5. Social Fund Funeral Payments
5.1 All aspects of the Social Fund are kept under review and we are clear that the regulated Social Fund payments provide effective help. Recent discussions with key stakeholders demonstrated a consensus that Sure Start Maternity Grants, Funeral Payments, Cold Weather Payments and Winter Fuel Payments deliver relevant, timely and appropriate support to the right people.
5.2 Whilst we feel that the delivery of these parts of the Fund is generally meeting the needs of our customers, we recognise that there are administrative improvements that would both improve the customer experience and streamline the administration within Jobcentre Plus. This is particularly the case for Funeral Payments where we have identified a number of issues that we believe need to be addressed to improve our service to our customers.
5.3 Support for funeral costs is valued highly by families and friends who have funerals to arrange. The Funeral Payment scheme helps those on a qualifying benefit. It meets the necessary burial or cremation costs but is not intended to pay for all the associated costs of a funeral. The £700 limit on these associated costs provides people on a qualifying benefit who are responsible for a funeral with a contribution towards the cost of a simple, respectful, low-cost funeral. (The average cost of a standard funeral for all income groups in the UK is estimated to be around £2,700[22], the average total Funeral Payment award, for those on low incomes, was almost £1,200 in 2008-09.)
5.4 However, evidence suggests that there is an expectation that the scheme will meet the full range of costs and that it will make payments to people in a broad range of financial circumstances, the latter being illustrated by the relatively low percentage of claims that result in an award being made. In 2008-09 only 41,000 of the 69,000 claims for Funeral Payments resulted in an award being made. In the preceding two years the picture was broadly the same with around 40 per cent of claims being unsuccessful.
5.5 This clearly highlights the need to improve the information we make available about Funeral Payments. Therefore we are examining the leaflets, claim forms and other information and we are improving them to make them simpler for customers to understand and complete. Representations from stakeholder groups, as well as from individual customers, have not only reinforced the need for improvement and greater transparency, but have also highlighted points for particular attention.
5.6 The second area that we are interested in is the time it takes to process claims. While it is necessary for us to collect all the information we need to make a decision, we also recognise that this can cause distress and uncertainty for our customers and we want to streamline the process, in particular for partners or following the death of a child, making it as simple as we can for the customer.
5.7 Importantly, we are looking to improve the way in which our customers interact and engage with the scheme by linking the claim process to the proposed Bereavement Service. This service is being developed to ensure that when someone dies a customer only has to make one contact with the Department for Work and Pensions to notify them of the bereavement. During this contact information will be captured regarding the death as well as establishing additional services that might be appropriate to the bereaved families. This should have the added benefit of ensuring there is more control over who makes a claim as well as removing duplication and deficiencies by satisfying the information requirements of multiple services.
5.8 There are clear benefits of a service such as this to the customer, at what is a difficult and stressful time. It will help to minimise the information that they are required to provide to process any claims or discontinue payments they receive.
5.9 The Bereavement Service will enable claims for Bereavement Payment and Bereavement Allowance to be taken over the telephone, speeding up the claim process and ensure that claimants are informed of other benefits to which they might be entitled. Much of the information gathered for this purpose is also relevant to an application for a Funeral Payment, so will be recorded at that time and pre-populated onto a claim form.
5.10 Finally, full-time students in higher education who qualify for income-related benefits may be eligible for Funeral Payments. We are considering whether to extend help with funeral costs to other students who do not qualify for welfare benefits, but do meet all the other qualifying conditions and who may have few or no other financial resources other than their student loan.
Questions
Do you think that students not in receipt of welfare benefits should qualify for financial help with funeral payments? If so, how should we identify these students?
Should we restrict access to students in full-time higher education? Should we consider an age limit? Any other criteria?
