.

And, where they are eligible to get a Social fund Funeral Payment (SFFP) and/or Bereavement Benefit (BB), they can make the claim over the phone in the same call.

The Bereavement Service is linked to the Tell Us Once (TUO) service, that csatures death details and shares them with otgher local and central Government organisations. Tel: 0845 608 8684

AGE UK have an advice leaflet, Bereavement. Ring freephone 0800 169 6565. www.ageuk.org.uk. AGE UK factsheets: 14 Dealing with somone else's estate, 27 Arranging a funeral. Available by ringing freephone 0800 169 6565 or go to Southend Central Library they have a copy for reference

The Department for Work and Pensions publishes a booklet, D49 What to do after a death in England and Wales, giving practical details of what you should do after a death. It is available from the Benefits Agency and registrars.
Which? publish a useful book, What to do when someone dies. It is available from bookshops or most libraries. 
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