Funeral payments

AsknAnswer2

yoxford2008 wrote: »

I work for a subsidury of the coop as an undertaker.
I think the funeral payment from the goverment is in the region of £2000 but I may be wrong.

The reason why they may have refused to do the funeral is that when you arrange the funeral they want the disbursments which add up to roughly £800

Nope. It is not a set amount. £2000 is a common misconception - that is a bereavement payment which is only available to the widowed. Disbursements can vary greatly from one local authority to the next. In one area, the disbursements could be around £500 and in another it could be £2000.

This is why a funeral payment in one area but for the exact same services at different prices can be £1000 and in another area could be £3000

Sunnyone, the legislation on SFFP's is here. Regulation 9 sets out what items/services can be considered.

I'm fairly up to date on this area so if there's anything else you need to ask, I'll answer if I can.

It would help if you could tell me which local authority area (which council) the funeral will take place in, whether it is a burial or cremation to begin with and I can have a dig around for you.

sunnyone

AsknAnswer2 wrote: »

Nope. It is not a set amount. £2000 is a common misconception - that is a bereavement payment which is only available to the widowed. Disbursements can vary greatly from one local authority to the next. In one area, the disbursements could be around £500 and in another it could be £2000.

This is why a funeral payment in one area but for the exact same services at different prices can be £1000 and in another area could be £3000

Sunnyone, the legislation on SFFP's is here. Regulation 9 sets out what items/services can be considered.

I'm fairly up to date on this area so if there's anything else you need to ask, I'll answer if I can.

It would help if you could tell me which local authority area (which council) the funeral will take place in, whether it is a burial or cremation to begin with and I can have a dig around for you.

Thankyou AsknAnswers, it will be a cremation at Durham crem.

AsknAnswer2

Right. I'll apologise in advance if this sounds business like - I just want to make sure you have the facts.

sunnyone wrote: »

an only child age 25 who is severely disabled and his only living parent will only last a day or so, he is in reciept of IBJSA

He is in receipt of a qualifying benefit and is the only child of the person who has died. Assuming there are no living parents of the person who has died, then it would be deemed reasonable for this only child to take responsibility for the funeral; the funeral is taking place in the UK. If that is correct so far then so long as the person who died was ordinarily resident in the UK, the son makes the claim for the funeral payment within 3 months of the funeral and he has taken responsibility for the funeral (him having a contract with the funeral director would satisfy this) then the qualifying conditions are met.

Next we look at the amount. Okay. The last time I checked, a cremation in Durham cost £480 which includes the medical reference fees and environmental charge. So, taking this into account:

sunnyone wrote: »

no cars as we will take the son with us in my wheelchair adapted vehicle and any one else can sort themselves out.

sunnyone wrote: »

the father has no assets that we know of (and I understand that if we find any we will have to repay any funeral payments) .

I would estimate that a funeral payment from the Social Fund would be in the region of £1080. Basically it will cover the cremation fee and associated costs of cremation such as medical reference fees, environmental fees (which I believe to be £480 for Durham) plus £700 maximum capped limit toward any other expenses. If the cremation fees are different just add them on to £700 to get an idea. If the person who has died has a medical device (pacemaker for example) they will pay for its removal also because some medical devices have to be removed before a cremation. If you provide a fuel receipt for the return journey of the son to travel to the funeral, they will also meet the reasonable cost of this. They won't pay for anything unreasonable - for example if you were travelling 5 miles to the funeral and submitted a receipt for £50 they wouldn't pay that because it doesn't cost £50 to travel 5 miles; it's unreasonable. Hope I explained that alright.

It is very, very unlikely that the payment from the Social fund will cover all the funeral costs. It is designed to assist toward the cost rather than pay the whole costs. I've only ever seen babies funerals covered in full because they tend to cost less. Any assets of the person who died or any other money paid by relatives/friends toward the cost that are discovered will reduce the award penny for penny - this will include any benefit that was due to the person that died and any funds in his bank/building society/post office card accounts. The son who is claiming - his own savings will not reduce the award.

My opinion is that you are better with a local small funeral director for a low cost funeral. Big chains in my experience do tend to charge more but again it depends on the chain. Make sure that the fees are well explained and question any fees that don't appear necessary. If he is offered a package, question every fee for every service within that package to ensure that it is something that is necessery or that he wants and whether it includes the crematorium's fees or not. Most funeral directors are understanding - they have seen it before with people who live on benefit and are fully aware that they cannot afford the costs in one go - and most will allow the funeral to be paid off in small regular installments, so long as they are getting paid. If he can find a weekly/monthly repayment figure he is comfortable with and which is affordable to him, mentioning a payment plan at the outset may encourage some businesses to be more accomodating. Unfortunately the reason many refuse so called 'DSS funerals' is because they've been stung by non payment in the past and often end up out of pocket themselves. Some won't go ahead without a deposit for the disbursements.

