supreme courtjustices said denying siobhan mclaughlin the allowance was unlawful — the ruling could benefitusands of families. what siobhan has said from day one is that it's unfair and it's wrong that her children should be treated any different than children whose pa rents a re any different than children whose parents are married and the supreme court today have upheld that. they have said not only is it unfair, it's unlawful. we'll find out exactly what today's ruling could mean for other unmarried couples. also on the programme: health campaigners have welcomed plans to ban the sale of high—caffeine energy drinks to children in england. theresa may, on her trade tour of africa, refuses to say britain will be better off in the medium term after brexit. after resigning from the snp, alex salmond faces criticism for setting up a crowdfunding page to fight sexual misconduct allegations. the payday lender, wonga, is teetering on the brink of collapse, after announcing it has stopped taking new loan applications. # you say...# and harry sings hamilton — very briefly — after watching the hit

when he died from cancer, siobhan mclaughlin had to take a second job to help support their children.t's allowance was only paid to those who had been married or in civil partnerships. today, the supreme court ruled that denying this benefit to unmarried parents has breached siobhan and her children's human rights. the judges said the allowance was there to diminish the loss suffered by children, a loss that was the same whether or not the parents were married. children are innocent. children do not have a voice and it's really unjust that the government could see that two children could be treated so differently when they are both grieving, to realise that, yeah, there's only some benefits you can claim as a cohabitee, but you can't claim because you're not married. it's a bit of a minefield of the system. society is changing. while married couples are still in the majority, figures show there has been a huge increase in cohabitation. now around one in five couples with children choose not to walk up the aisle. widowed parent's allowance and the new bereavement support payment, which

was entitled to was a siobhan mclaughlin was entitled to wasa lump siobhan mclaughlin was entitled tomount to quite a large amount of money but thisjudgment says quite a large amount of money but this judgment says cohabiting couples should be entitled to it, otherwise they are being discriminated against. one point struck me and i don't know if you've had a chance to look at the detail of this but lady hale said not every case where an unmarried parent is denied the allowance after the death of their partner will be unlawful. do you know why that would be? the eligibility criteria are as follows, i will read them to you — only the law applies to a husband, wife or civil partner, but the surviving partner has to be under state pension age, there has to be an entitlement to child benefit for at least one child that was a child with the late partner, and also the late husband, wife or civil partner had to be paying national insurance contributions so if you don't meet those criteria you are not entitled to it. there still will be a large number of couples who will meet that criteria. ve

at a news conference, siobhan mclaughlin said that the news was fantastic. kissing on the rights of the children born out of wedlock and how they haven't got a voice. they actually do have a voice and we have changed it. the current position is that to get widowed parents allowance, you have to be entitled to child benefit and the deceased partner has to have paid enough national insurance. but, crucially, you have to have been married or in a civil partnership. today's judgment could mean other non—married parents have been missing out. sarah cripps' partnerjames died of a stroke in 2015, leaving their three children without a father. he had been the principal breadwinner and was up—to—date on his national insurance contributions. but because they weren't married or in a civil partnership, she too missed out on a widowed parents allowance. he was their father in every way. i feel he is now not being treated as their parents and the children aren't allowed his contributions. this would have been money that james would have paid through his national insurance

siobhan mclaughlin was refused the benefit after her partner died in 2014, because the couple, who hadd had been together for 23 years, weren't married. but supreme courtjustices ruled this morning that denying her the benefit was unlawful. the ruling could help thousands of families in a similar situation, as jon donnison reports. john adams died from cancer in 2014, leaving behind four children. but their mother and his partner of 22 years, siobhan mclaughlin, was told she was not entitled to widowed parents allowance because the couple weren't married or in a civil partnership. for siobhan, that denied her family up to £117 a week and just wasn't fair. the commitment was the same. when we had children, they took his surname and his name is on the birth certificates. it was a family unit. they have no say in whether their parents were married or not. what child does? that was hard. it was hard to think that my youngest was ten and another child who is also ten in her class, parents were married, could get that. but she couldn't. but after a protracted legal battle, the supreme court

siobhan mclaughlin, from county antrim, was refused widowed parent's allowance when her partner died,ut the supreme court has ruled that it breached the family's human rights. the government is now considering whether to change the law. 0ur ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. a father and a partner for 23 years. john adams lived together with his family. when he died from cancer, siobhan mclaughlin had to take a second job to help support their children. she was told widowed parent's allowance was only paid to those who had been married or in civil partnerships. today, the supreme court ruled that denying this benefit to unmarried parents has breached siobhan and her children's human rights. the judges said the allowance was there to diminish the loss suffered by children, a loss that was the same whether or not the parents were married. children are innocent. children do not have a voice and it's really unjust that the government could see that two children could be treated so differently when they are both grieving, to realise that, yeah, there's only some benefits you can cla

