Have you accessed "bereavement benefits"?

mumps

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I hadn't realised it either, so thanks for the information.

I agree that it should be for longer than a year although I do think that while someone claimed CB was far too long. Somewhere between 2 and 5 years (depending on the age of the children) would be better.

To be fair the longest anyone could get it would be 18 or 19 years and that would surely be quite rare. The family are going to be alot worse of without dad (or mum) and if they have been paying their NI they are never going to benefit from their SRP. I honestly can't imagine it comes to a large amount of the budget and individually it is no where near what has been lost.

In my lifetime I have known one person who was born after her father died and one whose father died when he was a babe in arms. I have known several, including me, who were school age when they lost a parent so for most bereaved families it wouldn't be anywhere near 18 years.

Just thought that some of the bereaved parents will remarry so will stop getting it anyway.

LydiaJ

mumps wrote: »

I am sure your children needed alot of support, just losing a parent when you are a child is bad enough but what your children went through must have been awful. ... I hope your children are doing OK, I lost my father when I was 13 and I know it is a terrible loss for a child.

Thanks for your comments, mumps, and I'm sorry for your loss, however long ago it was.

mumps

LydiaJ wrote: »

Thanks for your comments, mumps, and I'm sorry for your loss, however long ago it was.

It is along time ago for me, nearly 50 years in fact, but the sadness does go on. It makes me sad that my father never met my husband, never saw his grandchildren or his great grandchildren that he never knew me as an adult and I never had an adult relationship with him.

I hope your children have some happy memories and somethings to remind them of him. My younger brother was 8 when my father died and I sometimes think it was easier and sometimes harder for him. My father is more of a fantasy for him but he missed him less as a real person. My husbands father died when my husband was a baby and my husband doesn't feel any real sadness as he never knew him but I would rather have the memories even if the price is sadness.

My children have no idea what it is to have a grandfather, it makes me feel sad but they don't miss what they never had.

Your children are obviously in a different place, the trauma of the accident and seeing what happened must be terrible. I hope they get the help they need to deal with it all.

It is good that you at least have the financial backup so that you can give them the time they need.

Good luck to you all.

Keep_pedalling

mumps wrote: »

Are people less likely to have insurance now? One of the first things I did when I had children was take out a policy so that my husband would have money to replace my income if anything happened to me and to ensure he could afford paid help. We also had insurance to pay off the mortgage if either of us died. My parents and grandparents always had insurance, for my grandparents generation it was a big thing to make sure you had money for a "decent" funeral, a paupers funeral was something to be feared.

I have a policy now that pays out £10k which means I know there will be money for the funeral without family having to worry about selling the house to raise capital.

I don't hear people talking about insurance now and thinking about it I don't know if any of my kids have insurance or how there mortgages would be paid if anything happened to them. Maybe I need to have a chat with them.

I think far too many people do not protect their families from events that life can throw at you. Lots of people have little idea of risks and consequences, hence they will spend money on lottery tickets that carry a 45M to 1 chance of winning a fortune, but won't buy insurance to cover the 8000 to 1 chance that you could die in a road crash and leave your loved ones in poverty.

It's the same with wills everyone thinks they are immortal so don't make one.

UKParliament

The House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee will hear evidence on bereavement benefits on Wednesday 13 January from 9.30am.

The Committee will be hearing from:

• Paul Gray, Chair, Social Security Advisory Committee
• Professor John Ditch, Social Security Advisory Committee
• Alison Penny, Coordinator, Childhood Bereavement Network

Watch the session in full on Parliament TV.

Former_MSE_Will

Hi everyone. Thanks for continuing to discuss this and taking the time to share your own experiences. On Friday we sent the responses received so far to the Committee, but we included a link to this thread so that the MPs can have the opportunity to read later responses as well.

arthurx1234

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

There seems to be a common belief that the family of a deceased person have a legal obligation to pay for the funeral. They don't! If the deceased left no funds then the hospital where they died, or the local authority are obliged to pay for what is known as a "Public Health Funeral. This will usually be a simple, no frills, cremation service. It was once known as a "pauper's funeral" but this term is regarded as innapropriate these days. Note that there is no power to recover the costs from the family though if the deceased was later found to have funds then they could, in theory, recover it from the estate though unless they spot a notice about probate they may not do so. It is not unknown for local authorities to try and pressure the family to pay even though they have no legal right to do so.

Public Health Act Section 46

46 Burial and cremation.

(1)It shall be the duty of a local authority to cause to be buried or cremated the body of any person who has died or been found dead in their area, in any case where it appears to the authority that not suitable arrangements for the disposal of the body have been or are being made otherwise than by the authority.


Have enquired with my local authority, they have sent me a standard and unhelpful reply
SEE PART OF REPLY BELOW
"Contact is made with the funeral director to arrange a basic funeral. This will include a floral tribute. Recent funerals have cost the Council between £906.15 and £958.15 The Court of Protection officer signs off paperwork at the funeral director's to allow the funeral to take place.

