Funeral Payments
- Who can get a Funeral Payment?
- Who should claim?
- What the Funeral Payment covers
- How to claim
- When to claim
- How Funeral Payments are made
- Effect on other benefits
- Repayment of the Funeral Payment
- Disputes and appeals
A Funeral Payment is intended to help you pay for a funeral if you are on a low income, and you are the person responsible for arranging the funeral. It is recoverable from the deceased person’s estate if they have left one. It is a regulated payment, and as long as you fulfil the conditions you will be paid. [Legislation (3)].
Who can get a Funeral Payment?
The person who has died must have been ordinarily resident in the UK at the date of death and the funeral must normally take place in the UK. However, in certain circumstances, a Funeral Payment may be made for a funeral which takes place elsewhere in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in Switzerland. Members of the EEA are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. However, the amount awarded will be restricted to the amount which would have been paid if the funeral had taken place in the area where the deceased had lived in the UK.
You are eligible for a Funeral Payment if it is reasonable for you or your partner to take responsibility for the funeral costs and you are getting any of the following:
- Universal Credit
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Employment and Support Allowance (income-related)
- Pension Credit
- Housing Benefit
- Working Tax Credit where a disability or severe disability element is included in the award
- Child Tax Credit at a rate higher than the family element. [Legislation (4)]
Who should claim?
You should claim if you are the surviving partner of the deceased.
Where the person who died is a child, you should claim if you are the parent of or person responsible for the child. We will not, however, be able to make a payment if there is an absent parent of the child who has not been getting one of the following:
- Universal Credit
- Income Support
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Employment and Support Allowance (income-related)
- Pension Credit
- Housing Benefit
- Working Tax Credit where a disability or severe disability element is included in the award
- Child Tax Credit at a rate higher than the family element [See Legislation (4) above]
unless they were estranged from the child at the date of death. (By estranged we mean that there was a breakdown in the relationship between the absent parent and child.)
If you are the parent or the partner of a parent of a stillborn child, we do not have to take into consideration whether there is an absent parent.
If there is no surviving partner and the deceased is not a child for whom you were receiving Child Benefit, you should claim if you are a parent, son, daughter, close relative or close friend of the person who has died. We will not be able to make a payment if there is a parent, son or daughter (other than yourself) of the person who has died who has not been awarded one of the qualifying benefits mentioned above. This will not include family members who are: aged under 18, qualifying young persons for the purposes of Child Benefit, full-time students, not ordinarily resident in the UK, members of religious orders, in prison or in hospital (and who had been awarded a qualifying benefit before they entered prison or hospital), asylum seekers being supported by the National Asylum Support Service, or a parent, son or daughter who was estranged from the person who has died.
Where you claim as a parent, son, daughter, close relative or close friend, we also have to decide whether it was reasonable for you to have accepted responsibility for the funeral expenses. We do this by considering the nature and extent of your contact with the person who has died.
Where there are other close relatives of the deceased we consider the nature and extent of the contact each of those relatives had with the person who has died. This will not include close relatives who are: aged under 18, qualifying young persons for the purposes of Child Benefit, full-time students, not ordinarily resident in the UK, members of religious orders, in prison or in hospital (and who had been awarded a qualifying benefit before they entered prison or hospital) or asylum seekers being supported by the National Asylum Support Service. If you had the most contact, then you may be entitled to a payment. If any close relative had closer contact than you, then you will not be entitled to a Funeral Payment. However, if one or more of the deceased’s close relatives had equally close contact as you with the deceased, we will go on to consider the financial circumstances of those people.
If those close relatives are not in receipt of a qualifying benefit, i.e.:
- Universal Credit
- or Income Support
- or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- or Employment and Support Allowance (income-related)
- or Pension Credit
- or Housing Benefit
- or Working Tax Credit where a disability or severe disability element is included in the award
- or Child Tax Credit at a rate higher than the family element [See Legislation (4) above]
we will not be able to make a payment to you.
What the Funeral Payment covers
A Funeral Payment can help with the necessary cost of a respectful funeral within the UK (funerals in other EEA states can, in certain circumstances, be considered). This includes:
for burials:
- the necessary cost of a new burial plot with an exclusive right of burial or the cost of reopening an existing grave
- the necessary burial fees charged by the authority responsible for cemeteries in the area where the burial takes place or by a private grave-digger
or for cremations:
- the necessary fees charged by the authority responsible for the cremation
- the cost of any medical references or doctor’s certificates
- the cost of any necessary removal of an active implanted medical device (for example, a pacemaker)
and in any case:
- the cost of documentation needed for the immediate release of assets of the deceased
- when it is necessary to move the body over 50 miles within the UK to the funeral director’s premises or place of rest, the reasonable cost of that part of the journey which is over 50 miles
- where the return journey to the funeral is necessarily over 50 miles, the reasonable cost of that part of the return journey that is over 50 miles for the transport of the coffin and bearers, plus one additional vehicle
- the necessary cost of a return journey for you, either to:
- arrange the funeral, or
- go to the funeral
- up to £700 for any other funeral expenses.
Payments may be affected by a pre-paid funeral plan.
If you have any savings
Your savings do not affect Funeral Payments.
How to claim
Contact the DWP Bereavement Service. Where appropriate, they can take your Funeral Payment claim over the phone.
- Contact the Bereavement Service (GOV.UK)
Or make a written claim by completing form SF200
- Funeral Payments (GOV.UK)
When to claim
You must claim a Funeral Payment from the date of death and up to three months after the date of the funeral. If you are waiting for a decision on a qualifying benefit or entitlement you must still claim within the time limit above.
How Funeral Payments are made
If the funeral director's bill has not already been paid, we will usually pay the Funeral Payment directly into the funeral director's bank account. If the funeral director's bill has been paid we will make the payment to you, normally direct into your bank or building society account.
Effect on other benefits
There is no effect on other benefits from having a Funeral Payment.
Repayment of the Funeral Payment
If you get a Funeral Payment, it will have to be paid back from any estate of the person who died. The estate means any money, property and other things that the deceased person owned. A house or personal things that are left to a widow, widower or surviving civil partner will not be counted as part of the estate.
Disputes and appeals
If you want to know more about the decision or you think it is wrong
Please get in touch with Jobcentre Plus within one month of the date of the decision letter. If you contact us later we may not be able to help you.
You, or someone else who has the authority to act on your behalf, can
- ask for an explanation
- ask for a written statement of reasons for our decision
- ask us to look again at the decision to see if it can be changed. There may be some facts you think we have overlooked or you may have more information which affects the decision
- appeal against the decision to an independent tribunal (but this must be in writing)
You can do any of the actions listed above, or you can do all of them.
You can find more information about decision making and appeals in leaflet GL24 If you think our decision is wrong – available from any Jobcentre Plus office or the Catalogue of DWP products on the DWP website.
Legislation 3: The Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Expenses (General) Regulations 2005 (back to 'Funeral payments Intro')
Legislation 4: From April 2012 to April 2013 this means a Child Tax Credit rate of £548 a year or more, or £1,095 a year or more if you have a baby under one year old.(back to 'Who can get a funeral payment')
