'Huge gaps' in support for families facing 750,000 bereavements during Covid-19 pandemic, commission finds

Around 750,000 extra bereavements happened during the coronavirus pandemic, a report suggests – but there are 'huge gaps' in formal support for people dealing with loss.

A FAMILY in Hampshire who lost a loved-one during the pandemic has called the lack of bereavement support ‘atrocious’, as a commission finds that there are ‘huge gaps’ in formal support for people dealing with loss.

The pandemic had a “profound impact” on how people have experienced bereavement, with limited access to family and friends and more formal support, according to the UK Commission on Bereavement.

The commission was formed in June 2021 in the context of increased bereavement and challenges during the pandemic, and described its work as one of the largest consultations on UK bereavement.

Now its findings estimate that 750,000 more people were bereaved than usual between March 2020 and December 2021.

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Many people are not getting the right support at the time they need it the most, with potentially serious consequences for their health, education and employment, it warned.

The reports own survey of more than 1,000 people suggest that 40 per cent of adult respondents who wanted formal bereavement support did not get any, while 37 per cent said they did not know how to access such help.

Half of bereaved children responding said they did not get the support they needed from their schools and colleges.

Tiffany Jones, whose father died just before Christmas 2020, said not knowing ‘what to do and where to go for support’ added to her family’s distress.

The 42-year-old, from Winchester, said: ‘For childbirth, marriage and any other time of need in your life, there’s support from midwives to health workers and pre-marriage counselling. But for that unexpected loss of a father, or husband it’s restricted.

‘The worst, most vulnerable time of your life and there is no help or guidance unless you can afford to pay for it. It was atrocious for us.’

The commission said if governments invested just 79p per person a year this sum could transform bereavement services, while particular attention needs to be devoted to improving support for black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

New legislation should be brought forward to require that all employers have a bereavement policy, statutory bereavement leave and pay for two weeks should be extended to cover all close relationships, and all education settings must be required to have a bereavement policy, the commission says.