Widowed - death of parent

I'm a parent supporting my childs application.

A few questions regarding what to do after the death of a parent during year of of a uni course and evidence, basis for income calculations etc etc.

1) I've trawled the SFE website and it points me to
https://www.gov.uk/contact-student-finance-england/y/supporting-your-child-s-or-partner-s-student-finance-application/updating-your-marital-status where I hoped I could update my status from Married to Widowed. There is no option available to me there. How do I get this changed, any idea?

2) SInce the death occurred during year 1, how would that affect year 1's SFE funding? How would it affect year 2 & 3 funding?

3) In year 2 there is obviously only 1 parent supporting the application. The application asks for 21-22 financial details. I can only supply info obviously from 1 parent. I can see there is an option regarding 15% reduction in household income, of which I am caught up in. How does this work when one of the parents is widowed?

The SFE website seems to be sadly lacking in any information about the death of a suporting parent. Both parents and students in this situation would be under a lot of pressure and stress, having this info easily signposted with details would help greatly.

This situation is not a rare occurence so guidance should be easy to find and it is disappointing that it is not.

Hi there,

Has your child uploaded a copy of their death certificate as that would update your marital status and their account as well? It would mean we'd assess the student based on your earnings solely for year 2 and 3. So if your income alone is under £25,000 then we'd assess the student for the maximum amount of funding. Thanks, Jason

Hi Jason,
No, they've not uploaded a copy of the death cert. It isnt clear (well not even documented) that this is how you go about updating marital status after bereavement. There is also no detail about how the assesment is done of current and subsequent years funding following this change of circumstance other than what you have put.

Which of my earnings years do you need information for, as the 15% or more reduction refers to a 'current year income assessment', does bereavement and loss of parental income trigger the 'current year assessment'?

I have yet to submit my earnings details for this current 23-24 funding year, shall I hold off and get the death cert uploaded and wait for an email prompting me for a current year assessment?
Thanks.