Flowers - If he picks ones that are in season they may be cheaper. Don't underestimate supermarkets or your own abilities. I made a wreath for a funeral last year using foam from the pound shop and flowers from Morrisons - nobody was any the wiser (I'm the least creative person you could meet). I simply couldn't afford a £300 professional wreath and I think that the person would have liked that I spent time making it, it did make me feel good and it's something that he (or you) could do 'for' the person who has died.

Funeral tea - again, really shop around. Is there a village hall that could be hired and a few relatives/friends who could make and serve a buffet? Don't have an open bar - people will abuse it.

Little savings on these things can make all the difference and it isn't scrimping on the send off - it's a nice touch that people come together to take part in the send off rather than just attend. Hope this helps.

If you have any more questions or if there is something that I haven't made clear enough, just ask away. I'm around most nights and will keep an eye on the thread.

AsknAnswer2

sunnyone wrote: »

You cant have had "the call" yet, you deserve a transplant the dad in question didnt, he drank at least a litre of spirts a day for all of his life from his early teens and he continued to do so while in terminal liver failure so a new liver would have been wasted on him.

Sorry I have just seen this. I apologise if this comes across as cold or presumptious:

Does the son want to take responsibility for the funeral or is he doing so because he thinks he has to?

I'm asking because there are so many people who are estranged from their family who take responsibility because they think that legally they have to. In fact, there is no legislation that says a next of kin absolutely must take responsibility for the funeral (unless they are the spouse of parent of the deceased). In fact, if nobody takes responsibility for the funeral then the local council must. It won't be a proper funeral though and he won't be able to attend. it is If you want more information about this, just ask.

sunnyone

Thankyou for taking to time to help me AsknAnswer, the soon to be deceased hasnt had any contact with his family for many years, his wife (my sister) died in 2002 and I think from what my nephew is saying he wants to be busy arranging the funeral but he does have communiaction difficulties alongside his other disabilities so we (his aunts) will be helping him to do most things.

There will be about 8 of us having a cuppa etc. after the funeral at my sisters or mine home so no money is needed for that, we we all put in for flowers to go on the coffin and thats all we will have unless any individual wants to provide their own, no cars apart from the hurst (sp) for the coffin, no anouncment as he has no friends that we know of so costs will be minimal apart from whats required.

There will no problems with benefits payments etc. as he got depressed and gave up, we will take advice about what is best to do but we do know that he has used credit cards for all living expences for quite some time and those debts will die with him unless we find anything unexpected when his home is emptied, its unlikely he will be owed anything by the DWP and I really doubt any benefits can be claimed retrospectivly.

If the grant is short we will both help our nephew to make up any short fall but we are hopeing any shortfall is a small amount as the funeral will be a small affair without any unnecissary extras, we can loan any deposit needed to my nephew signs the contract.

I have always thought that people go overboard with funerals, a brief service with a short eulogy at the crem, just a family flower arraingment to adorn the coffin and the only family he has left having a private wake (though if a few friends did turn up at the crem they would of course be invited and I would like to find his twin if he is still alive)

Thanks again for your help, it will make it easier when we get the call to say hes gone, we have offered to take turns to be with my nephew while he sits with his dad but since he was the one that found my sisters body he dosnt want to be their apart from visiting.

AsknAnswer2

Anytime.

Just to clarify a couple of things:

The hearse will not be paid for by the Social Fund unless the distance travelled from the funeral director’s premises or other place of rest to the funeral is in excess of 80 kilometres (and necesserily exceeds that distance).

Bear in mind that any money you contribute toward the funeral expenses will be deducted from any funeral payment award which will recude the amount that they pay him.

They will usually send any payment directly to the funeral director but will advise the claimant of how much has been awarded.

I'm sure that with the support of his aunts, he'll get through this ok.

[Deleted User]

to asknanswer re post#14,one of the most helpful and comprehensive replies i have ever seen on this forum

to sunnyone,i`m sure you nephew will be grateful to have you at his side during a difficult time for all

esmy

Have a look at this thread about Municipal Funerals - may be helpful...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3409655
From Durham County Council...
http://www.durham.gov.uk/Pages/Service.aspx?ServiceId=329

sunnyone

He died at one this morning and managed to demand a burial almost on his last breath so we are having to change what we were thinking of doing and decide where to bury him, my nephew says he might move so not the village he lives in or where his dad lived so that just leaves the rest of the county to bury him in, because we were going to have him cremated we though South Rd Cemetry where the crem is but it has the highest burial costs in the county so thats not going to happen.

The wake is at my sister house and from looking at the parish information on line where she lives might be ok to bury him if they will take an out of parish funeral on without at least doubleing the fees which most parishes do to safeguard the space for parishoners.

Its going to be a long day tomorrow, my nephew seems ok and strange as it sounds to normal people hes gone to deaf club tonight because only other Totals can really relate to him, signing hearing people just arnt the same in the same way as I struggle with signing totals.

Thankyou all for your posts, especially AsknAnswer.

clemmatis

Just to wish you well for tomorrow, sunnyone.