Paying for the funeral

Funerals can be expensive. So remember to check where the money for the funeral will come from before making any arrangements. Otherwise, you may have to pay the bill yourself. Check whether the deceased person has contributed to schemes to pay for the funeral. You can contact the hospital’s bereavement officer on 01752 761682, who will have to be satisfied that there is no financial assets available to meet the funeral cost.

You may be able to get a payment from the Social Fund to help pay for the funeral if you are getting any of these social security benefits:

• income support
• jobseeker’s allowance (income-based)
• pension credit
• working tax credit (where a disabled worker is included in the assessment)
• child tax credit (at a rate higher than the family element)
• housing benefit
• council tax benefit

Check the Directgov - Funeral Payments factsheet for further details.

If no one is able or willing to arrange and pay for the funeral, the local council, or in some cases, the health authority may do so, but only where the funeral has not already been arranged.

Payment by the deceased

The bank account of the deceased will be frozen, unless it is a joint account. It may be possible to have part of the deceased’s savings released to pay for the funeral, for example from a building society or national savings. You will be asked for appropriate documents, usually including the death certificate.

Check the deceased’s papers for a cremation society certificate, life insurance policy papers or prepaid funeral plan. Also look for letters from previous employers with details about any occupational pension scheme or personal pension.

If the person who died was living in hospital or a residential home, the possessions will be handed over to the nearest relative or to a person with written authority from whoever is dealing with the will.

Employer’s pension schemes or personal pensions

Some employers provide occupational pension schemes that pay a lump sum to help with funeral costs and sometimes pension benefits for widows and other survivors. Check to see if the deceased has ever belonged to this sort of scheme.

The deceased may have made his or her own arrangements if he or she was self-employed, or his or her employer did not have an employer’s pension scheme.

If the deceased was receiving a pension from a previous job, find out who is paying it. It might be the employer’s pension scheme or an insurance company. Tell the representative of the pension scheme of the death, and if there is a widow, widower, dependent child or other dependant, since they may be able to get a pension. If they already receive a pension they may be able to get further pensions.

Find out if there was pension due to be paid on retirement from a previous employer. If there is a pension you should check who is responsible for paying it, for example the employer or an insurance company.

If you have difficulty in finding the employer (or whoever has taken over responsibility for the pension if the employer has given this responsibility up) you can get help from The Pensions Scheme Registry.

Other pensions and payments

There may be pensions or lump sums payable from the deceased’s trade union, professional body or other association, or from a provident club which pays benefit when a member dies.

If the deceased was receiving or had recently claimed a social security benefit before death, there may be arrears of that benefit still due. When you tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about the death, ask them to send you a form on which to claim any arrears of benefit.

If you are the executor or administrator, the arrears will be payable to you. If there is no executor or administrator but you are paying for the funeral, you can claim the arrears up to the cost of the funeral expenses.

Life insurance policies

The deceased may have taken out a life insurance policy which will provide a lump sum payment if someone dies before a certain age. Payment is usually made after probate but the insurance company may pay out a limited sum on evidence of death.

The cremation society

If the deceased was a member of the Cremation Society you may be able to get a reduction in cremation fees or a contribution towards the cost.

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