The Council does not place any notification of death in any publications or online.
If no next of kin is determined by the police and Coroner, the Court of Protection Officer and a colleague visit the deceased property to seek evidence of capital to pay for the funeral and secures any valuables. If any evidence of savings or bank/building society accounts is identified, information about this and the cost of the funeral will be passed to the relevant institution for either full or part payment.
The visit to the property described above will also look for any evidence of next of kin. If evidence of next of kin is found the Court of Protection team would attempt to make contact. Since November 2012 no successful traces of next of kin from information obtained from property, coroners or individuals. On one occasion the Council has used a company called Estate research to successfully trace relatives.
Bonavacantia/Treasury Solicitor are only contacted if the deceased has evidence of savings. This contact is made by the Court of Protection Officer.
The Council does inform other Government organizations of the death via the "Tell us Once" Scheme used by the registrars. DWP, Housing Benefit & Council Tax Departments, Library Services & all other public services all informed using this method.
If the individual died in hospital, arrangements for the funeral are handled by the hospital. The hospital's Bereavement Officer will ascertain if any finances are available but they are not authorized to enter the individual's property."

NOTE - cost of funeral less than £1000.00, I realise that no VAT would be payable but can a member of the deceased family get a funeral for that price? NO i guess would be the answer


TAKEN FROM MONEY ADVICE SERVICE WEB SITE


Who’s responsible for paying for a funeral?

Usually this is the next of kin or another family member or friend. Or it can be the person named as the executor in the will.
If no one close to the deceased is willing or able to arrange the funeral or there aren’t enough funds in the estate, the council arranges a public welfare funeral.
This will be a very basic ceremony and won’t include extra arrangements such as flowers, cars or notices in the local newspaper.


I wonder how hard councils "lean" on the relatives so councils dont have to pay??


I dont have a job and do not qualify for any of the benefits that would allow me to claim for part of the cost of a funeral


Arthur

Yorkshireman99

It is not uncommon for councils to try it on. This can happen simply because they don't make the legal position clear. The message needs to made very clear that relatives have no legal obligation to pay. I am aware of a number of cases where relatives have had to borrow money because officials have told them they have to pay. Quite appalling.

UKParliament

The House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee will hear evidence on bereavement benefits on Wednesday 27 January from 9.30am.

The Committee will be hearing from:

At 9.30am

• Simon Cox, Royal London Group

At 10.00am

• Baroness Altmann CBE, Minister of State for Pensions, Department for Work and Pensions
• Michelle Dyson, Director, Children Families & Disadvantage, Department for Work and Pensions
• Pete Searle, Director, Working Age, Department for Work and Pensions

Watch the session in full on Parliament TV.

UKParliament

The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee has published a report on 'Support for the bereaved'.

The Committee says the UK Government should follow the lead of the Scottish Government and conduct a broad review of burials, cremations and funerals, with a view to making changes that have a long-term impact on funeral inflation and reduce funeral poverty.

Report findings

The Committee says the approach to support for the children of widowed parents – where the benefit is only paid if the parents were married, not co-habiting or in a civil partnership – is particularly outdated and should be addressed urgently.

The Committee also says evidence it heard regarding publicly funded bereavement support suggests the funeral industry may not be operating in a way that serves bereaved, vulnerable people well. This evidence on the operation of the funeral industry has been passed to the Competition and Markets Authority.

Chair's comment

Frank Field MP, Chair of the Committee said:

"We did not set out to inquire into the funeral industry but it soon became apparent that the interaction between an opaque and outdated public system of bereavement support and a market in funeral services which simply does not operate “normally”, is causing problems.

We are concerned by the lack of protection in the market for bereaved customers, particularly those on low incomes. They are vulnerable and may not be inclined to shop around. This is not conducive to effective operation of the market.

What is clear to us is the contrast between social fund payments for funerals, which have not increased since 2003, and the costs of a funeral, which rose on Royal London’s estimate by 3.9% from 2014-15 alone in an environment of almost zero inflation. This means that funeral payments for those who can prove they are entitled– and that is a very and uncertain onerous process – now fall far short of covering even a basic funeral.

We heard clear evidence of the distressing circumstances and debt this is leading people into, at a time when they are grieving and vulnerable. We do not want a return to the spectre of miserable “pauper’s funerals”. We urge the Government to conduct a cross-Departmental review of burials, cremations and funerals, with outcomes that will address the factors driving up funeral director fees and work to reduce funeral poverty.

The support for widowed parents is also badly outdated, with benefits denied to cohabiting parents. Penalising a child on the grounds of their parents’ marital status is as unjust as it is anachronistic. The costs involved to right this wrong are small and the Government should do so as soon as possible."

Read the report in full on the Committee website.