Before Funeral Support Payment can be awarded, you must make a mandatory check to find out if a Social Fund Interest is held.
In all cases where a Social Fund Interest is held, further action is needed to establish if, both:
This is to prevent a duplicate payment/overpayment already claimed and paid by the Department for Work and Pensions or the Department for Communities.
The Social Fund interest will be displayed in Benefits Interest Details evidence on SPM. You should check for both the client and their partner.
To do this:
We cannot accept an application where another government department has already provided funding for this funeral.
You should deny application and use the clerical duplicate award letter template.