siobhan mclaughlin lived with her partner for 23 years and after his death, had been denied money forhildren. alex salmond resigns from the snp over sexual assault allegations, and faces criticism for setting up a crowdfunding page to fight the claims. in a moment, it will be time for sportsday, but first a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news. at seven, beyond 100 days will be looking at president trump's latest twitter targets. at eight, we'll be discussing the impact of the collapse of payday loan firm wonga. and at 10:40 and 11.30 tonight we'll be discussing the front pages of tomorrow's papers with pauljohnson from the guardian and helen brand from the association of certified chartered accountants. that's all ahead on bbc news. now on bbc news, it's time for sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday, i'm holly hamilton. coming up in the next half hour: big problems for england in southampton. i'm live is at an senate where england are trying to turn things around after a desperate start in the fourth test against india. i'll be reflecting on today's champions

siobhan mclaughlin lived with her partner of 23 years, john adams, and theirfour children, until hishey weren't married. the commitment was the same when we had children, they took his surname and his name is on the birth certificate. it was a family unit. how dare anyone treat them differently when they are rescued as anyone else's children. it is hard to think that the government is saying that actually, do you know what, they are worth less, their brief and is worth less. and that is not fair. joining us now to explain more is family lawyer emma gill. thanks tojoining thanks to joining us. thanks tojoining us. —— thanks to joining us. this is such an emotional time for anybody to go through, but can you —— explained the rules at the moment? the difficulty she has is that she and her partner, albeit they were living as men and wife hadn't actually gone as men and wife hadn't actually gone a marriage ceremony, so as men and wife hadn't actually gone a marriage ceremony, so that particular benefit axe in the different ways if you are living together. what affects the case is that a b

siobhan mclaughlin, from county antrim, was refused widowed parent's allowance when her partner died, supreme court has ruled that it breached the family's human rights. the government is now considering whether to change the law. 0ur ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. a father and a partner for 23 years. john adams lived together with his family. when he died from cancer, siobhan mclaughin had to take a second job to help support their children. she was told widowed parent's allowance was only paid to those who've been married or in civil partnerships. today, the supreme court ruled that denying this benefit to unmarried parents has breached siobhan‘s and her children's human rights. the judges said the allowance was there to diminish the loss suffered by children, a loss that was the same whether or not the parents are married. children are innocent, children don't have a voice, and it's really unjust that the government could say that two children could be treated so differently, when they are both grieving. to realise that, yeah, there's only some benefit you can claim as a

siobhan mclaughlin lived with her partner for 23 years and after his death had been denied money for a protest in chemnitz in germany organised by the far—right after a man was murdered last weekend, allegedly by immigrants. police in the city have arrested two suspects from iraq and syria, who have been charged with manslaughter. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are helen brand, who's chief executive of the association of certified chartered accountants and pauljohnson, the deputy editor of the guardian. will continue both. thanks for being with us again. —— welcome to you both. most of tomorrow's front pages are now in. the metro leads with mp frank field's decision to resign the labour whip, accusing the party's leadership of becoming "a force for anti—semitism in british politics". the same story makes the front page of the times. but the paper also reports on school sports days, which it says are becoming more about the "taking part", and less about the "winning". the online independent carries a picture of theresa

siobhan mclaughlin from county antrim lived with her partner for 23 years and they had four childrenho has been investigating government support for bereaved families for more than a year for this programme. anna, can you first of all give us a bit more detail about what exactly happened yesterday? as you mentioned, siobhan mclauchlan was with her partner the 23 years, four children, and he died in 2014. she applied for the widowed parent‘s allowa nce she applied for the widowed parent‘s allowance and found that the because she wasn‘t married or in a civil partnership, she wasn‘t entitled to it. that benefit was up to £117 a week, and charities say that with that benefit, it could be the difference between the remaining pa rent difference between the remaining parent having to work a second job or being able to stay at home with their children who are grieving. so yesterday the supreme court ruled siobhan‘s human rights had been breached, and she wanted access to the benefit. she said the allowance exists because of the responsibilities of the deceased and survivor towards their chil

siobhan mclaughlin lived withjohn adams, her partner of 23 years, and their four children, until hisys the family is being discriminated against because the couple never married. researchers are suggesting that the daily commute could be treated as part of the working day because so many people check their e—mails on the way to and from the office. they say the growing availability of internet access has effectively extended the working day with extra unpaid hours. they say that employers could rethink what they count as "working hours". england's schools are facing a severe teacher shortage, according to the education policy institute. the independent think tank says as well as teacher shortages, students face bigger class sizes and there are more subjects being taught by staff without a relevant degree. it suggests targeted pay increases could combat the recruitment problem. theresa may is announcing a security pact with kenya, on the final day of her tour of africa. she's already visited south africa and nigeria in an effort to increase trade. britain will build a cyber centre in