If you are on a low income and need help to pay for a funeral you are arranging, you may be able to get a Funeral Payment from the Regulated Social Fund. The Regulated Social Fund makes payments to people in need to cover specific costs. You are legally entitled to payments if you satisfy the regulations. You might have to repay some or all of it from the estate of the person who died.
Your entitlement to a Funeral Payment depends on the benefits you are getting, your relationship with the person who died and any other money, other than your personal savings that may be available to help with the cost of the funeral.
You may be eligible for a Funeral Payment from the Social Fund if you or your partner are getting any of the following benefits or tax credits:
- Income Support;
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance;
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance;
- Pension Credit;
- Housing Benefit;
- Council Tax Benefit (or the Council Tax payer where you live gets a Second Adult Rebate because you are on a low income);
- Working Tax Credit which includes a disability or severe disability element;
- Child Tax Credit at a rate higher than the family element.
To be able to get a Funeral Payment you must also be either:
- the partner of the deceased when they died;
- the parent of the deceased child, or have been responsible for the deceased child (and there is no absent parent) unless they are getting one of the above qualifying benefits or were estranged from the child at the date of death;
- the parent of a still-born child;
- a close relative or close friend of the deceased (and it is reasonable for you to accept responsibility for the funeral costs).
For further information regarding Funeral Payments contact your nearest Jobcentre Plus office:
- Telephone: 0845 608 8602 (9am - 5pm Monday to Friday)
- Telephone: 0845 606 0265 (8am - 6pm Monday to Friday). Please note this number is part of the Pension Service. Please select option 2 for help with benefits related to bereavement.
Or visit: www.gov.uk