The amount you award the client depends on what funds are in the estate of the person who died.
This only applies if the person who died was 18 or over.
If the person who died was under 18, you do not need to find out whether they had any funds. If the client has provided this information, ignore it when calculating their payment.
You should deduct from the Funeral Support Payment award any available funds in the person who died’s estate.
Available means they can be used to help pay for the funeral. See guidance below on funds that you should not deduct.
In the Funeral Support Payment application form, we ask the client if the person who died had:
If the client answers ‘Yes’ to any of the above, they’ll be prompted to provide amounts in the application.
You should only deduct pensions and insurance policies from the award if they’ve paid out a lump sum that can be used for funeral costs.
You should also deduct:
The person who died may have a life insurance policy to pay for something specific like their mortgage or their children’s education.
In cases like this, you should not deduct the insurance policy from the Funeral Support Payment award as it is not available to use to help pay funeral costs.
You should also not deduct donations from friends and charitable organisations that have been given to help pay for the funeral.
If the funds in the estate are from benefit arrears, do not deduct these from the Funeral Support Payment award.
Benefit arrears means any UK social security payments that were made after the person died. These include: