To be eligible for Funeral Support Payment, all of the following criteria must be met:
The amount the client gets paid can depend on how much of the deceased’s money or assets is available to use towards the funeral costs, without confirmation having been granted. The available assets could include a pension or insurance policy that pays out a lump sum, which can be put towards funeral costs. Read the Assessing available funds guidance for more information.
Please note: There are a limited range of circumstances where the client can get Funeral Support Payment when the funeral was held in in a member state of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland. Please speak to your manager for further guidance on what to do in these instances.
Definition of a partner: A partner is someone the client lives with and they’re a couple, married or civil partners.
The client or their partner must have been in receipt of one of the following benefits on the date the application was made:
If a client references a benefit from a European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland as their qualifying benefit, please bring this to the attention of the Decision Support Team.
When the client is relying on a backdated qualifying benefit award that relates to at least one day in the six month period for applications, the application will be treated as though it was made on a day that fell within that period.
Please note: In order to be eligible for Funeral Support Payment, the benefit must not have been awarded in error or be a zero award (unless the zero award is the result of a deduction for liability or a sanction).
If the client or their partner has applied for one of the qualifying benefits but a decision has not been made on that qualifying benefit, then they can still apply. We are unable to tell them if they can get Funeral Support Payment until a decision has been made on the qualifying benefit first.
If the client’s only qualifying benefit is housing benefit, then we need to ask the client to send us either:
The client can contact their local authority to request a letter if needed. Any confirmation that they send must have their:
When verifying the qualifying benefit this will check for clerical awards, Housing Benefit or pending qualifying benefit awards.
If you are still unable to verify the qualifying benefit, you must ask the client to provide two pieces of evidence confirming receipt of the benefit. These should:
If the clients gets both:
These clients are eligible for Funeral Support Payment provided they meet all other criteria. But Universal Credit may incorrectly show as a zero award on SPM. To process these cases, you’ll need to:
Contact HMRC to obtain this information.
As a case manager, use this guidance when denying Funeral Support Payment applications because there are sufficient, available assets to cover the cost of the funeral.
In cases where the deceased was aged 18 or over, Funeral Support Payment is not awarded if assets of the deceased person are available and sufficient to meet the costs of a funeral.
When assessing the availability of assets, take into consideration:
If there are no available assets, or assets that amount to less than £6,000 in available funds, proceed the application as normal.
If the client confirms that £6,000 or more of available funds has, or will be, received from the estate and can or has been used towards the cost of the funeral, then deny the application.
The client must be ordinarily resident in Scotland. If they live in England or Wales, they can find out more about Funeral Expenses Payment on GOV.UK. If they live in Northern Ireland they can find out more information at nidirect.gov.uk.
The person who the funeral is for must have been ordinarily resident in the UK on the date of their death.
The funeral must take place in the UK, except in certain circumstances where the client or their partner has pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. In these instances, we may be able to help pay for funerals that take place in a member state of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland. Please speak to your manager for further guidance on what to do in these instances.
The client must provide evidence that they or their partner are responsible for the costs of the funeral.
This could be evidence that they are named on the funeral bill, but other information can also be accepted.
For example, if another relative is named on the funeral bill and the client provides information that they or their partner have transferred money to the relative to meet the costs.
Some examples of circumstances where the client or their partner is not named on the funeral bill, but can still be considered responsible for the costs can include when someone else dealt with the funeral director. This could be because:
This list is just a few examples of why a client or their partner may not be named on the funeral bill, but it is not exhaustive. There can be other reasons why someone was not named on the funeral bill as well. The key point is whether the client or their partner has accepted responsibility for the costs of the funeral and whether they have provided information to show that.
In order for it to be reasonable for the client or their partner to have accepted responsibility, they must either:
View the nearest relative hierarchy for further guidance on identifying the nearest relative.
Whilst it is important to consider the family hierarchy and whether there are nearer relatives to the person who died, the decision should be based on the information provided by the client and why they felt it was reasonable to accept responsibility for the funeral costs. See the Considerations section for examples of when an applicant may accept responsibility over nearer relatives.
When you call the client, you will need to ask them questions to enable you to assess whether it was reasonable for them or their partner to accept responsibility for the costs of the funeral.
You should ask the client:
It is important to establish what the relationship is with other relatives in the family and understand the family hierarchy, but bear in mind that this may be a sensitive subject and you should take a tactful approach where possible.
You should clearly record their answers in the notes on SPM.
Even if there is a nearest relative, you should consider other factors in the relationship between the client or their partner and the deceased. Whilst the nearest relative test should be considered in your decision, it does not necessarily mean this will determine whether the client should get Funeral Support Payment.
View further guidance on adding funeral responsibility evidence.
If the deceased has a civil partner or spouse, then they will normally be the nearest relative of the deceased. In some family circumstances, there might be a question about the relationship between the deceased and their civil partner or spouse. If so, there are some specific aspects to consider.
A spouse or civil partner is not considered the nearest relative if there is permanent separation by:
The spouse or civil partner is still the nearest relative of the deceased if they were living apart from the deceased, but they were not permanently separated.
Some common reasons why spouses and civil partners live apart, without being separated, might be:
This list is not exhaustive and there could be other reasons why the spouse or civil partner and the deceased were living apart.
The client or their partner may accept responsibility over nearer relatives if:
This is not an exhaustive list. These are only examples of situations where it might be reasonable for the client or their partner to have accepted responsibility for the funeral. You should consider this when processing a client’s application.
There may be other reasons why the nearest relative cannot or has not accepted responsibility for the costs of the funeral. It could be because they:
This is not an exhaustive list. These are just some examples of the reasons why they might not have accepted responsibility for the costs of the funeral.
There may also be other circumstances, including cultural or religious reasons, where the closest relative does not accept responsibility for the costs of the funeral. For example, in some faiths, a female relative of the deceased would normally not have contact with anyone outside her immediate family. In this case, someone else in the family might accepted responsibility for the costs of the funeral.
Please note: A female relative might accept responsibility for the costs of the funeral, with another family member making the arrangements and being named on the funeral bill. This will depend on individual family circumstances.