Burial/Cremation costs on lowish income

clairec79

My brother and his fiance have sadly just lost their first baby at 38 weeks gestation - complete bolt out of the blue.

I was wondering if there is any help available to them for burial costs, if the baby had lived they would have qualified for a highish rate of CTC but not WTC (he earns approx £17,000 a year she is on SMP) but obviously now they won't which I expect disqualifies them from help with burial as well but thought I'd ask in case.

McKneff

How tragic, no matter how many weeks it is tragic.

I dont think there is any help available but often a funeral director will be very sympathetic cost wise under the circumstances.

Indie_Kid

There is a funeral grant -> http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/benefits/help_for_people_on_a_low_income_-_the_social_fund.htm#funeral_payments

noelphobic

I believe that under these circumstances the hospital usually provides a funeral free of charge, irrespective of the family income.

AsknAnswer2

There is no funeral grant, there is a funeral payment. No offence intended but it gets on my nerves when people often refer to it as a grant. It is not a grant, and is not called a grant, to refer to it as such is misleading. The funeral payment would not apply unless the claimant was in receipt of a qualifying benefit.

In some cases, the NHS will see to it that the remains are "taken care of" however there is no obligation to extend to a funeral service.

Claire, in my experience a lot of funeral directors don't charge for their own services for the funeral of a child under 12 months, this means they would only have to pay for the charges outside of this, such as local authority fees for burial/cremation, the cost of a coffin etc. These charges can sometimes be paid in installments. Also, some local authorities don't charge for infant graves, and some charge a very small amount. Some local authorities offer free cremation for a child under 12 months.

Depending on the cause of death, there are sometimes charities which can assist low income families with funeral costs.

I'm so sorry that they have to go through this.