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| NI mother wins Supreme Court benefit case | NI mother wins Supreme Court benefit case |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| An unmarried mother has won access to a Widowed Parent's Allowance in a landmark Supreme Court ruling. | An unmarried mother has won access to a Widowed Parent's Allowance in a landmark Supreme Court ruling. |
| Mother of four, Siobhan McLaughlin from County Antrim lived with her partner for 23 years- but never married. | Mother of four, Siobhan McLaughlin from County Antrim lived with her partner for 23 years- but never married. |
| After her partner's death, she was denied money that her children would have been otherwise entitled to. | After her partner's death, she was denied money that her children would have been otherwise entitled to. |
| Today's ruling is expected to have far-reaching ramifications - allowing people across the UK to apply for similar payments. | Today's ruling is expected to have far-reaching ramifications - allowing people across the UK to apply for similar payments. |
| The Supreme Court Justices found that the legislation which governs the Widowed Parents Allowance (WPA) was incompatible with human rights law, as it "precludes any entitlement to WPA by a surviving unmarried partner". | |
| Siobhan McLaughlin lived with her partner John Adams for 23 years and they had four children together, but the couple were never married. | |
| Mr Adams died in 2014. | |
| Ms McLaughlin is now the sole provider for her family and works two jobs as a special needs classroom assistant and cleaner. | |
| She said the money provided by the widowed parent's allowance would have been useful to her family. | |
| After his death, the County Antrim woman challenged the rule that parents must have married to be entitled to a widowed parent's allowance. | |
| Ms McLaughlin, from Armoy, won the original case but it was overturned by the Court of Appeal. | |
| In April 2018 the Supreme Court sat in Northern Ireland for the first time ever. | |
| Ms McLaughlin's case was the first case heard by the court in Northern Ireland. | |
| Thursday's ruling by the UK Supreme Court is expected to allow unmarried people from across the UK to apply for a Widowed Parent's Allowance. |