Dads in Northern Ireland denied compensation if their children are killed

“The law on compensation for bereaved families in Northern Ireland is dreadfully out-of-date and does not reflect what families really look like in 2024,” said Oonagh McClure, from not-for-profit campaign group APIL (the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) which represents the interests of bereaved families and people injured because of negligence.

APIL is calling on the next Government to reform the law.

“A father who faces every parent’s worst nightmare does not receive the same recognition for his loss as the mother if they were not married or in a civil partnership when their child was born,” the Belfast solicitor explained.

“Imagine a couple’s teenage daughter is killed because of the negligence of someone else, such as a careless driver. Her grieving mum’s loss is acknowledged by the law and she will receive the statutory bereavement compensation but her dad’s loss is ignored and he receives nothing.

“The law suggests that unwed fathers do not have as close a relationship with a child as those fathers who are married or in civil partnerships with the mother. This is a nonsense and deeply insulting,” Oonagh added.

Today, almost half of babies born in Northern Ireland are to parents who are not married or in civil partnerships, according to the latest Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures.

In the Belfast area the latest figures show 60 per cent of babies were born to parents who were not married or in a civil partnership. The figure for the whole of Northern Ireland was 47.2 per cent.

“The law is unfair and the out-of-date rules on eligibility for statutory bereavement damages were set in Northern Ireland, along with England and Wales, four decades ago. The law no longer reflects the way people live their lives,” she said. “The system is much fairer in Scotland, where there is no problem with recognising modern family relationships. The law in relation to eligibility for bereavement damages is not as restrictive there, and each case is judged on its own merits,” she added.

“The compensation is a small sum but is an acknowledgement of the grief and trauma caused by a death which should never have happened. It can go a long way towards helping grieving parents accept that the wrongdoer has been held accountable for their child’s death,” she said.

“The next government will have many priorities but reform of the law on bereavement still needs attention at the earliest opportunity. Reform of this social injustice is long overdue,” she added.