The National Bereavement Alliance is a membership group of organisations supporting and working with bereaved people.
We collaborate to provide a collective voice representing both bereaved people and families and those who provide support.
Our objectives include the following and you can read more about these here:
- Advocacy and Campaigning
- Promoting a robust sector
- Championing research and evidence
- Communities of practice
We endorse the Bereavement Support Service Standards as a framework for service quality. All members are expected to adhere to these standards.
We are not an accrediting body and do not take responsibility for the quality or delivery of members’ services. We expect members to self-audit and share learning and good practice across the Alliance.
Our work is largely focused in England, and we collaborate closely with colleagues in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales on devolved matters affecting bereaved people and those working with them, to ensure a consistent voice for support for bereaved people across the UK.
We welcome applications for membership, particularly from:
- national and regional membership organisations with an interest in the field of bereavement care
- national providers of bereavement care
- local bereavement care providers which have no other means of being represented.
In addition, individuals may join as Associate Members.
To apply to join the Alliance, please register here.
Our history
The National Bereavement Alliance grew out of an advisory group formed by the Department of Health in 2009, to advise on bereavement care within the End of Life Care Strategy. After several years, that advisory group had fulfilled its role but there was an appetite from the organisations around the table to continue meeting, and to invite others to collaborate with them to provide an integrated voice for bereavement services.
Since 2012, the National Bereavement Alliance has provided the opportunity for bereavement organisations to meet to discuss policy and practice issues affecting bereaved people. In 2013, the Alliance consulted widely on how bereavement care could be improved, and in 2014 we published Life after Death, setting out six steps towards better support. This has formed the basis of our policy work since then. Funding in 2016 from Macmillan Cancer Care helped to support the Alliance in this policy work.