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The amount is only ever going to be a token reflection of the loss, though the same could be said of many awards of general damages and, with reference to those, the bereavement award should clearly be higher. The more pressing issue to me is the very narrow limits on who can claim the bereavement award.

Can we really justify that, in 2019, the parents of a 17 year old can claim the statutory bereavement award, but the parents of an 18 year old cannot?

Is it right that children are not entitled to the award when a parent is killed? Was it ever right that even children under 18 are not entitled to it?

Perhaps the most obviously outdated provision is excluding the father from the bereavement award if the child was illegitimate. I am not quite sure how that hasn't been challenged under the HRA...