Help with the cost of the funeral

If you are having trouble paying for a funeral that you have to arrange, you may be able to get a social fund funeral payment to help you with the cost.

Who can get help

To qualify, you or your partner (spouse or someone you live with as if you are married to them) must be receiving one of these benefits or tax credits:

• 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 (it must be reasonable for you to have taken responsibility for the funeral expenses)

This will usually mean you were the partner of the deceased. Or, if they had no partner, you were a close relative or close friend of the deceased. You will be asked about the circumstances of any parent, son or daughter of the deceased. You may also be asked about the circumstances of the deceased’s close relatives.

The deceased must have been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom 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 Union (EU). The amount awarded will be restricted to the amount which could have been paid if the funeral had taken place in the area where the deceased had lived in the UK.

Check the Directgov - Funeral Payments factsheet for further details.

What you can get help with

A funeral payment will cover the costs of a simple, respectful, low cost funeral, normally within the UK. It will pay the charges of the burial authority or crematorium, certain necessary travel expenses and up to £700 for other funeral expenses. (You may not be entitled to a payment if expenses have been met by a pre-paid funeral plan.) A funeral payment may be reduced in certain circumstances.

In particular, the following will be deducted from an award:

• any assets of the deceased available to you or your partner
• any lump sum due on the death of the deceased for funeral costs
• any contribution for the funeral from a charity or relative (of both yourself and the deceased)
• any funeral grant where the deceased was a war pensioner

Getting a payment

If you get a funeral payment, it will have to be paid back from any estate of the deceased. The estate means any money, property and other things like insurance policies that the deceased owned. A house or personal possessions that are left to a widow or widower are not counted as part of the estate.

You can claim a funeral payment from the date of death and up to three months after the date of the funeral. Funeral payments are usually made by cheque in the funeral director's name.

You need to contact your social security office for an application form SF 200 funeral payment from the social fund, or you can contact the funeral grant's officer on 0845 6036 967 or free phone 0800 055668.

In the case that you still have no finances and you do not qualify for a social fund payment, you may contact the environmental regulation service on 01752 304146 (please note we only undertake this provision for person(s) who reside in within the city limits) and the information will be passed to the public funerals officer who will, once all the relevant information is given, if satisfied no other person has responsibility for the funeral will under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 Section 46 (1) Cremation or Burial make the necessary arrangements, such as registering the death, time and place of the funeral, and at all times the PFO would keep in touch with you to ensure that you are kept informed of all arrangements.

Under the above act, Plymouth City Council as the 'Authority' may recover expenses incurred from the estate of the deceased person either from recoverable monies from the bank/building society account(s), DSS pension(s), post office saving accounts, life assurance policies etc.

Please note that this information is there to assist you in the event that you are the one who is left to make the funeral arrangements for your relative or friend and is intended to be a guide to assist you at the time of bereavement and there are other agencies who will advise you should you require counselling or advice concerning funeral arrangements.

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