Funeral payment advice needed

incubus72

Hi, i'm wondering if someone can help with the situation I am in.
To cut a long story short, my brother passed away in December, he was in receipt of benefits and left no estate.
I am in receipt of income based ESA so applied for a funeral payment from the social fund. My request for a funeral payment has been turned down as I have a surviving brother in receipt of a benefit which isn't classed as a qualifying benefit(he is on contribution based ESA).
I am just wondering if anyone can give me some advice as neither myself, nor my remaining brother are in a position financially to be able to pay over £3,000 for a funeral.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

pmlindyloo

Has the funeral already been held?

If not then this may help:

http://www.funeralinspirations.co.uk/information/How-to-pay-for-a-funeral.html

billywilly

incubus72 wrote: »

Hi, i'm wondering if someone can help with the situation I am in.
To cut a long story short, my brother passed away in December, he was in receipt of benefits and left no estate.
I am in receipt of income based ESA so applied for a funeral payment from the social fund. My request for a funeral payment has been turned down as I have a surviving brother in receipt of a benefit which isn't classed as a qualifying benefit(he is on contribution based ESA).
I am just wondering if anyone can give me some advice as neither myself, nor my remaining brother are in a position financially to be able to pay over £3,000 for a funeral.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

How do you think that it would work if both of you were receiving a non qualifying benefit? You would both have to come to an agreement with the undertaker on how you would pay him?

From what I understand if no one can afford to pay for a funeral, the local council would fund it.

incubus72

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Has the funeral already been held?

If not then this may help:

http://www.funeralinspirations.co.uk/information/How-to-pay-for-a-funeral.html

Yes, the funeral was held at the end of December. We were told by the funeral directors that seeing as both myself and my remaining brother were in receipt of benefit we should qualify for a funeral payment. However it now seems that this is incorrect

pmlindyloo

incubus72 wrote: »

Yes, the funeral was held at the end of December. We were told by the funeral directors that seeing as both myself and my remaining brother were in receipt of benefit we should qualify for a funeral payment. However it now seems that this is incorrect

A common mistake as you can be a millionaire and still be eligible for contribution based JSA/ESA.

Might be a good idea to give the funeral directors a copy of the relevant benefits which make you eligible.

In view of the funeral director's mistake then I would be asking for a repayment plan for the debt.

After all, if you had been given the correct information then you would either had the council deal with the funeral or chosen a very basic funeral, wouldn't you?

You could also look at the link, particularly at the British Gas Energy trust. Also you could apply for a budgeting loan. CAB might have some other charities that could help. Was your brother in the armed forces? They might support you financially.

Good luck.

midnight_express

You should never arrange a funeral that you afford or don't want to pay for.

billywilly

midnight_express wrote: »

You should never arrange a funeral that you afford or don't want to pay for.

It's a poor do taking your advice that you can't provide for a good send off. One way or another I would have found the money. Dread to think what the friends and relations would have thought if I had buried my late father in a cardboard box!

konark

I think any application for a funeral grant has to be within 3 months of the death or funeral. I know you have already applied and been rejected but if you're only writing now either you applied late or they've taken a long time to reject it.
You could get a social fund loan (max. £800) but they are repayable.
The funeral grant would not have covered all the costs anyway, there is a limit of about £1,500.

qwertyman

Getting into debt to pay for a dead persons funeral is lunacy. The living have plenty options to provide for their final wishes. Google "direct cremation" max it costs is £1K.

NYM

qwertyman wrote: »

Getting into debt to pay for a dead persons funeral is lunacy. The living have plenty options to provide for their final wishes.

:eek:

billywilly

qwertyman wrote: »

Getting into debt to pay for a dead persons funeral is lunacy. The living have plenty options to provide for their final wishes. Google "direct cremation" max it costs is £1K.

OMG - its one up from a funeral pyre in your own back garden!

I suppose the mourners all sit round the bonfire supping from bottles of brown ale!

To me that is nothing less than an insult to the deceased and to the bereaved family.