Some burial/cremation costs can be paid as part of Funeral Support Payment.
To calculate what burial/cremation costs should be paid, make sure you have a copy of the funeral bill or a note of the costs from the funeral director.
Costs should only be paid if you think they’re reasonable. You should look at the facts of each case when judging whether the costs are reasonable.
Costs that are already covered by a funeral plan are not payable. For more information, view the funeral plan guidance.
Funeral Support Payment is intended to only cover the costs of burying or cremating a person in their local authority area.
You can still award Funeral Support Payment if the person who died is buried or cremated outside of their local authority, but you may need to apply a cap to the costs paid.
Read the Local authority cost comparison guidance for more information.
In some cases, an applicant may have only accepted responsibility for part of the funeral costs. In these cases, you should calculate the burial/cremation and transport costs based on how they’ve been shared.
For example, if the applicant is paying 50% of the costs, divide each cost by half.
However, the flat-rate payment should still be paid to the applicant in full. This is because only one award of Funeral Support Payment can be made for a funeral.
Before calculating any costs, you should identify the local authority area of the person who died.
To do this, check the application and confirm that the address we have for the person who died is the same as their address on Searchlight.
If the addresses match, you should make a note of person who died’s local authority area.
If the addresses do not match or there’s no Searchlight record, you’ll need to identify the ordinary residence of the person who died. Do this as part of your call to the applicant.
A person’s ordinary residence is the place where they live for settled purposes as part of their normal life. This could be for a short or a long period. The important thing is that they voluntarily choose to live there as part of their everyday life. This does not apply to children or people who legally cannot make their own decisions.
It’s possible the person who died may have been living somewhere other than their ordinary residence at the time of their death. For example, they may have been on holiday, staying with family or in hospital. In cases like this, you’ll need to confirm the person who died’s ordinary residence with the applicant. Once you have done this, make a note of the local authority area.
There are two categories of cremation costs that can be paid:
We can pay the cost of some medical procedures needed before the cremation can go ahead. For example, the removal of a pacemaker or other medical implants.
Confirm with the funeral director whether there were any medical devices removed and the cost to remove them.
If a registered medical practitioner removed the device, we can pay the actual cost as long as you consider it reasonable. You should look at the facts of the case when deciding how much to award.
If the device was removed by someone who’s not a registered medical practitioner, such as a funeral director, we can pay up to £25.35 if you consider the cost reasonable. Again, you should look at the facts of the case when deciding how much to award.
Accepted:
not accepted:
Contact the Decision Support Team for advice if the implant being removed is not on the list.
Record the medical device removal costs on SPM.
Take these steps:
The cremation costs must be reasonable in order to be paid.
To help assess whether the cremation costs are reasonable, you should consider the standard costs for each local authority.
These costs should only be used as a reference point. You should always look at the applicant’s actual costs when deciding the amount to be paid.
If the costs provided seem unusually high, ask the applicant and/or funeral director if there’s a special reason for the costs. You can then consider whether the costs are reasonable.
An example of reasonable higher costs might be the funeral taking place on a weekend because of faith reasons.
You should always decide whether the costs are reasonable based on the particular facts of the case. If you’re unsure, speak to your line manager for advice.
There are three categories of burial costs that can be paid:
Some miscellaneous burial costs that fall within these categories are:
We can pay the above costs if the local authority or operator responsible for the burial is charging for them. We cannot pay these costs if they’re part of the funeral director’s bill.
Miscellaneous burial costs can be added to the plot or interment boxes in SPM if all costs are itemised.
Please note: this list is not exhaustive and if any other miscellaneous burial costs come up, check if they’re included in any of the three categories set out above. If not, the flat-rate payment should help pay for these costs.
Burial costs must be reasonable in order to be paid.
To help assess whether the burial costs are reasonable, view the standard costs for each local authority.
These costs should only be used as a reference point. You should always look at the applicant’s actual costs when deciding the amount to be paid.
If the costs provided seem unusually high, ask the applicant and/or funeral director if there’s a special reason for the costs. You can then consider whether the costs are reasonable.
An example of reasonable higher costs might be the funeral taking place on a weekend because of faith reasons.
You should always decide whether the costs are reasonable based on the particular facts of the case. If you’re unsure, speak to your line manager for advice.
For direct/simple funerals, you should visit the website of the local authority or private crematorium to find out what burial/cremation costs should be paid.
If the costs are not available online, you should contact the relevant business to find out the costs charged to the funeral director.
For direct/simple funerals that take place outside the person who died’s local authority area, you should award the actual costs. You do not need to complete a local authority cost comparison.
If the person who died had a funeral plan, you must find out if it’s fully paid up and what burial/cremation costs are covered.
If the plan is fully paid up, any burial/cremation costs covered by the plan should not be paid to the applicant.
If the plan is not fully paid up but the provider agrees to still honour it, any burial/cremation costs covered by the plan should not be paid to the applicant.
If the plan is not fully paid and the provider only agrees to honour part of it or instead return the premiums, please raise a case query with the Decision Support Team. The Decision Support Team will request legal advice to determine whether this should be viewed as an asset or a funeral plan.
Read the Funeral Support Payment flat-rate payment guidance for further information on how funeral plans affect the amount awarded.
Funeral Support Payment is intended to only cover the costs of burying/cremating a person in their local authority area.
We can still pay Funeral Support Payment if the person who died is buried/cremated outside of their local authority, but you may need to fill out a cost comparison template to decide how much to award.
You’ll compare:
To do this, you’ll need to know:
Check if the burial/cremation was held in the same local authority area as the ordinary residence of the person who died.
If the burial/cremation was held in the same local authority, use the actual costs to calculate how much to pay the applicant.
If the burial/cremation was held somewhere else, you’ll need to ask the applicant the reason for the funeral location. You should then consider whether the local authority cap needs to be applied.
If the burial/cremation was held outside the UK, read the funerals outside the UK guidance to check whether we can pay Funeral Support Payment.
If the funeral was held in a different local authority area, you should ask the applicant the reason for the location.
Some acceptable reasons for the funeral being held in a different local authority include:
In these instances, you should pay the actual costs of the funeral – even if they’re more than what the funeral would have cost in the person who died’s local authority area.
If you’re not sure whether a different funeral location is acceptable or not, speak to your line manager before making a decision.
If the funeral location was just a personal choice on the part of the applicant or the person who died, you’ll need to complete a local authority cost comparison template. This is held on eRDM.
Look up and record all costs for the funeral had it been held in the local authority area. Then compare this amount with the actual costs.
If the plot was pre-purchased, you do not need to include plot costs as part of the comparison.
After completing the comparison template, confirm whether the actual cost of the funeral was more than the cost of a funeral in the person who died’s local authority area. You can award the actual costs if they do not exceed this cap. Any costs above this should not be awarded.